Coast Guard CRSC: Filing Through the PSC

Short version: Coast Guard CRSC is decided by the U.S. Coast Guard Personnel Service Center, Disability Evaluation Branch (PSC-PSD-MED) — not DFAS. You apply on the same federal DD Form 2860 (JUL 2011) the other branches use, but you send it to the Coast Guard's Washington, DC office by mail or email. The Coast Guard also has broader CRSC eligibility than many veterans expect, thanks to two laws passed in 2016 and 2022. Below is exactly how to file, what to include, how to check status, and what to do if you are denied.

Who decides Coast Guard CRSC

Every branch decides its own CRSC claims, and the Coast Guard is the outlier. The Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force all sit under the Department of Defense, so their CRSC pay piece runs through DFAS's DoD process. The Coast Guard sits under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), not DoD. That means your claim is not handled through DFAS's DoD system at all.

Instead, Coast Guard CRSC determinations are made by the Coast Guard Personnel Service Center, Disability Evaluation Branch (PSC-PSD-MED). The form itself is the same federal one — DD Form 2860 (JUL 2011) — but the office, the address, and the points of contact are all Coast Guard. If you have served in another branch as well, your CRSC claim still goes to the service that retired you, so be sure you are sending it to the right place.

How and where to submit

You can submit your completed DD Form 2860 and supporting records to PSC-PSD-MED by mail or email. Use these current points of contact:

• Mail: Commander (PSC-PSD-MED), Personnel Service Center, ATTN: CRSC, 2703 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20593-7200
• Email: ARL-SMB-CGPSC-PSD-CRSC@uscg.mil
• Phone: Coast Guard Pay & Personnel Center (PPC), (866) 772-8724

Coast Guard's broader eligibility (2016 Act + FY23 NDAA)

This is where the Coast Guard quietly gives its retirees an edge. Beyond the standard CRSC categories — Purple Heart, armed conflict, hazardous service, conditions simulating war, and instrumentality of war — Congress expanded what counts as combat-related for Coast Guard members specifically:

• Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2016. Expanded eligibility to cover injuries tied to aviation, diving, rescue swimmer, and hazardous small-vessel duty — the everyday dangerous work that defines so much of the Coast Guard mission.
• FY2023 NDAA. Further expanded eligibility to cover hazardous-material and chemical exposures.

What to include

A board approves what the paper proves. For a Coast Guard CRSC packet, assemble:

• All DD Form 214s and 215s covering your service.
• Your complete VA rating decisions and VA code sheets for every condition you claim.
• Service medical records from the time of injury — the contemporaneous documentation that ties the condition to the event.
• Your Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) results.
• Award citations relevant to the qualifying duty or event.
• Documentation of the qualifying hazardous duty or exposure — flight, dive, or rescue-swimmer records, small-vessel assignments, or exposure documentation (especially important for exposures not tracked under OMSEP).

The DD Form 2860 is where you tie it together; the narrative block is where most retirees fall short. If you would rather have a second set of eyes on a packet you have already built, that is what our packet review is for.

How to check status

The Coast Guard does not have a self-service online portal for CRSC status. To check where your claim stands:

• Email the CRSC Coordinator at ARL-SMB-CGPSC-PSD-CRSC@uscg.mil, or
• Call PPC at (866) 772-8724.

Keep a copy of everything you send and a simple log of dates and who you spoke with. A clear paper trail is the single most useful thing you can have if a claim stalls.

If you're denied: reconsideration (a signed letter, no form)

A denial is not the end of the road, and Coast Guard reconsideration is refreshingly simple on paperwork: there is no special reconsideration form. To ask PSC-PSD-MED to take another look, send a signed letter plus new evidence to the same address — Commander (PSC-PSD-MED), Personnel Service Center, ATTN: CRSC, 2703 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20593-7200 — or to the Coordinator email. The key word is new: reconsideration works when you can add evidence or a clearer causation argument the board did not have the first time.

Be realistic about timing. Reconsideration timelines are branch-dependent and can run from several months to over a year, and a favorable outcome is never guaranteed. If you want help building the strongest possible second submission, see our reconsideration service or read why CRSC claims get denied.

An honest note — and how Standfast helps

CRSC is case-specific and decided solely by your branch — here, the Coast Guard's PSC-PSD-MED. We don't guarantee approval, a rating, or a backpay amount, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What we do is build the strongest documented case your records support: confirming eligibility, mapping the records that prove each condition, drafting the causation narrative, completing the DD Form 2860 correctly, and assembling the packet for the Coast Guard's process — including the exposure documentation that the 2016 Act and FY2023 NDAA make so important. If we don't think a packet is worth your money, we'll tell you that on the free call. Flat fee, never a percentage of your backpay.