Marine Corps CRSC: Filing Through the Navy Board

Here's the short answer, Marine: you file your CRSC application with the Department of the Navy Combat-Related Special Compensation Board, not with the VA and not with a separate Marine Corps office. The board decides CRSC for every Marine and Sailor alike. You submit the federal DD Form 2860 (JUL 2011) by mail or email, attach the records that prove each rated condition is combat-related, and the board adjudicates it.

Why Marine Corps CRSC goes to the Navy board

This trips up a lot of Marines, so let's be clear up front: there is no separate Marine Corps CRSC office. The Marine Corps is part of the Department of the Navy, so CRSC for Marines is handled by the same authority that handles it for Sailors — the Department of the Navy Combat-Related Special Compensation Board (CRSCB), which operates under the Secretary of the Navy Council of Review Boards (SECNAV CORB).

This is the official channel, not a workaround. The Marine Corps itself directs Marines to this board through its MARADMIN guidance messages on combat-related disability compensation. So if you've been searching for a "Marine Corps CRSC board" and coming up empty, that's why — the right destination has "Navy" in the name, but it is the correct and intended place for your packet.

How and where to submit

You file with the Department of the Navy board — not the VA. The application is the federal DD Form 2860 (JUL 2011), the same form used across the services. You can submit your completed packet by mail or email:

However you send it, the goal is the same: a complete, organized packet the board can verify without chasing missing documents. A claim that arrives whole — form, narrative, and proof — gives the board no easy reason to set it aside.

What to include

The board approves what your paperwork proves. For a Marine Corps CRSC packet, pull together:

• All DD Form 214s and DD Form 215s. Every period of service, including corrections.
• Retirement orders. Your orders placing you on the retired list.
• Complete VA rating decisions and VA code sheets. The full decision narratives plus the code sheets that show each diagnostic code and percentage — the board works from these.
• Service medical records from the time of injury. The documentation tying each condition back to a specific event, exposure, or duty.
• PEB results. Physical Evaluation Board findings, especially for medical retirees.
• Award citations. Combat awards and the citations behind them, where they support a qualifying category.

For many Marines, the strongest cases come out of the records around combat deployments, infantry and recon operations, aviation duty, and other hazardous service common to Marine MOSs — jumps, fast-rope and helo operations, range and live-fire training, and exposure to the instrumentalities of war. The category matters: a Purple Heart is only one of several qualifying paths, and many Marines qualify through armed conflict, hazardous service, conditions simulating war, or an instrumentality of war. See how the categories work →

How to check status

To check where your claim stands with the Department of the Navy board, call 877-366-2772 or email CRSC@navy.mil. Processing time is commonly cited at roughly 12 to 18 months, but treat that as an estimate, not a promise — actual timelines vary with workload and the completeness of your packet. Have your name, the last four of your SSN, and your submission date ready when you call so they can find your file quickly.

If you're denied: reconsideration

A denial is not the end of the road. If the Department of the Navy board denies your claim, your decision letter will include a Reconsideration Request Form. You complete it and submit it — with new or stronger evidence — to the same address or email you used the first time.

The key word is new. Reconsideration is not a do-over of the same packet; it's a chance to fix what the denial points to — a missing record, a weak nexus, a condition filed under the wrong category. Read the denial closely, find the gap, and close it with evidence. How reconsideration works →

Honest note — and how Standfast helps

CRSC is case-specific and decided solely by the Department of the Navy board. We don't guarantee approval, a rating, or a backpay amount — no one honestly can, and you should be cautious of anyone who does. What we do is build the strongest documented case your records support: the right form, a causation narrative that connects each condition to a qualifying combat-related event, and a packet assembled the way the board reads it.

Standfast was built by a combat-injured retiree who filed his own CRSC packet, so we know what a verifiable claim looks like — and what a denial costs in time. If you'd rather check a packet you've already built, that's our packet review; if you've already been denied, see reconsideration. Either way, the first 15-minute review is free, and we'll tell you straight whether a packet is worth your money.