I got my 100%. Then she asked for 15%.

I got out of the Navy in 2020. Like a lot of vets, I had no idea where to start with a disability claim. Who to talk to. What to file. How to prove a condition was service-connected. The VA website was a maze of forms and acronyms.

A friend introduced me to someone who said she helped him get 100%. I called her. She walked me through it, and ran most of the paperwork through my VA account herself. The process was actually pretty smooth.

Then my rating came back. 100% Permanent and Total. Combat-related, Operation Enduring Freedom. With it came back pay — a real, life-changing amount of money for a recently transitioned vet.

That's when she asked for 15%. Not at the beginning. Not in a contract I'd signed. After I told her what the backpay came out to.

I felt cheated. I gave her something — I'm not going to pretend I didn't, and I'm not going to pretend it was fair. It was not 15%. But I was so happy to finally have my rating that I wasn't in a headspace to fight about it.

Later I learned that what she did — charging a percentage of backpay on a claim, without being VA-accredited — is actually illegal under 38 USC 5904. There's a whole industry of people doing this. Companies charging $3,000, $5,000, sometimes $10,000+ per claim. Congress has been trying to ban them for years.

And underneath all that, there are about 16 million vetsin this country. Most of us have no idea what a 38 CFR diagnostic code is. What a nexus letter means. How to prep for a C&P exam. Whether a secondary condition we've had for years is worth filing. VSOs like DAV and VFW are free — and overloaded.

I built NexusVetClaims because I'm sure veterans are getting ripped off like this all over the country, and the tools to do it yourself didn't exist at a price a vet could afford.

Now they do. $29 a month. Cancel anytime. AI that actually knows 38 CFR, that flags presumptive conditions you might qualify under, that drafts nexus-letter language for your doctor to review, that coaches you through your C&P. No 15% at the end. No shakedowns. Software, not representation — and I point you to a free VA-accredited rep every step of the way.

If this is the tool I wish I'd had in 2020, maybe it's the one you need now. Semper Paratus.

— Cannon
U.S. Navy, 100% P&T combat-related (OEF)