Curtis S. came out of the Army in 2020 with a 40% rating. His back, shoulder, and tinnitus were covered. His chronic headaches were rated at 0%. His PTSD was never filed.
He was living with both every day. Neither one was on record.
The Veteran
Curtis served as an 11B Infantryman with the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia. Two in-service events anchored what would become the PTSD claim.
The first was a severe appendix rupture that nearly killed him while on active duty. The second was a violent assault outside the barracks where 20 to 30 Artillery soldiers jumped eight members of his Infantry unit. No chaplain was offered afterward. No one asked how they were doing.
When he left in 2020, the PTSD from those events had never been filed. His headaches, which had been documented in service, sat at 0%.
What Your VA Benefits Built
Our team built the PTSD claim around a private psychiatrist independent medical opinion, a detailed stressor statement covering both in-service events, and a buddy statement from his fiancee documenting his daily struggles and how she intervenes for him in public settings.
For the headaches, we used six months of Migraine Buddy app logs to document the frequency and severity of his episodes over time.
The VA granted PTSD at 50%. The headaches went from 0% to 50%. His combined rating jumped from 40% to 90%.
Curtis is no longer working due to his conditions. His TDIU path is next.
The Result
| Before | After | |
| VA Rating | 40% | 90% Combined |
| Monthly Benefit | $755 | $2,297 |
| Monthly Increase | — | +$1,543 |
Conditions granted: PTSD newly rated at 50%, post-traumatic headaches increased from 0% to 50%.
Existing ratings unchanged: lower back at 20%, right shoulder at 20%, tinnitus at 10%.
In His Own Words
“Pain was too much. I couldn’t do it.”
— Curtis, 2025
What Veterans Can Take Away From Curtis’s Case
Conditions that were never filed can still be won. Curtis had PTSD from documented in-service events that had simply never been claimed. Filing a condition years after separation is not unusual and it is not too late. If something happened during your service that still affects you, it is worth looking at.
App data counts as evidence. Six months of Migraine Buddy logs gave the VA a documented, consistent record of Curtis’s headache frequency and severity. Personal health tracking data is legitimate evidence when it is consistent and verifiable.
Lay statements from people close to you carry real weight. Curtis’s fiancee wrote about what she observes daily. Not what she assumed. What she actually sees. That kind of firsthand account from someone in the veteran’s immediate life can make a claim more concrete to a rater who only has paperwork in front of them.
