(This article originally appeared in the February 2026 issue of Military Officer, a magazine available to all MOAA Premium and Life members who can log in to access our digital version and archive. Basic members can save on a membership upgrade and access the magazine.)

Military service can pose hardships on the body, which in turn can disadvantage a veteran competing for employment. The VA’s disability compensation program is supposed to make up for that disadvantage.

Veterans can submit a claim as early as 180 days prior to a known separation/retirement date to many decades later. The closer the claim is submitted to a period of service, the easier it is to prove a nexus to service (NTS).

Your first VA claim is called the “original claim.” If submitted within a year of separation/retirement, the award date will be the date you leave or left service. Disabilities diagnosed within a year of separation are automatically considered connected to your service; accidents and injuries incurred after you leave service are not.

After a year, the onus is on the veteran to show NTS. Subsequent claims are either a supplemental or an increased rating request for a current disability. The medical NTS that the VA is looking for is either:

• Direct (occurred or diagnosed while serving).
• Aggravation (a disability you had prior to entering service was worsened through service).
• Secondary (a service-connected condition caused another condition).
• Presumptive (an illness or disability the VA automatically presumes to be connected to service in a particular location during a specific period).

The disability must also be chronic versus acute; it does not have to be associated with combat, wartime, or training. However, the issue must not be the result of the veteran’s misconduct.

[RELATED: VA Awards Disability Benefits Using Criteria From 80 Years Ago, Federal Watchdog Finds]

The VA uses 125 days as its standard for claim resolution. A claim in the system for longer is considered backlogged.

A claim is assigned to a rating official who will review the claim and then request “compensation and pension” medical examinations. Exams can include a physical, but most are interviews where the examiner asks questions from a disability benefit questionnaire (DBQ) related to that specific disability.

When the rating official receives and reviews all required DBQs, a service-connection determination will be made for each disability based on the veteran’s service medical records and the DBQs. The claimed disability will either be identified as having a service connection or denied. Service-connected disabilities will be assigned a compensable level from 0% to 100%. The VA will compute an overall disability rating rounded up or down to the nearest 10%.

Once completed, you will receive a notification letter from the VA detailing the submitted disabilities that have been identified as having a service connection or denied. You have one year from the date of that letter to appeal any decisions made therein.