You earned it · nobody told you

Ten VA benefits most veterans never use

Most veterans do not lose these benefits. They never hear the benefit exists, or they read a rule stated too narrowly and decide they do not qualify. Here are ten of them, stated at full width, with the form number and the deadline attached.

← Back to vsgsolutions.org Intent to File on VA.gov
Veterans Crisis Line — dial 988, then press 1. Text 838255. Chat at veteranscrisisline.net. TTY 711 then 988, or 1-800-799-4889. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You do not have to be enrolled in VA benefits or health care to connect.
This page touches caregiver mental health counseling and VA health care, so that number goes first. Put it in your phone now, and in the phone of somebody who would call on your behalf.
How to read this page. I wrote every item from VA's own published rules. Where the common version of a rule is stated too narrowly, I state it wide, because a rule stated too narrowly is what stops a veteran from filing. If a door is closed to you, I name the next door. Nothing here costs you money, and no term goes by without a plain-English definition.

One warning about dollar figures. VA resets the automobile allowance and the housing grant maximums every October 1, and the clothing allowance every December 1. Where a maximum moves on that cycle I send you to VA's own rate page instead of printing a number that will be stale by the time you read it. VA's rate page: va.gov/disability/compensation-rates/special-benefit-allowance-rates.

Two phone numbers worth writing down. VA benefits line 1-800-827-1000. VA main information line 800-698-2411.
1 · Family health care

CHAMPVA — health coverage for your spouse and children

The Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The veteran is not the patient here — the Family is.

  • Who qualifies, the TRICARE rule and the Medicare rule are on our page CHAMPVA health coverage for families
  • A Primary Family Caregiver recognized under the caregiver program (see number 6) who has no other health insurance may also qualify
It is not free care. CHAMPVA is cost-sharing: a $50 per person / up to $100 per Family deductible each calendar year, a 25% beneficiary share of the CHAMPVA allowable amount, and a $3,000 per-household annual catastrophic cap. Anyone who tells you CHAMPVA is free has not read the program guide.
Dental is not in it. CHAMPVA excludes routine dental, dentures and orthodontia, and excludes routine eye exams and non-implanted hearing aids. Do not read number 3 on this page and assume your children are covered for dental. They are not.
Child age limits. Coverage for a dependent child generally ends at 18. It can continue from 18 to 23 if the child is enrolled in school full time. It can continue past 18 with no age cutoff if the child became permanently incapable of self-support before turning 18.
How to file. VA Form 10-10d (Application for CHAMPVA Benefits) and VA Form 10-7959c (Other Health Insurance Certification). Send both — 10-10d alone gets held. Later medical claims go in on VA Form 10-7959a. va.gov/health-care/family-caregiver-benefits/champva
★ Two forms, not one. Send both.

CHAMPVA — health coverage for your spouse and children

Page reviewed September 2026.per person$50per Family$100
a $50 per person / up to $100 per Family deductible each calendar yearva.gov/health-care/family-caregiver-benefits/champva
2 · Education

Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA, Chapter 35)

School money for your children and your spouse. Keep the word "Survivors'" in the name — dropping it hides an entire eligibility path.

  • Who qualifies, the months of entitlement, the time limits, the Fry Scholarship choice and the form are on our page Chapter 35 DEA benefits
On unemployability ratings. A total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU — VA pays you at the 100% rate because your service-connected conditions keep you from working) counts for Chapter 35 only when that rating is held permanent. A TDIU rating that is not permanent does not open this door. Check the wording on your rating decision before you promise your child anything.
How it interacts with survivor payments. A child receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC — a monthly survivor payment) must give up those DIC payments to use DEA. A spouse may receive DIC and use DEA at the same time.
va.gov/education/survivor-dependent-benefits/dependents-education-assistance
★ No Intent to File protects this date. Only the application does.
3 · Dental

VA dental care — and the trauma path almost nobody knows

VA dental is not a single yes-or-no. It is a set of eligibility classes, and one of them ignores your rating percentage entirely.

Class II(a) — combat wounds and service trauma. If you have a service-connected noncompensable dental condition or disability that VA adjudicated as resulting from combat wounds or service trauma, you are eligible for any needed treatment for that condition. There is no rating percentage requirement, no time limit, and no one-time restriction. If you lost teeth or took jaw damage from an injury in service, this is your paragraph. Do not buy insurance instead of filing.

Any needed dental care, at no charge:

  • Class IV — rated 100% by schedular evaluation, or entitled to the 100% rate by reason of individual unemployability (TDIU)
  • Class II(c) — former prisoner of war
  • Class I — a service-connected compensable dental disability
  • Class II(a) — combat wounds or service trauma, as above

More limited care:

  • Class II — a one-time course of care for a noncompensable service-connected dental condition: 90 or more days of Persian Gulf War era service, or 180 or more days otherwise. There is an application deadline after discharge, so file as soon as you separate
  • Class III — a dental condition professionally determined to be aggravating a service-connected medical condition
  • Class IIB — Homeless Veterans Dental Program
  • Class V — enrolled in Veteran Readiness and Employment, Chapter 31 (see number 8)
  • Class VI — a dental condition complicating a medical condition VA is treating
  • Inpatient — receiving inpatient care in a hospital, nursing home or other supervised homelike setting
Covered care includes exams, cleanings, extractions, fillings and more. If none of the classes reach you, the next door is VADIP, the VA Dental Insurance Program, which offers discounted dental insurance. Read the classes first. va.gov/health-care/about-va-health-benefits/dental-care
★ Service trauma needs no percentage.
4 · Cash reimbursement

VA clothing allowance

This is not money for special clothing you need to buy. It reimburses clothing your treatment damages. Most veterans get this backwards and never file.

  • $1,053.19 per allowance, effective 1 December 2025 — paid as an annual lump sum. This rate resets 1 December 2026; check VA's rate page after that date
  • You qualify if you have a service-connected disability and you wear or use a prosthetic or orthopedic appliance that wears or tears your clothing
  • Or you use a physician-prescribed medication for a service-connected skin condition that irreparably stains or damages your outer garments
  • The criteria are set by 38 CFR 3.810 — the federal regulation, not a local policy
A wheelchair counts. Under 38 CFR 3.810 a wheelchair is a qualifying appliance. If you use a chair and your clothing shows it, you are in this benefit. Wheelchair users read the words "prosthetic or orthopedic appliance" and count themselves out. Do not.
You can be paid more than one. VA's Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service states a maximum of four allowances per benefit year, two per garment type (two upper, two lower), where multiple qualifying appliances or medications are involved. A veteran with both a prosthesis and a prescribed skin medication who claims one allowance is claiming a fraction of what he is owed.
The August 1 date is widely misstated, and the narrow version costs people money. August 1 is the date you must meet the criteria for that benefit year. Under 38 CFR 3.810(c)(1) you then have one year from that August 1 anniversary date — through July 31 of the following year — to file. Apply by August 1 if you can, and avoid the argument. But if August 1 has already gone by, do not assume the payment is lost. File. VA's prosthetics page states a flat August 1 application cutoff; the regulation is broader, and the regulation is the law.
How to file. VA Form 10-8678. You apply once. If your appliances and prescribed skin medications do not change, VA keeps paying the allowance every year and no annual application is required. File again only to add an additional allowance, or when your devices or medications change. va.gov/disability/eligibility/special-claims/clothing-allowance
★ Past August 1? Still file.
5 · Base access

Commissary, exchange and MWR privileges

Shop at the PX, BX, NEX and Commissary. The old "you must be 100%" rule has been gone since 1 January 2020 and thousands of veterans still believe it.

  • You qualify if you have a service-connected disability rating — any rating, 0% to 100% — and an honorable discharge
  • Or you are retired from military service
  • Or you are a former prisoner of war
  • Or you are a member of the Reserves
  • Or you are a Purple Heart or Medal of Honor recipient
  • Or you are a Primary Family Caregiver designated under the caregiver program (number 6)
What to bring, and the online-shopping rule, are on our page What a 10 percent rating gets you. va.gov/resources/commissary-and-exchange-privileges-for-veterans
★ Zero percent is still service connected.
6 · Caregivers

The two caregiver programs — PCAFC and PGCSS

One pays a monthly stipend. One does not. Most Families have never heard the second one exists, so when they fail the rating test for the first they walk away with nothing.

PCAFC — Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers. Pays a monthly stipend to a designated Primary Family Caregiver, and adds CHAMPVA health coverage for that caregiver, mental health counseling, travel benefits and respite care — real money and real coverage that the phrase "support and resources" buries.
  • PCAFC requires a single or combined service-connected disability rating of 70% or more
  • The veteran must be enrolled in VA health care
  • The veteran must need personal care services for at least six continuous months because he cannot perform an activity of daily living, or needs supervision, protection or instruction
  • Apply on VA Form 10-10CG
Under 70%? You are not shut out. PGCSS — the Program of General Caregiver Support Services — has no disability rating requirement and no formal application. It offers training, coaching, peer mentoring and respite care. It pays no stipend.

The one gate PGCSS does have: the veteran must be enrolled in VA health care, and must need help with one or more activities of daily living, or supervision or protection. Contact your facility's Caregiver Support Program team, or ask the veteran's provider for a referral, complete an intake interview, and you can begin using services. The caregiver does not have to be a relative and does not have to live with the veteran.
How the PCAFC stipend is figured — it is not one flat amount. VA starts with the federal General Schedule (GS) grade 4, step 1 annual pay rate for the Veteran's locality pay area, and divides it by 12 to get a monthly stipend rate. Level One pays that monthly rate times 62.5%. Level Two pays it times 100% and applies when the Veteran is determined unable to self-sustain in the community. So the amount depends on where the Veteran lives and which level VA assigns. Payment is by direct deposit only. Questions about a stipend: Caregiver Stipend Team 1-833-930-0816. caregiver.va.gov/support/PCAFC-Stipend.asp · 38 CFR 71.40
A third door: Veteran Directed Care (VDC). This is a VA home and community care program, not a caregiver stipend. The Veteran gets a budget and hires the help himself for things like bathing, dressing, meals, getting around and grocery shopping — and the worker can be a family member or neighbor. It is open to enrolled Veterans of any age who meet VA's clinical need criteria, and no specific disability rating is listed as a requirement. It is not offered at every VA, and a copay may apply depending on service-connected status. Ask the VA social worker at your VA medical center. va.gov/geriatrics/pages/Veteran-Directed_Care.asp
va.gov/family-and-caregiver-benefits/health-and-disability/comprehensive-assistance-for-family-caregivers · caregiver.va.gov/Care_Caregivers.asp
★ Two programs. Ask about both.

How the PCAFC stipend is figured

Page reviewed September 2026.Level One62.5%Level Two100%
Level One pays that monthly rate times 62.5%. Level Two pays it times 100%caregiver.va.gov/support/PCAFC-Stipend.asp
7 · Vehicles and home

Automobile allowance, adaptive equipment and home adaptation grants

These are four different programs with four different forms. There is no single "adaptive equipment grant," and a veteran who files as if there were files the wrong paper.

Get VA approval BEFORE you buy the vehicle or the equipment. Buy first and you can lose the allowance entirely. This is the most expensive mistake on this page.
  1. Wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs come through VA health care from the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service. Enroll in VA health care and get a VA prescription. There is no grant application for these.
  2. Ramps and medically necessary home modifications — HISA grant, VA Form 10-0103. $6,800 lifetime if the need is service-connected, treated as if service-connected, or you are non-service-connected with a 50% or higher service-connected rating; otherwise $2,000 lifetime. Confirm the current figure with VA before you plan around it.
  3. Larger home adaptations — Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) or Special Home Adaptation (SHA), VA Form 26-4555. The maximums are set each fiscal year and change every October 1, so get the current number from VA's page. SAH and SHA can be used up to six different times over your lifetime, up to the maximum.
  4. Vehicles — automobile allowance and vehicle adaptive equipment. Approval first, purchase second. Who qualifies, the forms, the current maximum and the second-allowance rule are on our page Automobile allowance and adaptive equipment.
Living in a Family member's home? There is a grant for that. Temporary Residence Adaptation (TRA) pays toward adapting a home owned by a Family member you are living in temporarily — also VA Form 26-4555, with separate maximums for SAH-eligible and SHA-eligible veterans. If you need a ramp at your daughter's house, TRA is your program, and almost nobody mentions it.
va.gov/disability/eligibility/special-claims/automobile-allowance-adaptive-equipment · va.gov/housing-assistance/disability-housing-grants · prosthetics.va.gov/psas/HISA2.asp
★ Approval first. Purchase second.
8 · Careers

Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E, Chapter 31)

Formerly called Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment. Training, education and employment services tied to your service-connected disability.

Who qualifies, the time limit, the forms and the months of services are on our page What a 10 percent rating gets you and Veteran Readiness and Employment (Chapter 31).

Chapter 31 carries dental. Enrollment in VR&E makes you Class V eligible for VA dental care (see number 3). Two benefits out of one application.
va.gov/careers-employment/vocational-rehabilitation/eligibility
★ On or after 1 Jan 2013 — no deadline.
9 · Life insurance

VALife — whole life coverage at a 0% rating

A veteran with a 0% service-connected rating usually thinks 0% is worth nothing. For this benefit, 0% is the ticket in.

Any service-connected rating qualifies, even 0%. Full coverage does not begin until two years after you apply, so apply early. The amount, the age rules and the details are on our page At 100 percent: everything that comes with it.

va.gov/life-insurance/options-eligibility/valife
★ Apply early. The clock starts at filing.
10 · Monthly income

Veterans Pension — and Aid and Attendance

A needs-based monthly payment for wartime veterans. Different from disability compensation, and far less claimed.

  • Wartime service is the first gate, and it is where most readers stop:
    • Active duty starting before 8 September 1980 — at least 90 days of active duty with at least 1 day during a wartime period
    • Enlisted starting after 7 September 1980 — at least 24 months, or the full period for which you were called
    • Officer starting after 16 October 1981 with no prior 24 months of active duty
  • Plus an age or disability condition: 65 or older; or permanently and totally disabled; or in a nursing home for a disability; or receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
  • Plus yearly Family income and net worth within the limits Congress sets
  • Apply on VA Form 21P-527EZ
Ask about the add-ons. Aid and Attendance and Housebound are increased-pension allowances paid on top of the basic pension rate when you need help with daily living or are largely confined to your home. Families pay for in-home help out of pocket for years without ever asking VA about these two.
Pension and disability compensation cannot be paid at the same time. VA pays the greater of the two. If you are already receiving compensation, this is a comparison question, not a second check.
An Intent to File does work for pension — see the filing panel below. va.gov/pension/eligibility
★ Wartime service, then income, then the add-ons.
Six more that belong in the same binder. These did not make the ten, and one of them — the home loan funding fee exemption — is probably the largest single cash saving on this page. Read them anyway.
Also earned

VA home loan — the funding fee exemption

The loan is a service benefit, not a disability benefit. But a service-connected disability can save you thousands at the closing table.

The funding fee exemption. The first-use VA funding fee is 2.15% of the loan with less than 5% down (1.5% at 5% down, 1.25% at 10% down). On a $300,000 loan that 2.15% is $6,450. You are exempt if you receive VA compensation for a service-connected disability, and in other cases. The full exemption list, including the memorandum-rating case for transitioning Soldiers, and the refund rule are on our page At 100 percent: everything that comes with it and What a 10 percent rating gets you.
"Zero down, no matter your credit history" is not true, and that line sends people to a closing table unprepared.
  • Down payment: no down payment is required if you have full entitlement. If you have used part of your entitlement and not restored it, your lender may require a down payment when your remaining entitlement will not cover a 25% VA guaranty on the loan you want. Get your Certificate of Eligibility (COE) first so you know which case you are in
  • Credit: VA sets no minimum credit score, but 38 CFR 36.4340(g) requires the lender to find you a satisfactory credit risk, and lenders add their own credit, income and occupancy standards on top of VA's
No credit history is not the same as bad credit. The regulation says plainly that the fact a recently discharged veteran had no opportunity to develop a credit history will not preclude a satisfactory credit determination. Say that out loud to a lender who tells you otherwise.
Past bankruptcy. It does not automatically disqualify you. Under 38 CFR 36.4340(g)(2), a Chapter 7 discharge within the past 12 months generally will not support a satisfactory-credit-risk finding; a discharge one to two years back can still be approved if the bankruptcy was caused by circumstances beyond your control and you have obtained credit since and paid it satisfactorily. Under (g)(3), a Chapter 13 still in payout can get favorable consideration once at least 12 months of payments have been made satisfactorily and the Trustee or Bankruptcy Judge approves the new credit.
Eligibility is service-based. You need the minimum active-duty service for your service period, or qualifying National Guard or Reserve service, a discharge under conditions other than dishonorable, and you must occupy the home. A service-connected disability can shorten the required service period to less than 90 days if you were discharged for that disability. The benefit is restorable and reusable — this is not a one-house benefit.
If your discharge is other than honorable. A dishonorable, bad conduct, or other-than-honorable discharge may make you ineligible — it is not automatic. You can request a VA Character of Discharge review or apply for a discharge upgrade, and exceptions exist for hardship, convenience of the government, and certain medical discharges. Start there instead of assuming the door is shut.
va.gov/housing-assistance/home-loans/eligibility · va.gov/housing-assistance/home-loans/funding-fee-and-closing-costs · va.gov/housing-assistance/home-loans/loan-limits
★ Show the rating. Skip the fee.
Also earned

Beneficiary Travel — VA pays you to go to your appointment

One of the most under-claimed benefits VA has. If somebody told you free public transit is a VA benefit, that is a state, city or transit-authority program, not VA. This is the federal one, and it is real money in mileage.

Who qualifies, what needs preapproval, and how and when to file (VA Form 10-3542, within 30 days) are on our page Veteran travel and lodging benefits.

What VA pays. Mileage at 41.5 cents per mile for approved health-related travel, plus tolls and parking. Preapproved bus, taxi, rideshare, train or plane fares, specially equipped vehicle transport, and preapproved meals and lodging can also be reimbursed. The deductible is $3 each way ($6 round trip), capped at $18 a month, and it can be waived for pension recipients, for scheduled VA claim exams, and when your income is below VA's limits. VA can change the mileage rate and deductible, so confirm both on VA's page. va.gov/resources/reimbursed-va-travel-expenses-and-mileage-rate
Help line 855-574-7292. va.gov/health-care/get-reimbursed-for-travel-pay
★ Service connected? Any rating travels.
Also earned

The federal recreation passes — two of them, not one

Free lifetime access to federal recreation sites managed by six agencies, not just National Parks. And no, you do not need a disability rating.

Both passes, the accepted proof, what each one covers and does not cover, and the fees are on our page Veteran travel and lodging benefits.

nps.gov/planyourvisit/veterans-and-gold-star-families-free-access.htm · store.usgs.gov/access-pass
★ All veterans. No rating needed.
Also earned

State and county property tax relief

Not a VA benefit — a state and local one. It can be the biggest yearly saving on this whole page, and the 100% myth keeps people from checking.

Rules, thresholds and deadlines vary by state, and you must apply through your state or county. What to check, and what to ask, is on our page At 100 percent: everything that comes with it.

★ Below 100%? Check anyway.
Also earned

Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) — extra pay on top of your rating

A higher rate of compensation VA pays to Veterans, and to some spouses, surviving spouses and parents, who have certain severe disabilities or needs. It is not a second claim for the same condition. It is a higher tier of pay for specific losses.

  • Loss, or loss of use, of a hand, foot, arm or leg
  • Loss of sight, or blindness
  • Being permanently bedridden
  • Needing regular help with daily activities (this is the aid and attendance level)
  • Being largely unable to leave home because of service-connected disabilities (housebound)

The SMC levels and how they combine are on our page At 100 percent: everything that comes with it. If your rating decision does not mention SMC and one of these situations describes you, ask an accredited representative to review the decision at no charge.

va.gov/disability/compensation-rates/special-monthly-compensation-rates · 38 CFR 3.350
★ Ask whether your rating decision considered SMC.
Also earned

Federal student-loan discharge for a 100% or unemployable rating

This one comes from the Department of Education, not VA, and it can erase a federal student loan balance.

Who qualifies, how the Department of Education finds you, and how to apply yourself are on our page At 100 percent: everything that comes with it.

Federal Student Aid: 800-433-3243. Ask them whether any loan in your name that is not a plain Direct or FFEL loan is covered before you assume it is or is not. studentaid.gov/articles/tpd
★ 100% or TDIU. Check your loans.
Read this before you file

Intent to File — what it actually protects

An Intent to File can hold your effective date and back pay. But it does not cover everything, and believing that it does can cost a survivor months of payments she cannot recover.

VA Form 21-0966, Intent to File, works for exactly three things:
  1. Disability compensation
  2. Pension benefits
  3. Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC)
File it, and you generally have a year to get the full claim in with your effective date held back to the date of the Intent to File.
It does NOT apply to education benefits, CHAMPVA, or health care. Of everything on this page, an Intent to File reaches Veterans Pension and nothing else. For Chapter 35 and CHAMPVA there is no effective-date placeholder at all — the application itself is the only thing that protects the date. If a Family is waiting on paperwork to file Chapter 35, they are losing money every month they wait.
va.gov/resources/your-intent-to-file-a-va-claim
★ Compensation, pension, DIC. That is the list.
Read this before you file

If VA says no — your three review options

A denial is not the end of the claim. It is the start of a deadline. Know all three before you pick one.

  • Higher-Level Review — VA Form 20-0996. One year from the date of the decision. A more senior reviewer looks at the same evidence
  • Board Appeal — one year from the date of the decision. Goes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals
  • Supplemental Claim — VA Form 20-0995. You add new and relevant evidence. No filing deadline
  • Contested claim (more than one person claiming the same benefit) — 60 days, Board only
The Supplemental Claim trap. "No deadline" is true, and it is also the most expensive half-truth in the appeals system. If you file a Supplemental Claim more than one year after VA's decision, you break what the regulation calls continuous pursuit, and your effective date becomes the date VA received the supplemental claim — not the date of your original claim. That can erase years of retroactive pay. File within one year and keep your original effective date.
★ No deadline is not the same as no cost.
Read this before you file

Who can help you file, and what they may charge

Some help is free by law. Some help may charge, but only at a certain point and only up to a certain amount. Know the difference before you sign anything.

  • An accredited VSO representative (Veterans Service Organization) helps you prepare and file at no charge. Under 38 CFR 14.636(b), only accredited agents and attorneys may receive fees at all — a VSO representative charging you a fee is not a courtesy problem, it is a regulatory violation
  • Accredited attorneys and claims agents may charge only after VA's initial decision, capped by a presumption of reasonableness. The fee rules are on our page At 100 percent: everything that comes with it
Do not assume all accredited help is free, and do not assume all of it costs. Both assumptions cost veterans money. Ask directly: are you accredited, and what will this cost me, and when?
★ Free before the decision. Ask before you sign.
Survivors

Survivor benefits and the form number that trips everyone

Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) is a monthly payment to eligible survivors. Three different applicants, three different forms.

  • Surviving spouse or child of a veteran — VA Form 21P-534EZ
  • Surviving spouse or child of an active-duty service member — VA Form 21P-534a
  • Parents' DIC — VA Form 21P-535, Application for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation by Parent(s)
VA Form 21P-509 is NOT a DIC application. It is the Statement of Dependency of Parent(s), a supporting form used to establish a parent as a dependent on a living veteran's award. That is a different purpose entirely. I have seen this one confused, and a wrong form is a wasted month.
Also for survivors on this page: Chapter 35 education (number 2), CHAMPVA (number 1), the home loan funding fee exemption for DIC-receiving surviving spouses, and an Intent to File, which does cover DIC. va.gov/family-and-caregiver-benefits/survivor-compensation/dependency-indemnity-compensation
★ 21P-535 for parents. Not 21P-509.
Take this with you

Every form number on this page, in one place

Tear this panel off and carry it. Half of getting a VA benefit is walking in with the right form number in your hand.

  • 10-10d + 10-7959cCHAMPVA application and other health insurance certification (claims later on 10-7959a)
  • 22-5490Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance, Chapter 35
  • 10-8678Clothing allowance
  • 10-10CGPCAFC caregiver program
  • 21-4502Automobile allowance — the vehicle
  • 10-1394Vehicle adaptive equipment — separate application
  • 10-0103HISA grant — ramps and home modifications
  • 26-4555SAH, SHA and TRA housing grants
  • 28-1900Veteran Readiness and Employment, Chapter 31
  • 21P-527EZVeterans Pension
  • 10-3542Beneficiary Travel — file within 30 days
  • 21-0966Intent to File — compensation, pension and DIC only
  • 20-0996 / 20-0995Higher-Level Review / Supplemental Claim
  • 21P-534EZ / 21P-534a / 21P-535DIC — veteran's survivor / active-duty survivor / parents
VA benefits line 1-800-827-1000. VA main information line 800-698-2411.
★ Right form, first trip.
The point of all this

Why these go unclaimed

Twenty years in uniform and two years in the transition office at Fort Riley taught me the same lesson over and over.

  • Almost nobody loses a benefit. They never hear it exists
  • The rules that get repeated are the narrow versions — you must be 100%, your 12 years are up, you missed August 1 — and the narrow version is what makes a veteran stop
  • Program names change. The benefit does not. "Vocational Rehabilitation" became VR&E, and veterans searching the old name find nothing and quit
  • A form number is often the entire difference between a claim and a good intention
If you read something on this page that sounds like it might be you, the move is the same every time: get the form number, get an accredited representative at no charge, and file. A denial has a review path. A claim never filed has nothing. You should never give up.
Pass this on. A transitioning Soldier. A spouse who handles the paperwork. A caregiver. A surviving spouse who does not know what she is entitled to. A veteran who separated years ago and never engaged with VA at all. It costs you nothing to hand it over.
★ You cannot claim what you never heard of.

Where to call and where to go

Sources