The VA claim process, in plain English
43 guides covering the parts of a VA disability claim that people most often get wrong, in plain English, with the regulations cited so you can check the work.
Before you file
The steps that protect your effective date and your evidence, in the order they happen.
How to file a VA disability claim, step by step
The whole process in order: Intent to File first, naming conditions so they get rated, and what to attach.
VA intent to file: the form and the one-year window
VA Form 21-0966 and the other ways to file, how long the year lasts, and what an intent to file does not guarantee.
Benefits Delivery at Discharge: the 180-90 day window
How long before discharge you can file, who qualifies, the step-by-step timeline, and what to do inside 90 days.
What evidence supports a VA disability claim?
The three elements of service connection, what a nexus is and is not, and how VA weighs the evidence.
VA presumptive conditions: the lists and the service that qualifies
What a presumption does, where the PACT Act, Agent Orange, Camp Lejeune and Gulf War lists live, and what a claim still needs.
Preparing for a C&P exam
What happens at the exam, how to prepare, what to bring, bringing someone, missing an exam, and getting the report.
Personal statements and buddy letters
Lay evidence is real evidence. What it can prove, what it cannot, and the details that carry weight.
How to write a VA personal statement, with an example
What to put in your own statement, a hypothetical sample, and what a statement can and cannot prove.
Nexus letters, and what makes one persuasive
What a nexus letter is, who can write one, what it should say, and why rationale beats a confident conclusion.
Getting your records, and your C-file
How to get your service treatment records and C-file, whether VA gets them for you, and what to do if records burned in 1973.
How ratings and pay work
The arithmetic, the rules that add ratings most people miss, and the routes to the 100% rate.
VA combined rating calculator: how VA math works
Why ratings combine instead of adding, the bilateral factor, rounding once at the end, and a free calculator.
VA secondary conditions: how secondary service connection works
Causation versus aggravation after Spicer, the baseline an aggravation claim needs, and sourced examples.
What is TDIU, and how do you apply?
The 60% and 70% thresholds, the forms, working part time under the marginal employment rule, and TDIU versus 100%.
Special Monthly Compensation: the money above the schedule
What SMC is, the levels from K to S, what R-1 and R-2 require, care at home or in a facility, and how to claim it.
Effective dates, and the back pay they control
How VA sets the effective date, how back pay is calculated, Intent to File, the one-year separation rule, and increases.
Adding dependents to your rating
At 30% and above a spouse, child, or dependent parent raises the payment. Who qualifies, which form, and the age limits.
CRDP and CRSC: getting your retired pay back
How CRDP works, how it differs from CRSC, what medical retirees and those under 20 years can get, and why there is no CRSC pay chart.
Condition by condition
How the rating schedule treats the conditions veterans claim most, with the actual criteria, the thresholds, and the evidence each one turns on.
Mental health and brain
How the VA rates PTSD and other mental health conditions
The six tiers of the mental health formula, why the symptom list is not a checklist, and the stressor rules.
Depression secondary to chronic pain
How depression secondary to pain is rated, the mental health levels, the one-rating rule, and where the proposed rating changes stand.
How the VA rates traumatic brain injury
The ten-facet scale, why mild TBI has no fixed percentage, and residuals rated separately without counting a symptom twice.
How the VA rates migraines
The four DC 8100 tiers, what "prostrating" means, the highest rating, and how frequency and work impact are shown.
How the VA rates sleep apnea
The four tiers of DC 6847, when a CPAP supports 50%, and what the C&P exam checks.
Back, joints, and nerves
How the VA rates back conditions
The lower-back range-of-motion chart, DC 5243 and incapacitating episodes, and what the C&P exam records.
How the VA rates neck and cervical spine conditions
The cervical chart in degrees, normal neck motion, what flexion of 15 degrees or less means, and how pain counts.
How the VA rates scoliosis, spondylosis, spinal arthritis and ankylosis
Why scoliosis alone does not mean 20%, what favorable and unfavorable ankylosis mean, and how congenital spine conditions are treated.
How the VA rates radiculopathy and nerve damage
Rating charts for the legs and arms, rated separately from the spine, one per limb, with the bilateral factor.
How the VA rates knee conditions
Arthritis, the flexion and extension chart, instability, meniscus tears, knee replacement, and how two knees combine.
How the VA rates shoulder conditions
How the range-of-motion exam works, the chart by dominant and other arm, how pain counts, and ratings after surgery.
How the VA rates plantar fasciitis and flat feet
The plantar fasciitis tiers and the highest rating, flat feet, foot pain and injuries, and conditions with no code of their own.
How the VA rates scars
How painful, unstable, surgical, keloid and head scars are rated, and why a surgical scar is not rated automatically.
How the VA rates eczema and other skin conditions
The eczema and dermatitis tiers by affected skin or weeks of systemic therapy, and which skin conditions use other criteria.
Hearing
Heart, digestive, and endocrine
How the VA rates hypertension
The DC 7101 levels from 10% to 60%, the three-day readings rule, the medication floor, Agent Orange, and secondary to PTSD.
How the VA rates diabetes
The DC 7913 tiers for type 1 and type 2, what regulation of activities means, the presumptions, and how complications are rated.
How the VA rates GERD
The DC 7206 stricture levels from 0% to 80%, what changed in 2024, how acid reflux is rated, and what a 0% rating still gives you.
How the VA rates IBS and functional digestive disorders
The DC 7319 levels by pain frequency, functional GI disorders, how digestive ratings combine, and the Gulf War presumption.
Erectile dysfunction and SMC-K
What SMC-K is, why erectile dysfunction rates 0% but can still pay monthly, the amount, and how to file the claim.
Exposure-related
How the VA rates asthma, rhinitis, and sinusitis
Who the PACT Act covers, the sinusitis, rhinitis, and asthma tiers, chronic bronchitis, and why the presumption is only half the claim.
How the VA rates fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and Gulf War illness
How Gulf War syndrome is rated and paid, the fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue tiers, and who the presumption covers.
After the decision
Reading what you got, asking for more, and the one-year clock on disagreeing.
How to read your VA rating decision letter
The reasons, favorable findings, code sheet, effective dates and deferred issues, and what to check before responding.
Clear and unmistakable error
What counts as clear and unmistakable error in a final decision, and how to file for a regional office or Board decision.
How to request a VA rating increase, and how reductions work
The increase form, the reduction notice rules, and what the five-, ten- and twenty-year rules each protect.
VA appeal options after a rating decision
Supplemental Claim, Higher-Level Review and the three Board lanes compared, with the forms and the deadlines for each.
Why these exist
Everything a VA claim turns on is technically available already, scattered across regulation text, VA pages, and forum posts of wildly varying accuracy. None of it is in one place, in order, in words a tired person can read at 2200 after the kid goes down.
These guides are that missing version. They point at the actual regulations and at VA.gov rather than replacing them, and they are honest about the limits: nothing here promises a rating, and none of it is legal or medical advice. Where a guide and VA.gov disagree, VA.gov is right.
The rest of READY214 is the working version of the same idea, a free organizer that turns the process into a checklist with deadlines attached.
Alongside these guides, READY214 has a free combined rating calculator, a condition library with diagnostic codes and rating criteria, a plain-English glossary of VA terminology, and a TDIU threshold check. All free, all usable without an account.
Where to get official help
- VA.gov disability compensation, the authoritative source for forms, eligibility, and current rates.
- Find an accredited representative, VSO help is free; verify accreditation before signing anything.
- 38 CFR Part 4, the rating schedule itself, including the criteria every rating decision is measured against.
- Veterans Crisis Line, dial 988 then press 1, or text 838255. Confidential, 24/7, unconnected to your claim.