A denial doesn’t always mean the condition wasn’t combat-related.

Why CRSC claims get denied

Four patterns cover most first-round denials:

• Insufficient causation narrative. The condition is listed, the service is documented — but the packet never walks the board from event to injury to rating in a way it can verify.
• Missing records. The LOD, deployment order, or treatment note that proves the link was never in the packet — sometimes because the retiree didn't know it existed.
• Condition described but not connected. Pages about how bad the condition is, nothing tying it to a qualifying event. Severity isn't the question; causation is.
• Wrong category claimed. A back injury claimed under armed conflict that actually fits instrumentality of war (a documented ruck or body-armor load injury) gives the board an easy no — even when the right category was available.

What a causation narrative has to do

One job: connect a specific, documented event or exposure to a specific rated condition under a specific CRSC category — in the order the board reads it. Event, mechanism of injury, medical evidence, category. When any link in that chain is asserted instead of documented, the packet is asking the board to take your word for it. Boards don't.

Missing records — and how to request them

Most "missing evidence" denials are recoverable paperwork problems. Retirees can request their Official Military Personnel File through the National Archives (standard form SF-180 or eVetRecs), service treatment records through their branch or the VA, and VA records (rating decisions, C&P exam reports) through VA.gov or a Privacy Act request. Deployment orders, hazardous-duty orders, jump and dive logs, and unit records often live in the personnel file most retirees have never pulled.

Branch boards differ

Army (HRC), Navy and Marine Corps (the Navy CRSC board), Air Force and Space Force (AFPC), and Coast Guard (PSC) each decide CRSC under their own process, their own timelines, and their own documentation expectations. A reconsideration written for the board that actually denied you — addressing the specific reasoning in your letter — reads very differently from a resubmission of the same packet.

The reconsideration service

Honest expectations

Reconsideration is case-specific. Some denials are wrong on the paper and respond well to a rebuilt causation narrative and new evidence. Some denials stand — because the condition genuinely doesn’t fit a qualifying category, or the evidence simply doesn’t exist. We review your decision letter before you pay anything, and if we don’t think a reconsideration is worth your money, we’ll tell you that on the free call. Your branch’s board makes every final decision; nobody can promise you a reversal, and you should walk away from anyone who does.