"...I receive a fair number of inquiries from retirees who had medical conditions before retiring but never made personal copies of their military health records and had trouble locating the originals.
This is potentially a bigger issue for younger retirees who served in Iraq and Afghanistan than for retirees of earlier eras because VA data show that young retirees are filing much more complicated disability claims.
Claims from Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans cite an average of nine separate medical conditions, compared to fewer than four conditions per claim for World War II and Korean War veterans and fewer than six for Vietnam-era veterans.
It’s a hard lesson to learn, but when you deal with the Veterans Affairs Department disability claims process, your medical records are extremely valuable. Those records are the evidence needed to establish disability ratings worth a lot of money over an average lifetime..."