Using your DD-214 to prove where you served for PACT Act claims
· Claim Situation
The situation
For presumptive exposure claims under the PACT Act, VA presumes the exposure if you served in a covered place and time. You don't prove you breathed the smoke; you prove you were there. Your DD-214 is usually the first document VA looks at, but it is often incomplete.
Read these boxes
- Block 12: entry, separation, and foreign service time.
- Block 13: decorations, medals, badges and campaign ribbons.
- Block 18: remarks, which may list deployment dates and locations.
Medals: location vs. period
- Some awards require service in a specific area (campaign and expeditionary medals).
- Others only show you served during a time period, anywhere. A service medal alone may not prove location.
- Check the award criteria before relying on one.
If your DD-214 is blank
- Request your full personnel file: VA.gov military records or SF-180.
- Deployment orders, travel vouchers, evaluations and pay records showing hostile-fire or tax-exclusion pay.
- Buddy statements and photos with dates.
Presumptive lists
Burn pit and airborne hazard presumptives are at 38 CFR 3.320; Agent Orange at 38 CFR 3.307 and 38 CFR 3.309. VA expanded the lists in January 2025 to include certain blood cancers. Check VA.gov PACT Act for current lists.
Not on the list?
You can still claim on a direct basis. The PACT Act also requires VA to consider a medical exam and opinion for Veterans with toxic exposure risk activity when the claim needs one. See cancer claims.
Related
Get free help
You never have to pay to file an initial VA claim. Free help: a VSO such as DAV, VFW or the American Legion, or a VA-accredited representative.
Educational only, not legal or medical advice. We are not VA-accredited. No one can promise an outcome; VA decides each claim on its own evidence. Rules and rates change; check the linked VA and eCFR sources.