Episode 8: The Biggest Mistakes Veterans Make

This episode breaks down the most common mistakes veterans make when filing VA disability claims.

A lot of veterans think getting denied means they don’t qualify—but most of the time, something is just missing or done incorrectly.

We walk through how the VA actually evaluates your claim and why so many veterans keep getting denied by making the same mistakes over and over.

In this episode, we cover:

•  The biggest mistakes that lead to denied VA claims 
•  Why filing without a plan hurts your case 
•  The misconception that VA treatment = service connection 
•  Why more claims doesn’t mean better results 
•  How to read your denial letter and understand what’s missing 
•  The importance of a current diagnosis, in-service event, and nexus 

 This episode helps you understand what’s actually holding your claim back—so you can stop repeating the same mistakes and start building it the right way. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Denied, delayed, underrated? That's the story for too many veterans, including me. Hey veterans and the families listening in, welcome. My name is Robert Pinero. I'm a Marine Combat Veteran and the founder of Veterans Educating Veterans. I've served two tours in Iraq, and like many veterans, I know how hard it is to get service connected and navigate the VA system. After service, I was frustrated, in pain, and told no more times than I can count, even by VA attorneys. So instead of giving up, I decided to learn the VA process myself. That's what Veterans Educating Veterans is built on. We educate and guide veterans through the VA compensation process, step by step, helping you understand how the system works so you can move forward with confidence, not confusion. I do this work alongside my wife Gillian and for our two daughters because our families live with the impact of service long after the uniform comes off. You deserve the benefits you've earned, not just for yourself, but for the family that stands beside you. Welcome to the War Room.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

The War Room by Veterans Educating Veterans.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Just a quick disclaimer: this is for education only and not for legal or medical advice. Every claim is different, so don't take this as an individual guidance.

SPEAKER_05 1:36

Alright, Vets. Welcome back to the War Room. Today I have with me James, one of the coaches. Hey guys. Rob, CEO, myself, also a coach, and Jesse, a coach as well. Hey guys. Who are you? Cody. My name's Cody, if I need to say. Anyways, uh, today we're going to talk about one of the biggest issues, in my opinion. Um, why claims seem to come back that are complicated or making the same mistakes over and over again.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

So this episode is about the common errors that keep showing up. Um, a lot of veterans hurt their own case without even realizing it. Um, some mistakes happen before filing, some during the claim, and some after denial, right? So today we want to break down the most common mistakes and of course how to avoid them. So let's start with one of the biggest mistakes right away. Um filing without understanding the theory of the claim.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Absolutely. So the one of the biggest things that I see a lot of, uh especially for the older vets, is they put a claim in because the VA is treating it. That is the biggest mistake right there. So remember, you must have the three big key things. A injury that you sustained while in active duty service, either exposure, um uh presumptive conditions due to your time, your MOS, or actually sustaining the injury, uh, the nexus and the current diagnosis or continuation of symptoms. So the second part about that is how to pursue that. You know, is it is it direct? You know, did I was it directly exposure disposed to it? Um, is it secondary to my condition, i.e. mental to tinnitus, um ridiculopathy to my back or neck, you know, are the biggest biggest factor ones. Um and one of the biggest reasons files get built badly is they're missing all those key points to make a whole claim.

SPEAKER_05 3:48

Yeah, absolutely. And it's this uh shotgun blast against the wall theory, right? We're just gonna throw everything against the wall, see what sticks. It more than likely it doesn't work out a lot of the times. It's just uh a terrible option, in my opinion. Um, a lot of the stuff that we see, we're just trying to uh service connect something that you don't have a current diagnosis for, or vice versa. Um, you're trying to prove it without the the condition being in the service stream at records. Um a lot of different ways you can go about this. That's a bad way to go about it. You just have to know the path forward, and there's a lot of different ways you can know a good path forward. Um, you just gotta be able to build your case on it and build a good case on it, and knowing the strategies forward about doing that.

SPEAKER_03 4:32

Yeah, a lot of veterans think that, you know, the more claims uh they put in, exactly what you said, and it's it means better results. And you know, that's not true. Um there there's there's a way of of doing things the right way to see what you are gonna get conversation of. Um there's there's um some veterans that confuse what your job was, you know, like our jobs were to ruck, our jobs were to, you know, whatever our job told us what we signed up for, it doesn't automatically mean that you're gonna be service connected to it.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

So so to be bilingual here, because I think ruck is uh army uh word. What what does ruck mean?

SPEAKER_03 5:20

Well, for you for Marines is humping, right?

SPEAKER_05 5:22

Is but they do a lot of humping, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Or I think in uh regular civilian terms, I guess it's uh a nature walk.

SPEAKER_04 5:38

It's a nature walk with a very heavy backpack.

SPEAKER_03 5:42

You know, it doesn't automatically mean just because it was your job to do it, you know, that's what you signed up for, it doesn't mean that you're automatically gonna get it. If you went to the doctor, you went to sick hall, you went to get diagnosed for your back pains or for your knees, you know, that's that's a different story.

SPEAKER_05 5:59

Yeah, so exactly. You you cannot tough guy your way through this. You got you gotta be vulnerable and honest. If you're going in there with the with an I'm okay mentality and and you're barely functioning, you're gonna get the I'm okay disability uh rating and not the I'm barely functioning rating, um, which is what you need to be at. So overall, if you have to be vulnerable, like I said, make it for that day and and struggle through it. And I know it's tough because I hated doing it myself. Um it sucks, but to get what I've earned and deserve, that's what you gotta do.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

So um but that's what that's what we're taught to do, you know, is adapting and overcoming and then we keep doing that every time, you know, adapt and overcome, adapting and overcome. And you know you are so used to doing that that you don't realize how much you know they're leaving out. You know, and and that's that's what that's what a lot of claims they when um are not expressed, especially when I tell my clients on their statements, make sure you say everything. This is your time. You know, this is you this is for you. Um don't don't toughen, don't be no tough guy. Put everything in there.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Yeah. And even after a denial, veterans can make another round of mistakes if they do not slow down and read what happened, right? So let's talk about what veterans do wrong after they get denied.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

So one of the biggest mistakes I think a lot of veterans do is they don't read the denial letter, which tells them why they denied it. Um, and then they they think every, you know, that denial letter may say, you do not, you know, especially let's say service connection, you do not have a current diagnosis for this disability, denied. Well, they think, well, I do have it, but obviously the records was not obtained or submitted was evidence, and then they go, Well, I'm gonna go for a high-level review, or I'm gonna do a supplemental claim and add more statements. Um, as Robert mentioned earlier, you know, he the veteran kept going back to explaining his how the vent and injury that happened when the VA was looking for what happened after. What was the treatment after that fact? So these letters are very insightful. You just have to know how to decipher them, and that's a big thing. Um, so again, they they may even just you know spin it and start reapplying for certain things when they're missing those key points that are needed or key evidence needed to support the claim.

SPEAKER_05 8:33

Oh, for sure. Yeah, one of the things that made me super mad, um, so I got denied. I think it was for I put in for like vertigo or something crazy uh as secondary to sleep apnea because to me it made sense because I was feeling this dizziness because I wasn't getting enough air at night um because I have sleep apnea um and I was service connected for that. So in my mind, those two made sense, and I knew nothing about adding all this evidence and having the three pillars that I needed. So I was like, okay, this makes sense, and they need to service connect it. So I just did I read what it said at the higher level review. Somebody with more experience is gonna read this and and make the right decision, not knowing anything about this. So I just was like, Oh, I'll resubmit it, and of course it was denied because I didn't have any of the correct evidence or anything else I needed. So it's it's really about knowing what you need to move forward, whether that's evidence, uh current diagnosis, uh medical treatment, medical records, um all of that stuff compiled together, and or if you're going for secondaries, whatever the case is, you just need that path forward. That's something we're very good at here. Um, looking at that path forward for you. Um something I've learned personally, obviously, as my experience along the way. So um, if you're struggling, struggling with that, give us a call because that's that's a very hard thing to do.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Uh one thing I forgot to mention on that is that they may have already been denied for this previously and they're just reapplying again, and you can't yeah, they're they gotta you'll get an automatic denial all day long because you are filing incorrectly. Yeah, so you must file it as a supplemental or an appeal that a lot of times people use on a 0995 form instead of the easy 526 form. So you can't just directly file it again. If once it's been denied, no matter how long ago it is, you have to reopen it from a from a supplemental claim standpoint.

SPEAKER_05 10:29

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Um, so again, you have to read these letters. You may have forgotten that you applied for this in 2003, and now you're trying to do it again, and you know, and here we are, and you're like, oh, it's just denied, and you keep trying to apply for it, it'll be denied all day long because you're not reading the evidence that's needed.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

I just want to inter interject just one thing to clear something up. I want to go backwards a little bit. Um, so I I think Cody hit it home when he said current diagnosis. So that means that even if in your strs you got a diagnosis, right? And I want to make that clear because I think sometimes that's a little bit confusing. You look at your STRs and you see a diagnosis, you still have to get one today, after you got out of service. So um, it's like putting a puzzle together. So your diagnosis in service and your diagnosis today, and what puts these two together is called the Nexus, right? So I wanted to clear that up just so everybody's aware that you still need a diagnosis today, because a lot of people are under the impression because they had a diagnosis in service. Well, what are you talking about, Rob? I have a diagnosis, yeah. They diagnosed me in service.

SPEAKER_03 11:47

Current, current diagnosis, yes, you said that correctly. It was current diagnosis, and and those are most uh most mistakes that feel small at the moment, but um they you know they add up fast.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

Yeah, if there are a whole bunch of denials. Oh, yeah. So a lot of claim problems are avoidable. Um, veterans need to stop guessing and start building intentionally. So oh by the guessing part, is don't read it yourself if you don't know what you're reading. All right. Uh reach out to us. Um, we give free evaluations, we can take a look at your claim. Um most bad outcomes start long before the denial letter shows up. That means that you didn't have a plan to put everything together, right? You're not hitting these pillars um to prove your claim. So that's why it started before you even filed. You're throwing stuff on the wall, like Cody had mentioned before, and you're hoping for something that uh to come out positive with something you never had a plan for. Um, so most bad outcomes start with avoidable mistakes. Um, I'd like to thank everyone for joining us today. Um, like, subscribe, and let us know if you have any topics. If not, we'll see you on the next one.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

The war room by veterans educating veterans.