Initial claim or do you already have a rating? I don’t need to know details, but if you already have a service connected disability rating then you either fall into connected and low enough to score in a high group number or it’s high enough you should be able to just call the VAMC and schedule appointment. If you are talking about initial claim or increasing a claim, you need to gather the evidence. Service treatment records. Current diagnosis, can be from outside VA, and then the link between the two. Sometimes obvious, sometimes needs some medical opinion commonly called a nexus letter to connect the dots for VA rather. The systems are separate though VHA is concerned with patient healthcare and not benefits. VBA is best thought of as a legal process that requires medical evidence. A good VSO can help. Your mileage may vary. I can say that since I moved to Virginia and I use the state department of veteran services as my VSO, remotely, everything is video call and email, they rock. They have resources in the backend for the VSO, appeals experts, attorneys and templates to ask medical providers for “nexus letters.”

I’m Chuck. 10 years as Nuke Electrician on Fast Attack submarines. Have been a civilian for 30 years at this point. I have a lot of experience in operations, specifically acquisitions and manufacturing. I also currently work with businesses on getting capital solutions in place. That could be an SBA loan, a real estate investor looking for DSCR or BRRRR and often times we can work together to get up to $100K at 0% interest in 3-5 weeks for growth, obviously credit and other factors apply.