Free guides
VA claims, explained plain
The system runs on words you were never taught. These guides translate the parts that trip everyone up, cited to 38 CFR and VA.gov, with no fees and no fear-mongering. Start anywhere.
Start here
New here
New to VA claims? Start here
The whole process in order, in plain English, with a link to the right guide at every step.
Reference
The VA claims glossary
Every acronym and confusing term from your letter, translated. C&P, nexus, TDIU, SMC, deferred, and more.
Process
How to file your first claim, step by step
Free to file. The Intent to File, the right form, and the C&P exam, in the order they happen.
Process
How long a claim takes, phase by phase
What every status on the tracker actually means, and why "Preparation for Decision" bounces back.
Getting help
VSO vs attorney vs paid consultant
Who can legally represent you, who can charge, and when a fee is even allowed. Read before you pay anyone.
Do you qualify?
Whoever you are and however you served, there is a path. These cover the questions about eligibility that stop people before they start.
Who you are
Women veterans and VA claims
The same system, often under-claimed. The conditions, the evidence, and the care you earned.
Guard & Reserve
Guard and Reserve: does your duty status count?
Why active duty, ADT, and drill weekends are treated differently, and when you have "veteran status."
Transitioning
File before you separate (BDD)
Start your claim 180 to 90 days out so it is often decided around the time you take the uniform off.
Ratings & pay
Ratings
How VA math works: why 50 + 30 = 70
The VA does not add your ratings. Here is the system it actually uses, with a worked example.
Free tool
VA disability calculator
Enter your ratings and get the true combined number, bilateral factor and rounding included.
Pay
What each rating pays per month (2026)
The current tax-free rate at every level, how dependents change it, and where to verify the live numbers.
Pay
Special Monthly Compensation (SMC)
Extra tax-free pay that stacks on top of your rating for specific severe losses or needs. Most veterans never hear about it.
Ratings
TDIU: 100% pay without a 100% rating
If service-connected conditions keep you from steady work, you may be paid at the 100% rate.
Ratings
How to increase your rating the right way
Four real paths up, which one fits your case, and the re-exam risk to weigh before you file.
Money & benefits
Money
When your VA check actually arrives
The monthly payment rule, why the date shifts around weekends and holidays, and when your first check lands.
Money
Is VA disability taxable?
The short answer is no, and here is why, plus how it differs from military retirement pay and what states add.
Retirees
CRDP vs CRSC: retired pay and VA disability
The offset that shrinks retired pay, the two programs that give it back, and how VA pay and SSDI can stack.
Money
Adding dependents for more pay
At 30% and up, a spouse, kids, or dependent parents raise your check. How to add them, and the overpayment trap.
Family & survivors
The benefits that reach past the veteran to the people they take care of, and the people they leave behind.
Survivors
DIC: survivor benefits
Tax-free monthly support for a surviving spouse or children when a veteran dies from, or was totally disabled by, service.
Daily care
Aid and Attendance and Housebound
Extra money when a veteran needs help with daily living. A lifeline many aging veterans never claim.
Education
Chapter 35: school money for family
Education benefits for the spouse and children of a permanently and totally disabled veteran.
Your decision letter
Decision letters
How to read your decision letter
What every section means, which words to watch, and how the "Reasons" part decides your next move.
Decision letters
What "deferred" means (it's not a denial)
Deferred means the VA paused that issue because it needs more. Here is what happens next.
Pay
Effective dates and back pay
The date that decides your lump sum, why the Intent to File protects it, and how back pay is figured.
Conditions by name
Condition
The PTSD claim, start to finish
Service connection, the relaxed stressor rules, and the statement that carries the claim.
Condition
Depression and anxiety (you don't need PTSD)
Every mental health condition is rated on one scale. How it works, and why it is often secondary.
Condition
Tinnitus: the ringing claim, explained
Why it is one of the most common claims, how it is rated, and what evidence actually moves it.
Condition
Hearing loss: why real damage still rates 0%
The strict speech-test formula behind the rating, and what evidence it actually takes to move.
Condition
Migraines: why "prostrating" decides it
One word in the rating rule controls your percentage. How to document attacks so it counts.
Condition
Back and spine: how degrees of motion decide it
The range-of-motion formula, the goniometer exam, and the nerve pain you can rate separately.
Condition
TBI: the 10-facet rating system
How brain injury is scored across ten facets, and the residuals you can rate separately.
Condition
Sleep apnea secondary to PTSD
The theory, the evidence, and an honest look at why the VA scrutinizes this claim.
Toxic exposure & presumptives
When a condition is presumed connected to your service, you skip the hardest part of the claim. Here is who that covers.
Presumptives
PACT Act presumptive conditions
Burn pits and toxic exposure. When a condition is presumed service-connected, so you skip the nexus.
Presumptives
Agent Orange: the full list
The recognized conditions and the exposure locations, including the PACT Act expansions. Who qualifies.
Presumptives
Gulf War Illness (undiagnosed illness)
When doctors "can't find anything wrong," the special rule that can still connect your chronic symptoms.
Presumptives
Camp Lejeune water: two different tracks
VA disability and the separate CLJA lawsuit. What each one is, and why they do not cancel each other out.
Building your evidence
Evidence
What a nexus letter is, and if you need one
The medical opinion that connects your condition to service, and the exact standard it must meet.
Evidence
Buddy statements and lay statements
Free evidence most veterans overlook. Who can write one, and what makes it actually count.
Evidence
How to file a secondary condition
Conditions caused or worsened by a service-connected one can be claimed too. Here is how.
C&P exam
How to prepare for your C&P exam
The exam is a snapshot. Why describing your worst days honestly is the whole game.
Evidence
What a DBQ is, and how to use one
The form that maps your symptoms to the rating criteria, and the honest limit of a private one.
If you were denied or reduced
Appeals
The three appeal lanes, explained
Supplemental Claim, Higher-Level Review, or Board. Which lane fits your denial, and why.
Appeals
Clear and Unmistakable Error (CUE)
The one way to reopen a final, years-old decision, the high bar it takes, and the back pay it can reach.
Protecting your rating
Can the VA reduce your rating?
The protections that make a reduction hard, the notice you are owed, and how to fight one.
When it's complicated
The situations most sites won't touch. Every veteran earned the same straight answer, no matter how they got here.
Right now
Denied and struggling right now
Real help while you wait: the crisis line, the homeless hotline, VA care you can use today, and the next move.
MST
The MST claim (any gender)
How the VA lets you prove a trauma you never reported, using markers instead of a report that was never filed.
Bad paper
Benefits with a less-than-honorable discharge
Bad paper is not an automatic bar. Character-of-discharge review and upgrades, explained honestly.
Incarceration
VA compensation and incarceration
What really happens to the check, how family can be paid through apportionment, and restoration on release.
Beyond the guides
Put it to work on your actual claim
Guides explain the system. The free tools work your file: upload your letter and the decoder reads it in plain English, or open the VA Claims Copilot to build your case, draft your statements, and prep for your exam.