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Eligibility for most VA
benefits is based upon the status of
discharge from active military service.
Benefits are available to veterans only if
they we discharged from the service under
honorable conditions. Active service means
full-time service as member of the Army,
Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard,
or as a commissioned officer of the Public
Health Service, the Environmental Services
Administration or the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration.
Current and former
members of the Selected Reserve may be
eligible for certain benefits if they meet
the criteria. Honorable and general
discharges qualify a veteran for most VA
benefits. Dishonorable and bad conduct
discharges issued by general courts-martial
make a veteran ineligible for VA benefits.
In addition, eligibility
for benefits (especially in health care),
are impacted by the cause of the disability.
A disability will be deemed to be
“Service-Connected” (SC) if it was
incurred or aggravated in the line of duty
in the military service. This also applies
to a veteran’s deaths, should they be the
result of a disability incurred or
aggravated in the line of service in the
Armed Forces. If the veteran’s disability
or death is not shown to be related to
military duty, it is defined as “Non
service-connected” (NSC).
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