Military Disability Rating Lawyer
The number assigned to your disability by the military or the Department of Veterans Affairs carries enormous weight. It determines your monthly compensation, your access to healthcare, your eligibility for certain benefits, and in many cases, whether you receive a medical retirement or a simple discharge with nothing. A military disability rating lawyer works specifically on the processes that produce that number, the Medical Evaluation Board, the Physical Evaluation Board, and the Integrated Disability Evaluation System, as well as the VA rating system that follows. These are not simple bureaucratic formalities. They are adversarial processes dressed in administrative clothing, and the rating your command or the government assigns you at the start is rarely the one you have to accept.
Veterans and servicemembers often describe the disability evaluation process as something that happened to them, a series of appointments and forms and decisions made by people they never met. By the time they realize a rating was assigned incorrectly or that a condition was entirely omitted from the evaluation, months have passed. The window to push back is not always obvious, and the paperwork required to do so correctly is not forgiving. Whether you are still on active duty, serving in the Guard or Reserve, or recently separated, the rating you walk away with reflects what was documented and argued at a specific moment in time, not necessarily the full reality of what your service did to your body.
Citizen Soldier Law was built around this problem. The firm was founded specifically because servicemembers moving through the disability evaluation system were losing ground they did not have to lose, and the attorneys who understand military structure well enough to fight back were rare. That founding purpose still drives the firm’s work on military disability cases today.
How Citizen Soldier Law Approaches Military Disability Rating Cases
Citizen Soldier Law has been representing servicemembers in disability evaluation proceedings since 2013, and the team brings something almost no other law firm can offer in this space: actual military service in JAG roles. Attorney Thomas Roughneen built this firm around the military legal system from the inside. The attorneys and staff carry over one hundred years of combined military service, including veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the firm includes a board-certified physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, Dr. Alice Tzeng, M.D. That last detail matters more than it might appear.
In disability rating cases, medicine and law are inseparable. A condition that is poorly documented in the MEB narrative summary may result in a lower rating or no rating at all, not because the condition does not exist, but because the medical record does not present it in the language the rating system uses. Having a physician on the legal team who understands both the clinical realities and the way those realities need to be framed for evaluation boards gives clients a meaningful advantage. Dr. Tzeng is not a consultant who reviews files occasionally. She is part of the team.
The firm represents clients nationally across all military branches, active duty and reserve component alike. All MEB and PEB proceedings run through Title 10 active duty settings regardless of whether the servicemember is Guard or Reserve, and Citizen Soldier Law’s attorneys are competent to represent servicemembers at every stage of that process. Clients describe the firm as one that took the time to actually understand their situation rather than process them like a file, which is precisely the kind of representation that produces different outcomes.
What Shapes Your Military Disability Rating
- MEB Narrative Summary Accuracy: The narrative summary prepared by your treating physician at the Medical Evaluation Board stage is the foundation of everything that follows. If it understates the severity of a condition, omits a diagnosis, or fails to connect a condition to military service, that error flows downstream into every rating decision.
- IDES vs. Legacy PEB Process: Servicemembers going through the Integrated Disability Evaluation System receive a proposed VA rating while still in the military evaluation process. Understanding which process applies to your situation, and what the procedural rights are within each, directly affects how your case should be prepared.
- Referred vs. Not Referred Conditions: Only conditions referred by the MEB are evaluated by the Physical Evaluation Board for military disability purposes. Conditions that exist but are not referred drop out of the military disability system entirely, even if they are ratable. Identifying and advocating for the referral of all qualifying conditions is one of the most important things an attorney can do early in the process.
- Unfitting vs. Fitting Determinations: The PEB determines whether a condition renders a servicemember unfit for duty. A condition can be severe and still be found fitting if it does not prevent the servicemember from performing military duties. Challenging a fitting determination requires a specific type of argument grounded in the servicemember’s actual duties and documented limitations.
- Combined Rating Calculations: Military and VA disability ratings are not simply added together. The combined rating formula uses a whole-person method that produces results that often surprise servicemembers. Understanding how ratings combine, and why a 40% rating and a 30% rating do not equal 70%, is essential to understanding what you are actually receiving.
- CRSC Eligibility for Combat-Related Conditions: Combat-Related Special Compensation allows retirees to recover some or all of the VA disability offset against military retirement pay for conditions connected to combat or certain combat-related activities. Citizen Soldier Law specifically lists CRSC advocacy as a practice area, and eligibility determinations for CRSC require careful documentation of the combat nexus.
- Reserve Component Activation Status at Time of Injury: For National Guard and Reserve servicemembers, the type of orders under which an injury occurred affects both military and VA benefits eligibility. An injury that occurs during Title 10 active duty orders is treated differently than one occurring during drill weekend, and getting this distinction wrong can result in a wrongful denial of benefits.
What to Do If Your Rating Feels Wrong or Incomplete
The first thing to understand is that the MEB and PEB processes have specific deadlines for responses, rebuttals, and formal hearings. If you are currently in an active IDES or PEB process, you likely have a limited number of days to respond to a proposed rating, request a formal board hearing, or submit additional evidence. Missing these windows does not always end your options permanently, but it narrows them considerably. The moment you feel uncertain about a rating or a determination, treat it as a deadline issue until you know otherwise.
Gather every piece of medical documentation you have, including records from private providers, not just military treatment facilities. Private providers often have detailed notes that the military medical system lacks, and those records can support a stronger disability narrative than the military record alone. Your service treatment records can be requested from the National Personnel Records Center if you are separated, or obtained through your military installation’s records office if still serving.
For servicemembers still in the active IDES process, the Physical Evaluation Board Liaison Officer assigned to your case is a military role, not an independent advocate. The PEBLO’s job is to help you navigate the process administratively, but the PEBLO does not represent your interests the way an attorney does. This is a critical distinction that many servicemembers miss until they are already past key decision points.
If you have already separated and your disability rating came through the VA system rather than the military evaluation system, the appeal pathway is different. VA rating decisions can be challenged through the supplemental claim process, higher-level review, or the Board of Veterans Appeals, depending on where you are in the review cycle. Recent changes to VA appeals procedures created new lanes for challenging ratings, and an attorney familiar with both the military and VA systems can help identify the most efficient route for your specific situation.
One of the most common mistakes servicemembers make is accepting the informal PEB findings without requesting a formal hearing. A formal hearing gives you the opportunity to appear, present evidence, and have legal counsel argue on your behalf before the board. The difference in outcomes between informal and formal proceedings can be significant, particularly when the basis for the rating involves judgment calls about severity or fitness for duty.
The Relationship Between Military Disability Ratings and Long-Term Financial Security
A military disability rating is not just a number on a form. For servicemembers with fewer than twenty years of service, a rating of thirty percent or higher triggers medical retirement rather than separation, which carries healthcare benefits, retirement pay, and other protections that separation does not. The difference between a twenty-nine percent rating and a thirty percent rating can represent decades of financial impact, and those distinctions are often not the result of clinical precision but of how the documentation was presented and argued.
For those already receiving a retirement, the relationship between military retirement pay and VA disability compensation involves an offset that many retirees do not fully understand until their first retirement payment arrives. Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay, known as CRDP, and Combat-Related Special Compensation, or CRSC, exist as mechanisms to reduce or eliminate that offset for qualifying retirees. Navigating which program applies and how to document eligibility requires understanding both the military retirement system and the VA rating process simultaneously. These are not theoretical concerns. They translate directly to what a veteran actually receives each month.
The mental health conditions connected to military service, including PTSD and traumatic brain injury, are among the most frequently under-rated conditions in the military disability system. Partly this is because of the way these conditions present during evaluations, and partly it is because servicemembers are sometimes reluctant to fully describe symptoms during the evaluation process for cultural or professional reasons. An attorney who understands the military environment can help clients present the full scope of these conditions in a way that is accurate without being adversarial to the servicemember’s sense of identity.
Questions About Military Disability Ratings, Answered
What is the difference between a military disability rating and a VA disability rating?
A military disability rating is assigned through the Physical Evaluation Board process and determines whether a servicemember receives a medical retirement and at what level. A VA disability rating is assigned by the Department of Veterans Affairs after separation and determines monthly compensation and access to VA healthcare. Under the IDES process, these ratings are coordinated and the proposed VA rating is part of the active-duty evaluation, but they serve different systems with different rules.
Can I challenge my rating after the process is already complete?
Yes, though the method depends on where you are in the process. If you are still in an active MEB or PEB, you can submit a rebuttal to the narrative summary or request a formal PEB hearing. If you have already separated, the correction of military records through the Board for Correction of Military Records is one avenue. If the rating came through the VA, the supplemental claim and appeals board process is the primary route. Each pathway has different deadlines and evidentiary requirements.
What does it mean if the PEB finds me fit for duty?
A fit for duty determination means the board concluded that despite your medical condition, you are still capable of performing your military duties. This is significant because a fit finding stops the military disability retirement process entirely. You may still be eligible for VA disability compensation after separation, but you would not receive a military medical retirement. Challenging a fit determination typically requires demonstrating through your actual job requirements and documented limitations that the condition does prevent performance of duty.
What conditions can be rated in a military disability evaluation?
The MEB reviews all conditions that may not meet military retention standards. The PEB then determines which of those conditions are unfitting, meaning they prevent the servicemember from performing duties. Only unfitting conditions are rated for military disability retirement purposes, though other conditions may still be noted and rated separately for VA purposes. Conditions that existed prior to service must also be analyzed for service aggravation to be ratable.
Do National Guard and Reserve members have the same disability rating rights as active duty?
Yes, when they are injured or become ill while on qualifying orders. The key is the type of orders under which the condition arose or was aggravated. Title 10 active federal service carries full disability evaluation rights. Injuries during state active duty or certain other non-federal orders may be handled differently. This distinction is one of the most important issues Citizen Soldier Law specifically handles, given the firm’s deep focus on Guard and Reserve members.
What is CRSC and who actually qualifies for it?
Combat-Related Special Compensation allows military retirees to receive both their full military retirement pay and their VA disability compensation for conditions that are combat-related, without the offset that normally applies. To qualify, you must be a military retiree with a VA rating of at least ten percent for a qualifying combat-related condition. The condition must be connected to armed conflict, hazardous duty, an instrumentality of war, or a condition simulating war. The documentation requirement for establishing the combat nexus is specific and frequently where applications fail.
How does the combined disability rating work, and why is it lower than I expected?
The combined rating does not add percentages together. It uses the whole-person method, where each successive rating is applied to the remaining “able” portion of the person. So a fifty percent rating leaves fifty percent remaining. A thirty percent rating applied to that remaining fifty percent produces fifteen percent more disability, not thirty. The combined result would be sixty-five percent, typically rounded to the nearest ten, producing a sixty percent combined rating. This mathematical reality surprises most servicemembers and explains why multiple serious conditions can combine into a lower-than-expected overall rating.
Can a civilian condition that was aggravated by military service be included in my rating?
Yes. Military disability law distinguishes between conditions that were incurred during service, conditions that existed prior to service and were aggravated by service, and conditions that were neither. Pre-existing conditions that were aggravated beyond their natural progression by military service can be rated for the degree of aggravation. Establishing this requires a clear medical nexus between military duties and the worsening of the pre-existing condition, which is an area where having a physician on your legal team makes a concrete difference.
Is it worth requesting a formal PEB hearing instead of accepting the informal findings?
In many cases, yes. The informal PEB process is document-based and does not allow you to appear or present argument. The formal hearing process allows you to appear with counsel, call witnesses, and make arguments about the rating and the fitness determination. Servicemembers who disagree with informal findings, particularly on the fitness determination or on which conditions were referred, have substantially more ability to affect the outcome at the formal stage. The decision to go formal should be made with an attorney who can evaluate the specific grounds for disagreement.
What happens to my disability case if I am a Guard or Reserve member and my unit is deactivating?
Unit deactivations create practical complications for Guard and Reserve members in the middle of disability evaluations, including questions about who the case transfers to administratively and what happens to pending referrals. These situations require close attention to ensure the case does not fall through administrative cracks during the transition. Citizen Soldier Law specifically focuses on Guard and Reserve issues, including the administrative processes that affect these servicemembers differently than their active duty counterparts.
Does having a lawyer actually change the rating outcome, or does the system determine it regardless?
Legal representation makes a measurable difference in military disability cases precisely because the outcome depends so heavily on documentation, framing, and procedural decisions that are made before the rating is assigned. The rating system applies rules to what is in the record. What is in the record, how completely conditions are documented, whether all ratable conditions were referred, and whether the fitness determination was properly challenged are all things that legal representation directly affects. The rating is not predetermined. It reflects what was argued and documented.
Military Disability Rating Representation Across the Country
Because all IDES, MEB, and PEB proceedings run through Title 10 active duty settings regardless of a servicemember’s component, military disability rating representation is inherently national in scope. Citizen Soldier Law serves clients from across the country, including servicemembers stationed at installations throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic region, from Fort Dix and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey through installations in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and beyond. Guard and Reserve members from New Jersey, including units based in Trenton, Lawrenceville, and across the state’s thirty-six counties from Bergen and Passaic in the north through Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester in the south, have worked with the firm on disability evaluation cases.
The firm’s reach extends to active duty servicemembers and reservists in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Ohio, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and throughout the Midwest and Western states. Veterans pursuing CRSC claims or correction of military records have worked with Citizen Soldier Law from California to Maine. The administrative nature of these proceedings means physical location matters far less than it does in state court litigation, and the firm has structured its practice accordingly to serve military clients wherever they are assigned or living.
Military Disability Rating Attorney Ready to Review Your Case
If you received a disability rating that does not reflect the full scope of your service-connected conditions, or if you are in the middle of an MEB or PEB process and want someone in your corner who understands both the law and the medicine involved, Citizen Soldier Law is the right call. As a military disability rating attorney team built by veterans who have served in JAG roles, deployed, and personally navigated military institutions, the firm brings a level of credibility and practical knowledge to these cases that genuinely changes outcomes. Contact Citizen Soldier Law today to talk through your situation and find out what your options actually are.
