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Can I get VA disability?

Most veterans who never file are stopped by one of three beliefs: that it had to be in their service medical records, that too much time has passed, or that they do not know where to start. The regulation answers all three, and this page quotes it.

You did not have to go to sick call. 38 CFR 3.303(d) says service connection "may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease was incurred in service." Records help a great deal. Their absence is not the end of a claim.

Ask a question

Answers come from the text of Title 38, with the section cited so you can read it yourself.

    It will not predict whether a claim succeeds, what rating a condition would get, or what to claim. Nobody can tell you that from a web page. Your question is sent to Anthropic to generate the answer.

    Is my condition presumptive?

    A presumption removes the hardest part of a claim. If your service and your diagnosis fit the rule, you do not have to prove the condition came from service.

    The first steps, in order

    1. File an intent to file today. If your complete claim arrives within one year, the VA treats it as filed on the date the intent was received (38 CFR 3.155(b)). It does not need to name any medical condition. That date decides how far back payment can go.
    2. Talk to a VA accredited representative. They are free. A Veterans Service Organization can see your file and act on your behalf, which no website can.
    3. Gather evidence. Service records, medical records since discharge, and statements from you and from people who served with you. Lay statements are evidence (38 CFR 3.303(a)).
    4. File the claim within the year. Once ratings come back, the rating calculator shows how they combine.

    Where to go

    The detail, if you want it

    What counts as service connected

    Service connection means the evidence establishes that an injury or disease resulting in disability was incurred during service, or existed before service and was made worse by it (3.303(a)). The VA is required to consider "all pertinent medical and lay evidence" and to read the law "under a broad and liberal interpretation".

    Several routes exist. A condition can be shown directly from the evidence. It can be first diagnosed years after discharge and still be connected (3.303(d)). For a chronic condition shown in service, later flare-ups at any later date are connected unless something else clearly caused them (3.303(b)). For injuries incurred in combat, lay evidence is accepted as sufficient proof where it fits the circumstances of that service, even with no official record (3.304(d)). And some conditions are presumed.

    What lay evidence is

    Statements from you, or from people who served with you or know you, about what happened and what you have experienced since. The regulation lists lay evidence alongside medical evidence as something every determination must consider. People discount it and should not.

    Every section this page uses

      This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It is an independent tool built by an Army veteran. It explains what the regulations say. It does not decide claims, and it is not legal advice.