If I'm medically retired before 20 years of service, do I still get military retirement pay and VA disability at the same time?

When a servicemember is separated for a service-connected condition before reaching 20 years, the process falls under Chapter 61 (disability retirement or separation), which is handled differently from a standard 20-year retirement. If the Physical Evaluation Board rates the condition(s) at 30% or higher and the member has at least 20 years of active service or meets certain other Chapter 61 criteria, they can be placed on the Permanent or Temporary Disability Retired List (PDRL/TDRL) and receive military disability retired pay even without 20 years in.

However, receiving both full military retired pay and full VA disability compensation at the same time is not automatic. Under normal rules, VA disability compensation causes a dollar-for-dollar reduction (offset) of military retired pay, because a retiree cannot be paid twice for the same disability from two different federal sources. This is often called the VA waiver, since the retiree waives part of retired pay to receive the tax-free VA compensation instead, which is usually financially better since VA compensation is not taxed.

There are two main exceptions that restore concurrent payment of both. Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP) generally requires 20 years of service (or a Chapter 61 retirement combined with 20 years of actual service) and a VA rating of 50% or higher. Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) does not require 20 years of service if the disability is combat-related, combat-related here meaning the injury or condition resulted from armed conflict, hazardous duty, an instrumentality of war, or simulated war training. Given a history of prior infantry service and combat deployments, CRSC may be a route worth pursuing even without reaching 20 years, since it can restore some or all of the amount otherwise offset by the VA waiver, depending on the percentage tied to the combat-related condition(s).

Because the disability retired pay calculation, retirement point-based years-of-service formula, and CRSC combat-relatedness determinations all depend on the individual PEB findings and separation code, actual dollar figures cannot be predicted in advance and will depend entirely on the Physical Evaluation Board outcome and subsequent VA rating decision.

The concrete next step is to work closely with a Physical Evaluation Board liaison or military disability counselor now, before the PEB findings are finalized, and separately file a VA disability claim (using VA Form 21-526EZ) so the VA rating process can run in parallel with the military disability evaluation, then apply for CRSC through the relevant service branch once separated if any conditions are combat-related.