Information verified through July 19, 2026
Plain-English summary: In Smoke v. Driscoll (settled March 2026), the Army agreed that open-air burn pits in combat zones are instrumentalities of war. That lets PACT-Act burn-pit conditions qualify as combat-related — the prerequisite for CRSC. The Army is re-reviewing Chapter 61 medical retirements from on or after August 10, 2022 that never got a combat-related finding, with a reasonable-effort target around September 6, 2026. You do not have to wait for that review to file.
For years, medically retired soldiers with burn-pit illnesses ran into the same wall. The VA would service-connect their asthma, chronic sinusitis, or cancer under the PACT Act — but when they applied for Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC), the Army refused to call those conditions combat-related. Without that label, Chapter 61 retirees under 20 years had no way to recover the retired pay the VA waiver takes. A class-action lawsuit just changed the Army's answer.
Key takeaways
- Smoke v. Driscoll (settled March 2026, brought by NVLSP and Sidley Austin) forces the Army to treat open-air burn pits in combat zones as "instrumentalities of war" for combat-related determinations.
- The Army is re-reviewing soldiers medically discharged on or after August 10, 2022 for a PACT-Act-presumed condition who were not given a combat-related designation.
- "Instrumentality of war" is one of the four combat-related categories — so a burn-pit condition can now be the doorway to CRSC, which Chapter 61 retirees usually can't get through CRDP.
- The Army agreed to reasonable efforts to finish the review by about September 6, 2026 — a review target, not a filing deadline for you.
- You don't have to wait. You can file CRSC now, and after Soto, back pay can reach the date you became eligible.
What actually changed
CRSC only pays when a condition is combat-related, which the law defines through four specific categories: armed conflict, hazardous service, training that simulates war, and instrumentality of war. For a burn-pit illness, the only realistic fit is that last category — and the Army had long declined to apply it, treating burn pits as an environmental hazard rather than an instrument of war.
In Smoke v. Driscoll, the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) and the law firm Sidley Austin challenged that position on behalf of a class of Army veterans denied combat-related findings for burn-pit conditions. The March 2026 settlement resolved it: the Army agreed to a policy under which open-air burn pits located in combat zones are instrumentalities of war for purposes of combat-related determinations. In plain terms, the exact conditions the PACT Act already ties to burn pits can now clear the combat-related bar too.
Who the review covers
The settlement's re-review is specific. The Army agreed to identify and re-review service members who meet all of the following:
The four criteria
- Army medical retirement (Chapter 61) — separation processed through the disability system.
- Discharged on or after August 10, 2022 — the date the PACT Act was signed into law.
- A PACT-Act-presumed condition — a burn-pit condition the VA presumes service-connected.
- No combat-related designation from the Physical Evaluation Board at the time of separation.
If that's you, the Army is supposed to re-review your file for a combat-related finding. If that finding comes back favorable, it's the key that unlocks a CRSC application.
The conditions the PACT Act presumes to burn pits
The PACT Act created presumptive service connection for a long list of conditions tied to airborne hazards and burn-pit exposure. The ones that come up most in CRSC work include:
- Respiratory: asthma (diagnosed after service), chronic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, COPD, granulomatous disease, and interstitial lung disease.
- Cancers: a range of respiratory, head-and-neck, gastrointestinal, and other cancers named as presumptive.
If the VA has already rated one of these and it traces to a combat-zone deployment, the combat-related step may now be within reach. The connection still has to be documented — that's the packet's job.
Why this matters so much for Chapter 61 retirees
Here's the money problem the settlement addresses. Medical retirees with fewer than 20 years of service generally cannot receive CRDP (the concurrent-receipt program that restores waived retired pay for 20-year retirees). So when the VA waiver reduces their retired pay — often to zero — there's usually only one tool that can restore any of it: CRSC, and only for the combat-related portion. For a retiree whose combat-related conditions were being denied, CRSC was effectively closed. Smoke v. Driscoll pries it back open.
CRSC is tax-free and, for many Chapter 61 retirees who currently receive nothing in concurrent pay, it can mean hundreds to a couple thousand dollars a month that simply isn't reaching their account yet — plus back pay.
The deadline is the Army's — not yours
The settlement requires the Army to make "reasonable efforts" to complete the re-review within roughly six months of the March 2026 settlement — so around September 6, 2026. It's worth being precise about what that date is and isn't.
"Reasonable efforts by September" is a review target for the Army, not a deadline for you. The re-review may reach your case — or it may not get to it in time. Either way, the settlement does not file a CRSC application on your behalf. Nothing stops you from filing your own well-built packet now, and doing so is often the faster path to actually getting paid.
And timing on the money side favors acting. After the Supreme Court's Soto decision and the May 2026 DoD guidance, the old six-year cap on CRSC back pay is gone — so an award can reach back to when you became eligible, not merely your filing date. (We cover that in our Soto guide.)
What a burn-pit CRSC packet needs to prove
A combat-related finding for a burn-pit condition still rises or falls on documentation. The strongest packets connect three things clearly:
- Presence: deployment records placing you at a location with open-air burn pits in a combat zone.
- Diagnosis and service connection: the VA rating decision establishing the PACT-presumed condition.
- Causation: a narrative and medical evidence tying the condition to burn-pit exposure and to the instrumentality-of-war category.
Most first-time packets don't fail because the veteran is ineligible. They fail because the paper trail didn't make the category impossible to miss. That gap is exactly what we build packets to close.
What to do now
- Check the four criteria. Army Chapter 61, discharged on/after Aug 10, 2022, a PACT-presumed condition, and no combat-related finding.
- Pull your records. DD 214, VA rating decisions, retirement orders, and any deployment documentation.
- Don't wait for the automated review. File your own CRSC packet — a favorable finding pays regardless of whether the Army reaches your file first.
- Take the 30-second check to see whether your conditions look combat-related, then run the numbers on what CRSC could be worth.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Smoke v. Driscoll settlement mean I automatically get CRSC?
No. It changed Army policy so combat-zone burn pits are treated as instrumentalities of war, which can make a PACT-Act condition eligible for a combat-related finding — the prerequisite for CRSC. The Army is re-reviewing qualifying cases, but the settlement doesn't file your application, and your branch's CRSC board decides eligibility.
Who qualifies for the Army burn-pit CRSC review?
Soldiers medically discharged from the Army (Chapter 61) on or after August 10, 2022 for a PACT-Act-presumed burn-pit condition, who were not given a combat-related designation by the Physical Evaluation Board.
What is the deadline for the Army's review?
The Army agreed to make reasonable efforts to complete the re-review within about six months of the March 2026 settlement — roughly September 6, 2026. That's a review target for the Army, not a deadline to file your own CRSC claim.
Should I wait for the Army's review before filing CRSC?
You don't have to, and often shouldn't. The settlement changes the policy but doesn't file for you. A well-documented packet is usually faster, and after Soto, CRSC back pay can reach the date you became eligible.
The bottom line
For a lot of medically retired soldiers, Smoke v. Driscoll undoes a denial they were told was final. Combat-zone burn pits are now an instrumentality of war, PACT-Act conditions can be combat-related, and CRSC — tax-free, with back pay no longer capped — is back on the table for Chapter 61 retirees who assumed it was closed to them. The Army's review runs on the Army's timeline. Yours doesn't have to. If you deployed, breathed the smoke, and got medically retired, it's worth 15 minutes to find out what you're owed.