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NOTE:  The previous "HOW TO FILE A CLAIM" page has been archived for your reference ... you can find it here...

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Going to file a VA claim?  You only need to go one place ...

JIM STRICKLAND'S "A to Z GUIDE OF VETERANS DISABILITY COMPENSATION BENEFITS"

The following is from Jim's home page:

Welcome to the A to Z Guide of Veterans Disability Compensation Benefits.

Since 2006 I've devoted time to writing about the proven best approaches to securing your benefits. Most of my work is published at VA Watchdog Dot Org. I also publish at The Veterans Voice and Military Dot Com.

I put up the Google Knol Guide and it has proved itself to be successful in helping many veterans to navigate those choppy waters at the VBA.

The editors at those sites above have provided the veteran with an oasis of reliable information on an often hostile Internet.

Their sites provide facts about benefits as well as other news of interest to the military and veteran community. Be sure to visit them often.

The knol and archives of my writing will continue to exist on those sites mentioned above. I'll continue to publish Q & A work as well as ask other experts to contribute to the efforts by providing their experiences and knowledge.

This A to Z Guide will provide the reader with most of the tools and the basic knowledge necessary to determine what benefits the veteran is eligible for. I'm designing it with a more structured approach to finding what you need to know.

You'll quickly notice that much of the data presented here is taken directly from the DVA web site. That's because the DVA site is full of information and is often the best place to start a search to learn about your benefits. The problem with the DVA site is that it's huge and isn't usually very easy to navigate. I've tried to help you by aiming links directly into the DVA site for the data that you need most often.

I suggest that from there you use the search engines I've provided for you and do a more thorough Internet search for yourself. If you aren't expert with how to use key words and phrases for a search, have a look here first http://www.googleguide.com/

This web site will always be a work in progress, always unfinished. If your question isn't answered here, email me and I'll do what I can to find an answer for you.

Do yourself a favor...read this guide thoroughly before taking on the task of filing for a benefit. The reading and learning you do tonight may save you years of trouble down the road.

No single guide can cover it all. The issues that revolve around our VA are endless. Use this as a resource but don't forget to search archives on the sites I publish on and read the contributions made by lawyers and others on the knol.

The bottom line when we consider disability compensation benefits isn't hard to understand. The Veterans Benefits Administration has a process.

The way the VBA operates, the process is all that matters. Few people at VBA care what the outcomes are so long as process is followed and t's get crossed and i's get dots.

The process applies to everyone...even you.

You can't skip any details of the process. It doesn't matter to anyone at your Regional Office that you need the money or that you really are sick, if you don't stick to the process, you lose.

On the flip side of that, if you have a well grounded case and you are meticulous in how you work through the process, you'll be awarded what you deserve. It may not happen as quickly as it should and somewhere along the way you'll probably get a denial letter but that too is part of the process.

Those who accept that, prepare for it and deal with it as a matter of fact will fare much better than those who try to game the system to their advantage.

The VBA is a badly broken piece of machinery. If you remember that at every turn, you'll be happier for it. All that's required of you is perfection in every piece of evidence you submit, the patience of a saint and the tenacity of a junkyard dog.

No problem....right? Now, get to work.

DISCLAIMER

I'm not a lawyer. I don't play lawyer. I don't pretend to have anywhere close to a legal mindset. This isn't legal advice. I refer a lot of veterans to lawyers because I have limits to my knowledge. I'm offering this advice to you based on my personal experiences as well as what I've learned from others over the years. The process of filing a claim for disability compensation at the VA is not supposed to be a legal process, it's an administrative process.

I'm offering advice on how that game gets played.

As soon as your claim becomes "legal" work, I will always refer you to a lawyer. That occurs (in my mind) when your claim goes to the Board of Veterans Appeals or to a higher court.

The VBA has hundreds of lawyers earning nice paychecks to defend against you. For you to not have a lawyer as soon as you even remotely need one is foolish and self destructive.

This site offers you advice on how to do the administrative work yourself. If you have a good case, if you do this first level of work properly, if you're patient...you probably won't need the lawyer and eventually you'll have a fair adjudication from VBA.

Keep in mind that my work is offered a guidance only and there is no warranty, express or implied.


Read Carefully Please.

Please read this front/home page before you look for answers to your questions. Then, as you begin to seek the data you need, read through everything carefully to ensure that you understand it all. Some of the rules are very complex and will require some study to understand.

You may have arrived on this page because you wrote to me and I told you that I'd already answered your question here.

Someone else may have referred you here or you may have stumbled here after searching the Internet.

I've seen a pattern develop over the years so I've tried to assemble this Guide to address the most frequent topics that concern you.

The 3 that top the list are;

(1) How long will this take and how can I speed up my award, I need the money?

(2) I have a rating for 100% IU and I want that to be 100% schedular because that seems to be a better rating with more benefits!

(3) I have a rating but it's too low. How do I get an increase?

For those answers;

(1) See Claims

(2) See Individual Unemployability

(3) See How To Increase An Existing Rating


Nobody cares about your claim but you.

Nobody!

The answer to your question is probably in here somewhere. If you can't find it, email me.

I'll address your concern and I'll post it for the benefit of others. If it's in here and you just didn't take the time to look for it, I'll refer you right back here.

I can't do it all for you. A VSO can't do it all for you. If you expect to win, you have to put in the time to learn how that happens.

It isn't terribly hard but if you don't dedicate yourself to doing this correctly, you'll be here 2 or 3 years from now wondering what went wrong.

This is your claim, not mine. This guide will help only if you do the heavy lifting.

Good luck!

Housekeeping Notes

This is a larger project than I'd anticipated.

I've received a lot of assistance from my friend Janet Jennings. Janet has been reading all this for me and continues to proofread, checking my spelling and looking for non-functional links. Janet is a veteran with her own disability issues but still is out and about on the Internet helping other vets. That's in her spare time, when she isn't busy raising her kids and spending hours reading my scribbles.

Thanks Janet.

Even Janet may miss something so if you see a dead link, misinformation, misspelling or if I've failed to give a source proper credit for something I've used, please email me and let me know. I'm open to suggestions for topics and improvements.

Much of the photography you see is my own work. I also use a lot of images from the Internet. I believe that the images I use are freely available for such non-profit use. If I've somehow infringed on your property, a quick email to me will assure that it's promptly removed.

I copy a lot of data from the VA web site. I do that in hopes of providing it directly to you so that you don't have to chase it down over there.

I'll be sending out more frequent newsletters if you care to sign up. That's as easy as emailing me to tell me you'd like to receive my newsletters or you may go to the "Guestbook" page to sign up.

I'll be providing some handy tools for you to use as you gather data for your case. For example, I'll place a Google custom search engine on every page for you to use. That way you don't need to leave the page to do a quick Internet search.

I'll install more tools for you as the site develops. Please tell me what you believe you need to use the site more effectively.

If you like what you see and the information I provide here helps you, tell others about it. If there is something I've missed, tell me.

Thanks for stopping by!

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For complete information on filing a claim ... click below ...