Filing a VA Claim?

If you’re think­ing of fil­ing a claim with the Depart­ment of Vet­er­ans Affairs for dis­abil­ity com­pen­sa­tion, here are three sim­ple steps to fol­low that will facil­i­tate the process. Think of them as the Three Cs — con­sult, col­lect and contact.

Step 1: Con­sult With Your National Ser­vice Officer.

Talk with your national ser­vice offi­cer about the con­di­tion for which you are con­sid­er­ing fil­ing a claim. If, as a result of your dis­cus­sion with the NSO, the claim appears war­ranted, go to:

Step 2: Col­lect Documentation.Gather the fol­low­ing doc­u­ments to sup­port your claim:
Ser­vice med­ical records
Pri­vate physician’s records
Applic­a­ble pho­tographs
DD Form 214
Mar­riage cer­tifi­cate
Birth cer­tifi­cates of chil­dren
Copies of depen­dents’ Social Secu­rity cards

After assem­bling these records and forms, take …

Step 3: Con­tact Your NSO, Again.

Dis­cuss with the ser­vice offi­cer your find­ings and what more, if any­thing, needs to be done to doc­u­ment your claim.

Plan­ning on tran­si­tion­ing from mil­i­tary life to the civil­ian world?

AMVETS is here to help. We pro­vide a num­ber of resor­ces and infor­ma­tional mate­ri­als to point tran­si­tion­ing ser­vice­mem­bers in the right direc­tion. Tran­si­tion Assistance