About
Built by a veteran. Sourced from the regulation.
My Claim Packet is a product of VA Disability Max — an independent educational resource. The public library stays free so veterans can learn the rating schedule, look up diagnostic codes, and walk into a conversation with a VSO, attorney, or physician already knowing what the regulation says. The paid Founding Pass is a records organizer: it keeps your notes, a records checklist, and your packet in one place. It does not file claims or speak for you.
Mission
We teach the regulation. That’s it. Every guide on this site is grounded in 38 CFR Part 4 (the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities), with the exact CFR vocabulary the rater is required to use, paraphrased only where it helps a veteran understand what they’re reading. We don’t prepare claims, we don’t give personal legal or medical advice, and we don’t promise any outcome.
Our position is simple: understanding the rating schedule and organizing your records can make your conversation with whoever helps you clearer — whether that’s a VA-accredited VSO, a claims agent, or an attorney. VA decides every claim on its own facts.
Built by a veteran, for veterans
I’m Jesse — 12 years in the Army as a CH-47 Chinook Flight Engineer (MOS 15U), with about 3,000 flight hours. Now 100% service-connected.
I built My Claim Packet because the VA disability system can be hard to follow. I watched a lot of my brothers and sisters struggle to make sense of it — not because they weren’t capable, but because nobody explained it in plain English.
The public site is a condition dictionary: condition guides, a consolidated VA rating-schedule / diagnostic-code catalog, DBQ guides, and VA Math. Those stay free. Detailed pages are marked when their rating summaries have completed editorial review; entries still awaiting review point readers to the controlling regulation.
The $9.99/mo Founding Pass unlocks the packet. It is a records organizer and education tool, not a claims-filing service, and it never speaks for you. It keeps your notes and this information in one place so you can walk into a conversation with a VSO or other accredited representative prepared. Whether you work with a VSO, an accredited claims agent or attorney, or file on your own, the decisions stay yours.
Public guides stay free — that’s the resource I wish I’d had.
Use this site. Share it. And if it helps you have a more informed conversation with your VSO, clinician, or accredited representative — that’s why I built it.
— Jesse, Founder
How this site is different
CFR-sourced, not paraphrased to death
Reviewed rating summaries are checked against 38 CFR Part 4 and link to the controlling source. Catalog entries that have not completed editorial review are labeled and do not display tactical filing guidance.
2026 rates, refreshed annually
Every dollar figure on the site reflects the FY2026 pay tables effective Dec 1, 2025. When the December 2026 COLA hits, the rate constants update in one file and the entire catalog picks up the new numbers. No stale figures lingering in old guides.
Public library stays free. Clear paid boundary.
Condition guides, the rating-schedule / diagnostic-code catalog, DBQ guides, VA Math, and the browser-only Service Fingerprint remain public. The $9.99/mo Founding Pass pays for the packet: a guided step-by-step wizard, answers saved to your account, a checklist of the records you have and still need, a preview of your organized packet, and a packet PDF while your pass is active. It organizes information for your conversation with a VSO or other accredited representative. It does not file a claim or speak for you.
We will not sell personal claim data or let advertising change our educational conclusions. Any advertising, sponsorship, affiliate link, or paid partnership will be clearly identified. You see the disclosure; you decide.
What we won’t do
These limits aren’t marketing copy — they’re the line between an educational resource and the things only an accredited representative is allowed to do for you. We will not:
- Prepare, file, or submit your VA claim
- Give you personalized legal or medical advice about your specific case
- Promise or estimate a rating outcome for any individual
- Substitute for an examination by a licensed physician
- Substitute for representation by a VA-accredited VSO, claims agent, or attorney
The VA decides every claim on its own facts. Nothing on this site is a guarantee of any specific rating or benefit. If you need someone to actually file or argue your claim, find an accredited representative at va.gov/ogc/apps/accreditation.
Who this is for
Veterans filing an initial disability claim
Learn the rating schedule before your C&P so you can describe symptoms in CFR vocabulary, not vague terms.
Veterans filing a supplemental or HLR
Read the prior decision against the rating criteria and list evidence questions for your representative.
Veterans pursuing TDIU
Understand schedular vs extraschedular eligibility and what your work history needs to show.
Family members helping a veteran
Translate the dense CFR language into something you can use to support the claim.
VSOs and accredited reps cross-referencing
Quick diagnostic-code lookup with the rating tiers, evidence checklist, and common secondaries already laid out.
Veterans dealing with denials or under-ratings
See the tier criteria in the rating schedule and the kinds of evidence each tier describes, so you can discuss options with an accredited representative.
How the site is maintained
- Detailed rating summaries are published through an explicit review list. Pages that have not completed review remain limited to catalog identification and primary-source links instead of presenting unverified rating tactics.
- Compensation rates refresh annually after the December COLA.
- A build-time guard catches the worst category of drift — flagship pages advertising rating tiers that don’t exist in the CFR — before any wrong content reaches a veteran.
- Corrections are welcomed. If you spot a tier that’s wrong, a CFR citation that’s stale, or a dollar amount that doesn’t match the current pay tables, please email us using the contact below — with the URL of the page and what you saw.
Independence
My Claim Packet is a product of VA Disability Max. It is independent and not endorsed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. “My Claim Packet” is a private educational project — not a government program, not a law firm, not a claims-preparation service.
Support the work
If the public library saved you time or helped you ask better questions of a VSO, optional support helps cover hosting, research, and the next annual compensation-rate update.
My Claim Packet is run by one person, not a nonprofit. Contributions support the public library and are separate from the paid Founding Pass.
Not affiliated with the VA. Donations cover hosting and content maintenance and are not tax-deductible (My Claim Packet is not a 501(c)(3)).
Contact & feedback
Corrections, broken links, missing guides, or feedback on any page: use the contact page or email myclaimpacket@agentmail.to. The faster a CFR error gets reported, the faster it gets fixed for the next veteran reading the same page.