Combat veterans and TBI: a claim map

The claim map

A claim map follows one veteran's route: how they served, the condition the law makes easier to prove for that service, and the conditions that follow from it. Each box shows how the Board ruled at that step. Few combat veterans had a secondary claim decided with the TBI, so the second step counts all veterans who claimed a condition secondary to a TBI.

How they served

Combat service

The veteran engaged in combat with the enemy, shown by the records or by a combat decoration

33,560 Board decisions that record combat service

injury eased by law38 U.S.C. 1154(b)

Step 1 · injury eased by law

TBI

27.0% granted

145 of 538 veterans · all TBI claims 13.9%

secondary38 CFR 3.310(a)

Step 2 · claimed secondary to TBI (all veterans)

• Migraine / headaches DC 8100

  33.8% · 78 of 231

• Sleep apnea DC 6847

  27.4% · 62 of 226

• Depression DC 9434

  31.0% · 13 of 42

  Presumed secondary within set times (38 CFR 3.310(d))

• Dizziness (vestibular disorder) DC 6204

  25.0% · 10 of 40

• Hearing loss DC 6100

  11.8% · 4 of 34

• Seizures (epilepsy) DC 8910

  23.3% · 7 of 30

  Presumed secondary after a moderate or severe TBI

• PTSD DC 9411

  10.3% · 3 of 29

• Neck or back strain DC 5237

  17.9% · 5 of 28

• Tinnitus DC 6260

  22.2% · 6 of 27

• Erectile dysfunction DC 7522

  31.8% · 7 of 22

• Anxiety DC 9400

  9.1% · 2 of 22

• Schizophrenia DC 9201

  4.5% · 1 of 22

• Hypertension DC 7101

  4.8% · 1 of 21

• Parkinson's disease DC 8004

  30.0% · 6 of 20

  Presumed secondary after a moderate or severe TBI

• Adjustment disorder DC 9440

  27.8% · 5 of 18

• Glaucoma DC 6013

  17.6% · 3 of 17

• Acid reflux (GERD) DC 7206

  23.5% · 4 of 17

• Back (degenerative arthritis) DC 5242

  25.0% · 4 of 16

• Neurocognitive disorder DC 9310

  12.5% · 2 of 16

Step 1 bars: share granted in Board decisions that record combat service; the red mark is all veterans. Step 2 bars: all veterans who claimed the condition secondary to TBI. One count per veteran; a remand counts as not granted. Conditions with at least 15 veterans.

Does combat make a TBI claim easier to prove?

Yes, for the injury. Under 38 U.S.C. 1154(b) and 38 CFR 3.304(d), a combat veteran's own account of an injury in combat is accepted as proof that it happened in service if it is consistent with the circumstances, conditions or hardships of that service, even when there is no official record of it. In decisions that record combat service, the Board granted 27.0% of TBI claims (145 of 538), against 13.9% for all veterans.

33,560 Board decisions from 2020 to 2025 record combat service. This page counts the TBI claims in them, rated under DC 8045. Whether a decision records combat service was read by AI from the decision; the limits are below.

What does a combat veteran still have to prove?

A current disability from the TBI, and medical evidence that links it to the injury. For 103 denials, the Board's note named the diagnosis in 65.0% of them, the link in 49.5% and the injury in service in 42.7%.

A blast or a blow to the head in combat often goes unrecorded. The combat rule fills that gap. It does not supply the diagnosis: in some denials the examiner found no current TBI residuals, or the symptoms were already rated under another condition, such as PTSD.

The second step: conditions that follow a TBI

What conditions are presumed secondary to a service-connected TBI?

Under 38 CFR 3.310(d), five, in the absence of clear evidence to the contrary: Parkinsonism, including Parkinson's disease, and unprovoked seizures, after a moderate or severe TBI; certain dementias, if they appear within fifteen years of a moderate or severe TBI; depression, within three years of a moderate or severe TBI or a year of a mild one; and diseases of hormone deficiency from pituitary changes, within a year of a moderate or severe TBI.

How does VA decide whether a TBI was mild, moderate or severe?

From the symptoms at the time of the injury or shortly after, not the veteran's condition today: loss of consciousness, altered consciousness, memory loss after the injury, the Glasgow Coma Scale and brain imaging (38 CFR 3.310(d)(3)). A TBI that meets any criterion for a higher level is ranked at that level. A claim that does not fit the severity or the time limits can still be granted on the medical evidence (38 CFR 3.310(d)(2)).

What conditions are most often claimed secondary to TBI?

Across all veterans, migraine or headaches: 78 of 231 granted (33.8%). Sleep apnea was granted 27.4%, depression 31.0%, dizziness from an inner ear (vestibular) disorder 25.0%, seizures 23.3% and Parkinson's disease 30.0%.

Claimed secondary to TBI (all veterans)	Granted	Veterans	Share
Migraine or headaches	78	231	33.8%
Sleep apnea	62	226	27.4%
Depression	13	42	31.0%
Dizziness (vestibular disorder)	10	40	25.0%
Seizures (epilepsy)	7	30	23.3%
Parkinson's disease	6	20	30.0%

Even the conditions the rule presumes were granted less than a third of the time here. The presumption has conditions of its own: the severity of the TBI and, for most of them, the time since the injury. When they are not met, the claim needs a medical opinion like any other secondary claim.

The second step also depends on the first. Among combat veterans whose TBI and secondary claim were decided together, 15 of 20 secondary claims were granted when the TBI was granted, and 1 of 18 when it was not; small numbers, but the pattern matches the other claim maps.

Read the decisions

Recent decisions, with the Board's reasoning as summarized by AI:

• A25109484, December 2025: TBI granted for a blast injury in combat in Afghanistan, on the veteran's own account backed by service records of an ear injury from explosions.
• A25108320, December 2025: TBI granted on reports of head injuries in service, supported by a Combat Action Ribbon and physicians' opinions.
• A25110313, December 2025: migraine and a vestibular (inner ear) disorder granted secondary to service-connected TBI residuals, on a private medical opinion.
• A25105839, December 2025: headaches granted secondary to service-connected TBI; the VA exam was inadequate, and a private opinion found post-traumatic headaches at least as likely as not due to the TBI.
• A25092517, October 2025: TBI denied; a positive TBI screen was noted, but the examiner found no TBI residuals related to service, and the records were silent on a concussion.

What the data cannot tell you

Combat service is an AI-extracted finding for the whole decision, and it is often part of how the Board explains a grant, so the gap at the first step shows what the decisions contained, not what caused the result. DC 8045 holds a few other brain injury claims besides TBI. Service-connection claims only; rating appeals are left out. The second step counts all veterans, not only combat veterans, and only claims the Board marked as secondary to a TBI. Denial notes are AI-extracted. These are historical outcomes, not predictions.

For representatives

• Put the combat event on the record: the veteran's account, buddy statements, unit records and decorations.
• Get a diagnosis of current TBI residuals and an opinion that ties them to the injury; denials turned on the diagnosis most often.
• Record the injury's severity from the time it happened (loss of consciousness, memory loss, imaging); it decides whether the presumptions in 38 CFR 3.310(d) apply.
• After the grant, screen for headaches, depression, seizures, dizziness and sleep problems, each with its own opinion where the presumption does not reach.