By a veteran, for veterans
The Board of Veterans' Appeals publishes its decisions. Read them before you file.
They show exactly what evidence won and what fell short. We turn a veteran's nine-step method into a playbook built around your conditions.
Free to look. The written playbook is $49.99, paid once. No subscription, never a share of your award.
Free to look. The written playbook is $49.99 once. No subscription, never a share of your award.
Decision Date: 06/05/19 DOCKET NO. 18-26 788
ORDER
The 30 percent rating for left knee strain is restored effective February 1, 2018 [...]
The 30 percent rating for right knee strain is restored effective February 1, 2018 [...]
FINDINGS OF FACT
4. The decision to reduce the disability rating for left knee strain [...] was based on an inadequate VA examination; material improvement [...] has not been shown by a preponderance of the evidence.
Search what the Board decided
Where are you?
Start with the one that fits.
Your first VA claim
You have never filed. Build your first claim in the right order.
A higher rating or a new condition
You have a rating. The condition got worse, or it caused a new one.
You disagree with a decision
Read the reason in your decision letter, then compare the three ways to appeal.
The VA does not add ratings, it combines them. The combined rating calculator shows the math, then starts your Claim Map.
Who's behind it
Hector K, Air Force Veteran
I filed my own claim the hard way. I spent three years reading the regulations and thousands of Board decisions before I sent it in. By the end I knew what the VA grants and what it turns down. This site is what I wish I'd had on day one. I run it through Pursuit Labs, a small company I own, and nobody here earns more when your rating goes up.
What you get when you sign in
The Claim Map is free today. The written playbook is next.
An interactive playbook builder, customized to you.
1 · The Claim Map, free now
Find your conditions
A drawing of the body. Select a part to see the conditions the VA rates there, in plain English, with the real diagnostic codes and rating percentages. Amber marks the secondary conditions the Board has seen claimed with yours in the decisions we have indexed. A secondary is a condition caused by one you already have.
2 · Your situation, free now
Tell us where you stand
A first claim, an increase, a secondary condition, an appeal, or a VA exam (called a C&P exam) next week. Where and when you served, so we can show which conditions the VA already presumes came from your service. And what evidence you already have.
3 · Your playbook, coming
Built from your Claim Map
A chapter for each of your main conditions, up to eight, and a rating-ladder card for any others. Each chapter has the rating ladder, the secondaries, what the Board granted and denied in cases like yours, and the evidence that made the difference. Question sheets for your spouse or battle buddy, with an opening line and prompts, so they can write in their own words what they saw. We are writing this piece now. Your Claim Map is saved, and we email you the day it is ready.
3 · Your playbook
Built from your Claim Map
A chapter for each of your main conditions, up to eight, and a rating-ladder card for any others. Each chapter has the rating ladder, the secondaries, what the Board granted and denied in cases like yours, and the evidence that made the difference. Question sheets for your spouse or battle buddy, with an opening line and prompts, so they can write in their own words what they saw.
Saved to your account
Follows you
Your Claim Map is saved under your email address, so you can start on your phone and finish on a laptop. When something changes, come back and rebuild your map.
Never your records
Nothing to upload
You never send us medical records or a claim file. You tell us your conditions. We tell you how the rules and the Board treat them.
Then you file
You stay in control
You file on VA.gov or with a VSO. We never touch your claim and never take a cut of anything the VA awards you.
The Claim Map is free when you sign in. The written playbook is $49.99, one time. No subscription. No percentage of your award, ever.
The Claim Map is free when you sign in. The written playbook is $49.99, one time. No subscription. No percentage of your award, ever.
You sign in first, so your playbook is saved to your account and we can email it to you. It is written after you pay and it usually arrives in 5 to 15 minutes.
The method
Nine steps. In this order.
Gather your documents, and see a private doctor
First, send the VA an intent to file. The day the VA receives it counts as your claim's filing date, if your complete claim reaches the VA within a year. An intent to file does not work for a supplemental claim, where you add evidence and ask the VA to decide again. Next, gather service treatment records, private records, your DD-214. Then a private doctor for a nexus opinion, a letter tying the condition to your service, and a DBQ, the VA's exam form, done with the right measuring tools. This is where many veterans stall, so this is where the playbook starts.
Find the applicable ratings
Your diagnosis becomes a diagnostic code with a rating ladder. Knowing the criteria tells you what the exam has to measure.
Look for secondary conditions
A bad knee changes how you walk. Over time that can wear down a hip, your back, and the other knee. The VA rates each one on its own once a doctor links it to the first. The VA calls these secondaries.
Check whether the VA already presumes your condition
If you served in certain places or times, the VA accepts that certain conditions came from service. These are called presumptive conditions. You do not have to prove the link.
Read the actual Board decisions
The Board of Veterans' Appeals publishes its decisions, with names removed. For each condition, they show what evidence won and what exam mistakes lost. This is the hack. This site is how you do it without reading thousands of decisions.
Mental health problems caused by your conditions are real, and the VA rates them
Depression and anxiety caused by any service-connected condition are rated on their own. In the Board decisions we have indexed, mental health was claimed as secondary to another condition 11,476 times. Many veterans never think to claim it.
Submit with evidence
A claim is evidence, not a form. Nexus letters, statements, private records: filed with the complete claim, not after. Send it inside the year your intent to file gives you.
Get lay evidence
Statements from the people who saw the change in you: a spouse, a friend, someone you served with. They saw it happen, and the Board must weigh what they say.
Be honest
Say exactly what happens, no more and no less. The VA compares your exam to your records. Understating and overstating both cost you. Being honest and thorough does not guarantee a grant, but it is the kind of record the Board can grant on.
Start here
Read the method before you read anything else.
The nine steps, in order, with the regulation behind each one and a real Board decision to show what winning evidence looked like. Then three deeper reads on the steps most veterans skip.
Pinned
The VA Disability Hack in Nine Steps
The whole method on one page.
Step 6
Mental Health Caused by Your Service-Connected Conditions
In the Board decisions we have indexed, a bad back or knee is the usual cause. Many veterans never think to file for it.
Step 5
How to Read a Board of Veterans' Appeals Decision
Where the reasons live, what a remand means, and how to find the exam finding that decided it.
Step 8
Lay Evidence and Buddy Statements That Hold Up
Who can speak for you, and what they should say.
What veterans say