09/08/2026
🎯 DID YOU KNOW? The VA publishes the exact rubric they grade your claim against.
It is called 38 CFR Part 4, the Schedule for Rating Disabilities, and it is free at eCFR.gov. Raters do not decide your percentage by feel. They compare the evidence in your file against the words in Part 4. If you have never read the criteria for your own condition, you are the only person in the room who has not seen the answer key.
📌 PART 3 VS PART 4
✅ Part 3 decides whether you get service connected at all
✅ Part 4 decides how much you get once you are
✅ Most people who feel like they lost actually won service connection and got a lower percentage than their symptoms support. That is a Part 4 problem, and it is the one you can do the most about yourself
🔎 HOW TO FIND YOUR CRITERIA
✅ Go to eCFR.gov and pull up Part 4. It is organized by body system: 4.71a for musculoskeletal, 4.130 for mental health, 4.97 for respiratory, and so on
✅ Find your condition and write down its diagnostic code. Plantar fasciitis is 5269. Acquired flatfoot is 5276
✅ Read every percentage tier for that code, top to bottom
✅ Compare each tier honestly against your worst days, not your average day
⚖️ TWO RULES WRITTEN IN YOUR FAVOR
✅ 38 CFR 4.7: where there is a question as to which of two evaluations applies, the higher evaluation is assigned if your disability picture more nearly approximates it. A genuine tie does not go to the VA
✅ 38 CFR 4.3: reasonable doubt about the degree of disability is resolved in favor of the claimant. That is not a courtesy, it is the regulation
📝 BEFORE YOUR C&P EXAM
✅ Read your diagnostic code the week before so you know what is being measured
✅ Write down your worst two weeks: frequency, duration, what you could not do. Bring the notes
✅ Describe your bad days, not the good day you happened to show up on. Most veterans underrate themselves because they do not want to complain
✅ Answer in terms of function: how far, how long, how often, what you stopped doing. "My back hurts" is a symptom. "I cannot stand longer than fifteen minutes and I miss work twice a month" is limitation of activity, and that is the language the schedule is written in
✅ Do not exaggerate. Under 38 CFR 4.2 your reports get reconciled against your whole recorded history, and an account that contradicts your medical records damages your credibility across the entire claim
⚠️ KEEP IN MIND
✅ Reading Part 4 does not create service connection. If you are not service connected yet, the schedule does not apply to you yet
✅ Board of Veterans Appeals decisions are not precedent. Under 38 CFR 20.1303 a prior Board decision binds only the case it decided. Case numbers you find online are useful for seeing how arguments get made, but they are not something you hand a rater
✅ Part 4 gets amended. Read the current version on eCFR, not a copy on somebody's blog
✅ An accredited representative will walk your codes with you at no cost. In Kentucky, start with a KDVA field representative at veterans.ky.gov, or search for an accredited rep at VA.gov
👉BOTTOM LINE: find your diagnostic code, read the tiers, and describe what your condition actually stops you from doing. That one hour of reading is the highest value thing a veteran can do for their own claim, and it costs nothing.
EANGKY is a private membership association of enlisted Guard members, retirees, and families. We do not speak for the Kentucky National Guard, the National Guard Bureau, or the Department of Defense. This post is general information, not claims advice or legal representation. For help with your specific claim, work with a VA accredited representative.
