Tools
VA Disability Calculator
Combine your ratings the way the VA does (38 CFR 4.25), with the bilateral factor. Runs in your browser.
Open tool →Personal Statement Builder (VA Form 21-4138)
Your own account, in your own words: guided prompts and condition-aware examples for a strong personal statement.
Open tool →Buddy Statement Builder (VA Form 21-10210)
Walks a witness through a strong lay or buddy statement: what they saw in service and the symptoms they've observed since.
Open tool →Nexus Letter Checklist
Check the letter your doctor wrote against the six things the VA actually weighs, and print a brief to hand your provider.
Open tool →Start Here
Filing a Claim
When to File (and the Intent-to-File Trick)
Timing your claim to protect your effective date and your back pay.
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How to File a Claim, Step by Step
The forms, the channels, and the order of operations from start to finish.
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The Evidence That Wins a Claim
The three legs of service connection and the nexus that ties them together.
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The C&P Exam: What to Expect
What the examiner is really measuring, and how to walk in prepared.
Read the guide →Getting Paid More
Special Monthly Compensation: The Pay Above 100%
The VA's second pay scale, K through T , what each letter takes and what it pays.
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TDIU: Paid at 100% Without a 100% Rating
How the VA can pay the full rate on a lower schedular rating.
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How to Increase Your Rating
Filing for more without triggering a reduction of what you already have.
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Secondary Conditions: One Rating, More Pay
How one service-connected condition opens the door to several more.
Read the guide →Rates & Conditions
The PACT Act: Presumptive Conditions
Toxic exposure claims where the VA supplies the medical link , the groups, the lists, and how to reopen an old denial.
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VA 100% P&T: What a Total Rating Unlocks
The benefits a permanent and total rating turns on, CHAMPVA, Chapter 35 college, Space-A, and DIC.
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Combined Ratings: Why 50 + 50 Isn't 100
How the VA combines your ratings instead of adding them, and how to read your own number.
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2026 Rate Tables & Dependent Add-Ons
How the monthly payment is built, and how dependents raise it.
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Sleep Apnea: The CPAP 50% Rule
The rating tiers for sleep apnea and why a CPAP prescription matters.
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VA PTSD Claims: Prove It, File It, Get Rated
The three things you must prove, the five stressor paths, and how the six rating levels work.
Read the guide →Family & Survivors
VA Survivor Benefits (DIC): What Your Family Gets
Dependency and Indemnity Compensation , the two doors to it, what it pays, and the filing trap that closes one for good.
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Chapter 35 DEA: College for Your Family
The education benefit for the dependents of a P&T or fallen veteran.
Read the guide →The whole field manual, free
Every guide here is one slice of Volume 1. Download the full PDF, or start with the orientation volume.
↓ Download Volume 1 (PDF)