DD Form 2860:
how to fill out the CRSC application block by block.

DD Form 2860 is the one form every branch uses for Combat-Related Special Compensation. It is a July 2011 Department of Defense form, three pages plus an instruction page and an appendix, and the branch you retired from — not VA, not DFAS — reads it and decides whether each condition you list is combat-related. This guide walks it section by section using the form's own instructions and the application steps Army HRC publishes. It is education only: your branch decides eligibility, DFAS pays, and nothing here replaces your own records or an accredited representative when you need one.

Before you touch DD Form 2860

Confirm you clear the gates first — retired status, a VA rating that is reducing your retired pay, and at least one condition you can tie to a combat-related category. Our CRSC eligibility guide walks all three. Then download the current form from the DoD forms site (search "DD 2860" at esd.whs.mil) rather than reusing a copy someone emailed you.

Read the cover-page instructions. They say to complete the entire form, and — the line people miss — to enter "Don't Know" or "DK" rather than leave any item blank. Mail pages 1 through 3 only, send copies rather than originals because originals are not returned, and send the claim to the service you retired from.

Sections I through III: who you are, and whether you are a retiree

Section I is personal information through item 7. Match it to your Retiree Account Statement, since your branch and DFAS use it to find your retired pay account.

Section II, item 8, is four yes-or-no questions that establish retired status. Questions 8a through 8c cover regular, reserve, and reserve TERA retirements before January 1, 2008. Question 8d is the one most current applicants use: are you currently entitled to military retired pay for any reason, other than early reserve retirement for a disability not incurred in line of duty. Chapter 61 medical retirees answer yes here. The form says that if you answer no to all four, you are not eligible, and HRC adds that medical separation with or without severance pay is not medical retirement.

Section III starts with which service you retired from, and HRC says flatly that if you did not retire from the Army, do not send it to the Army. Attach your retirement orders or retirement DD214. The rest of the section asks about wars or combat operations and prisoner-of-war status; check what applies and attach the DD214 or citation that verifies it. This section gives the analyst context; it does not decide any condition.

Section IV, item 13: one disability, one page

Page 2 is the form. Everything else is paperwork around it. The rule printed at the top is the one to respect: one disability per page. You are authorized to copy page 2 as many times as you have conditions to claim. HRC's steps say the same thing and add not to send extra copies of pages 1 or 3 — just more page 2s.

Each page 2 walks the same blocks:

Block	What goes there
13.a – Disability	The condition as VA rated it, in VA's words. HRC's examples: PTSD, tinnitus, bilateral hearing loss.
Body part	What the condition affects — head, ears, lumbar spine.
VA diagnostic code	The four-digit code from your rating decision or code sheet, e.g. 9411 for PTSD, 6260 for tinnitus.
13.d – Date awarded	The date VA granted service connection, in YYYYMMDD format.
13.e / 13.f – Initial and current rating	The percentage VA first assigned and the percentage it carries today. Pull both from your rating decisions, not from memory.
13.g – Combat-related code	Mark one: PH, AC, HS, SW, IN, AO, RE, or GW/MG. Appendix A defines each.
Unit, location, and how it happened	The unit you were with, where the injury occurred, and a brief summary of the event.
13.k – Purple Heart	Yes, no, or N/A for this specific injury. If yes, attach the citation plus something that shows what the wound was.
13.l / 13.m – Secondary conditions	Whether VA has documented conditions secondary to this one, and if so, list them with code, percentage, and date.

Two of those blocks generate more anxiety than they should. On the combat-related code, HRC's own steps say marking the wrong code will not deny the claim; the analyst makes the final determination. Pick the best fit from Appendix A and move on. On the "how it happened" summary, HRC says just as plainly that it will not approve or disapprove the claim. It is a pointer to your evidence, not a substitute for it: two or three plain sentences on what happened, when, and where, with the record that proves it attached.

The secondary-condition blocks are stricter. The form says the branch cannot award any condition as secondary without evidence, and the evidence it wants is a VA rating decision stating in so many words that the secondary is caused by the primary — its example is "hypertension is secondary to diabetes." If your decision letter says that, attach it. To see how the percentages you are listing combine into the number on your award letter, our VA disability calculator runs the math.

Sections V and VI: the attachments, and the signature

Item 14 lists what to send, copies only: all DD214s and DD215s, retirement orders, reserve point statements and 15- or 20-year letters if applicable, all VA rating decisions, letters, and code sheets with no pages removed, the medical records that verify how the injury occurred, MEB and PEB results, and anything else that verifies the event. HRC's Army list is shorter and sharper: the hand-signed 2860, every 214 and 215, the DA Form 199, medical records from the time of the incident, deployment awards and evaluations, Purple Heart paperwork, and the VA code sheet.

HRC also publishes a do-not-include list: your entire medical record, VA treatment records, x-rays, labs, medication lists, printouts from books or websites, buddy statements, personal statements, and medical notes written after you left service or by civilian providers. The Army's stated position is that every condition except PTSD needs medical paperwork from the time of injury that says how it happened, and that PTSD is approved from combat awards, deployment evaluations or award recommendations that describe combat operations, or verified letters from wartime chain of command. Other branches publish their own guidance; read yours.

Section VI is the certification and CRDP waiver: you acknowledge you cannot receive both CRSC and CRDP, that retroactive CRSC is offset by CRDP already paid for the same period, and that the statements are true under penalty of perjury. Then sign it. HRC's instruction is in capital letters: hand sign, do not send it blank, do not use a computer signature, and it must be the service member's own; unsigned or computer-signed applications are returned as ineligible. Our CRSC vs CRDP guide explains what you are electing between.

Where DD Form 2860 goes, and what happens next

The form's instruction page lists a mailing address for each service — Army HRC at Fort Knox, the Navy Council of Review Boards for Navy and Marine Corps, the Air Force disability division at Randolph, and the Coast Guard, NOAA Corps, and Public Health Service offices. That page is dated 2011, so confirm the current mail, email, or fax route on your branch's CRSC page before sending. Army retirees can currently submit by mail, email, or eFax; whichever route you use, the signature inside has to be ink.

The branch then reviews each page 2 against its own program guidance and issues a decision letter listing which conditions were found combat-related and under which category. If you disagree, every branch has a reconsideration path, and that is when the evidence rules above matter most. When your situation calls for individual help, an accredited VSO, claims agent, or attorney from VA's accreditation search is the right call.

Frequently asked questions

Can I sign DD Form 2860 electronically?
Army HRC's published steps say to hand-sign it and that unsigned or computer-signed applications are returned as ineligible; the form itself says unsigned claims will not be processed. Whatever your branch, print page 3 and sign in ink, then scan or mail the signed copy.

Where do I send DD Form 2860?
To the branch you retired from, not to VA or DFAS. The form's instruction page lists an address for each service; because it dates from July 2011, confirm the current address, email, or fax on your branch's CRSC page first.

What if I want to claim more than one condition?
One disability per page 2, and copy page 2 as many times as you need. Do not duplicate pages 1 or 3. Secondary conditions VA has tied to a primary go at the bottom of that primary's page, with the VA decision that says so.

When your situation calls for individual help, use an accredited VSO, claims agent, or attorney — VA's accreditation search lists every legitimate representative. Keep reading: CRSC eligibility · CRSC vs CRDP · Free readiness checklist