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 vets in 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. Free today while we build with our earliest users — 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, that decodes a denial letter in plain English. 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. When we eventually charge, it'll be a small flat fee for convenience features, not a percentage of your benefits.

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)