Personal statements (Form 21-4138)

The Statement in Support of Claim — Form 21-4138 — is your direct voice to the rater. Use it. The rater may spend less than thirty minutes on your entire claim. Your 21-4138 frames how they read everything else.

Structure

Keep it to 3–5 paragraphs. Cover four sections:

1. Name the condition. “I am claiming service connection for [DC code if known] [condition].”
2. Timeline. When did this start? What happened in service? If filing for an increased rating, when did it worsen and how?
3. Current symptoms — frequency, severity, duration. Be specific. “Headaches 4–5 times per week, lasting 2–6 hours, sometimes forcing me to lie down in a dark room” beats “I have headaches a lot.”
4. Functional impact. How does this affect your work, your relationships, your daily life? Concrete examples.

Pro tip

VA raters have read thousands of statements. They can tell when one is real and when one is exaggerated. Be honest. Be specific. Less is more. A 21-4138 that sounds calm and factual is more credible than one filled with intensifiers.

Use the statement generator to produce a clean draft.

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