The most important thing you can do as a veteran is take you dd form 214 to a veteran service officer.

They are available in most counties at the government buildings.  They are also available through websites such as the American legion VFW etc. What happens is, you basically sign a power of attorney allowing them to represent you, do research and submit paperwork for you. There also authorized to represent you at boards and submittal process events.

This is very important because most state VA benefits are far different than federal benefits.

The most important part about the veterans service officer is that he or she is an advocate for you Unlike the VA offices. The VA is there to try and debunk fakes and provide services that they have documented.

Your advocate is there to represent you and knows the ends and outs of the veteran affairs systems and processes.

Not to piss people off but there are various threads here that are misunderstood and incorrectly advised due to the differences between the federal and state VA benefits and medical processes. Believe it or not it can be very complex.

Best regards,

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Point taken.

Also, a veteran doesn't need a lawyer to represent them as they take 30% off the top if the veteran wins.

Cheers OP, I hope every Vet on this board reads your post and takes it to heart.

The Service Officer is the most CRITICAL person that you can talk to. That said, just like every profession there are good ones and not so good ones.

If you feel you are getting a bum scoop, AND YOU DON'T HAVE A CLAIM PENDING, fire him/her and find another; if your disability/pension claim is pending, contact another rep of the same organization (DAV, VFW, MOPH, etc).

eta: kant shpell.

Well said Apathy.

I also tell ALL vets to register with the VA so they are in the system and can get benefits immediately instead of having to wait if they need them in the future.

Your VA service rep is also FREE of charge. They are paid by the .gov.

ENSURE YOU GET A VA SERVICE REP AND NOT A PERSON WHO WORKS AT THE VA! They are two separate entities.

The service rep REPRESENTS you. The VA employee only provides service TO you.

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Be very careful with this. They will push for you to get every single benefit and disability rating possible. If you don't want anything to do with a ptsd rating, be very clear about it. The VA tried very hard to get me a service connected rating for ptsd even though I never claimed it and didn't want it.

Why would the VA try to MAKE you claim that?

They want to give you the least service connected ailments possible.

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