VA Disability by MOS — Common Conditions by Military Job
Conditions by MOS / AFSC / Rating
Search a job code, or pick branch and personnel category, to see the exposures, commonly claimed conditions, and the records that corroborate that occupational story.
Don't see your exact job? Pick the closest combat-arms, aviation, maintenance, medical, or admin analogue — the exposure profile is usually similar.
Occupational noise tiers, in plain English
VA's adjudication manual sorts military occupations into three probability tiers for hazardous noise. The tier controls how much of the exposure element you still have to prove.
| Tier | What it changes | Typical specialties |
|---|---|---|
| Highly probable | VA's adjudication guidance treats hazardous noise exposure as conceded for the specialty. The disputed issues shift to current diagnosis and nexus, not whether the noise happened. | Infantry, artillery and mortars, armor/cavalry, combat engineers, aviation maintenance and aircrew, small-arms instructors, shipboard engineering. |
| Probable | Exposure is accepted as likely; supporting detail (range time, flight line access, hearing-conservation enrollment) strengthens the file. | Transportation and motor pool, construction/utilities, military police, some logistics and flight-support specialties. |
| Low probability | Exposure is not assumed. The file needs specifics — duty locations, collateral duties, range details, or an audiogram threshold shift — to establish it. | Administration, finance, most intelligence-analysis and medical-clinic roles, and other primarily interior duties. |
The records that carry an occupational claim
Each of these is obtainable, and each one proves something a job code alone does not.
| Document | What it proves | Where to get it |
|---|---|---|
| DD Form 214 (blocks 11, 12, 13, 14, 18) | Primary specialty and years in it, decorations and badges (CIB/CAB, air/jump/dive insignia), and remarks noting deployments — the fastest way to tie a job to an exposure environment. | Already in most VA files; otherwise request through the National Archives (NPRC) eVetRecs system. |
| Enlisted/Officer Record Brief (ERB, ORB, SRB) or equivalent | Every MOS/AFSC/NEC held, duty assignments, unit of assignment, and dates — critical when a later secondary MOS drove the exposure. | Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) request; Army iPERMS for post-2000 service. |
| NCOER / OER / EPR / FITREP evaluations | Narrative bullets describing what you actually did (rounds fired, sorties supported, patients moved, hours on the flight line). Frequently the strongest lay-equivalent evidence of repetitive physical demand. | OMPF / iPERMS / AF vMPF. |
| Leave and Earnings Statements (LES) | Hazardous-duty incentive pay lines — HDIP (flight), demolition pay, parachute pay, dive pay, hostile-fire/imminent-danger pay. Each is a paid, audited entry proving the hazardous duty was performed. | myPay archive (limited years) or finance records in the OMPF. |
| Hearing-conservation audiograms (DD Forms 2215 / 2216) | Enrollment in a hearing-conservation program (which itself indicates a noise-hazardous duty) and any documented threshold shift between entrance and separation. | Service treatment records; DOEHRS-HC audiometric database for post-1990s service. |
| Individual Flight Record (DA 759 / AF 1042 / NATOPS logs) | Flight hours by airframe — supports cervical/lumbar compression, vibration, and flight-line noise arguments for aircrew. | Aviation unit records or the OMPF. |
| Parachutist jump record (DA Form 1307) and dive logs | Cumulative jumps or dive profiles — foundational for airborne joint claims and for decompression/barotrauma residuals. | Unit S-1/airborne operations records; dive logs from the command's dive locker records. |
| Post-Deployment Health Assessment / Reassessment (DD 2796 / 2900) | Self-reported exposures (burn pits, blast events, noise, chemicals) and symptoms recorded contemporaneously — often the only in-service paper for symptoms never treated at sick call. | Service treatment records; VA also imports many of these automatically. |
| Unit deployment / morning reports and after-action reports | Presence at a location on a date — used to corroborate stressors, blast events, and location-based exposure (e.g., burn pit registry sites). | Joint Services Records Research Center (JSRRC) request through VA, or unit historian. |
| Line-of-duty (LOD) determination | For Reserve and Guard service, that the injury occurred during a qualifying duty period — usually decisive for whether the injury counts at all. | Component personnel office; the LOD packet stays with the unit and the OMPF. |
Step-by-step request instructions: getting your service treatment records.
What each occupational group has to document
Combat arms and ground maneuver
- • Badges on the DD-214 (CIB, CAB, EIB, Combat Action Ribbon) date and place the exposure.
- • Range and gunnery qualification records show cumulative small-arms and crew-served noise.
- • Ruck and road-march distances appear in evaluation bullets far more often than in sick-call notes.
Aviation and aircrew
- • Flight hour totals by airframe from individual flight records.
- • Flight-pay (HDIP) entries on the LES for months of qualifying flight.
- • Aeromedical clearance records documenting hypoxia events, barotrauma, or grounding periods.
Maintenance, motor pool, and shipboard engineering
- • Maintenance work orders and shop assignment memoranda establishing solvent, fuel, and brake-dust work.
- • Ship class and hull number plus service dates for asbestos-era engineering spaces.
- • Respirator fit-test and industrial-hygiene survey records, which prove the command itself identified the hazard.
Medical and patient-care specialties
- • Duty rosters showing litter-team and patient-transport assignments.
- • Mass-casualty after-action reports for stressor corroboration.
- • Bloodborne-pathogen exposure reports and post-exposure prophylaxis notes.
Administrative, intelligence, and communications
- • Collateral duties matter most here — range NCO, motor-pool driver, flight-line courier, convoy duty.
- • Headset-use documentation and SIGINT watch schedules for asymmetric hearing claims.
- • Ergonomic clinic referrals and profiles for repetitive-strain and cervical claims.
Secondary-condition chains that recur by occupation
Occupational careers rarely produce a single condition. These are the chains VA sees most often — each still requires a diagnosis and a medical opinion explaining the mechanism.
Service-connected knee or ankle disability
Commonly claimed afterOpposite-side knee or hip strain · Lumbar strain · Plantar fasciitis
Altered gait and weight-shifting are the recognized mechanism; the opinion must describe the antalgic pattern, not simply assert it.
Service-connected lumbar or cervical spine disability
Commonly claimed afterRadiculopathy of the lower or upper extremity · Bowel/bladder impairment in severe IVDS · Depression from chronic pain
Radiculopathy is rated separately as a neurological manifestation under 38 CFR § 4.71a's spine notes when objective findings exist (EMG, reflex, sensory loss).
Service-connected PTSD or other mental-health condition
Commonly claimed afterSleep apnea · GERD · Hypertension · Erectile dysfunction (often medication-induced) · Migraine aggravation
The strongest versions of these opinions cite mechanism (weight gain, autonomic arousal, SSRI side-effect profile) and the treatment record showing onset after the primary.
Service-connected tinnitus / hearing loss
Commonly claimed afterSleep disturbance and insomnia · Anxiety or depression · Vestibular symptoms where separately diagnosed
Tinnitus is capped at 10% under DC 6260, so the value is in the separately diagnosed secondary conditions, not in stacking tinnitus.
Service-connected respiratory condition (asthma, rhinitis, sinusitis)
Commonly claimed afterSleep apnea · Chronic sinus headaches
Upper-airway obstruction arguments require sleep-study data plus an ENT or pulmonary opinion tying the obstruction to the service-connected pathology.
Service-connected traumatic brain injury residuals
Commonly claimed afterMigraine or tension headaches · Cognitive and emotional residuals rated under DC 8045 facets · Vestibular dysfunction
TBI residual facets and a separately diagnosed mental-health condition can both be rated when the symptoms are distinguishable — the exam must separate them.
Educational information only. Nothing here predicts a rating or an outcome, and we do not draft medical opinions — those must come from a qualified clinician.
In-depth guides by occupation
Each guide covers what the job involved, the records that corroborate those duties, the conditions that commonly arise from them, and why VA denies these claims even after accepting the exposure.
Army
- 11B InfantrymanCombat arms — light, mechanized, and airborne infantry
- 11C Indirect Fire InfantrymanCombat arms — infantry mortars
- 12B Combat EngineerCombat arms — engineer, mobility and countermobility
- 13B Cannon CrewmemberCombat arms — field artillery
- 15T UH-60 Helicopter RepairerAviation maintenance
- 18B Special Forces Weapons SergeantSpecial operations — Special Forces
- 19D Cavalry ScoutCombat arms — reconnaissance
- 19K M1 Abrams Armor CrewmanCombat arms — armor
- 25B Information Technology SpecialistSignal — information technology
- 31B Military PoliceCombat support — law enforcement and security
- 68W Combat Medic SpecialistMedical — combat medic
- 88M Motor Transport OperatorCombat service support — transportation
- 89D Explosive Ordnance Disposal SpecialistExplosive ordnance disposal
- 91B Wheeled Vehicle MechanicCombat service support — maintenance
Marine Corps
Navy
- ABH Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Handling)Naval aviation — carrier flight-deck aircraft handling
- AD Aviation Machinist's MateNaval aviation maintenance — jet and turboprop engine repair
- BU Builder (Seabee)Naval Construction Force — heavy and light construction trades
- HM Hospital CorpsmanMedical — Fleet Marine Force and shipboard care
- MM Machinist's MateEngineering — shipboard machinery and propulsion
Air Force
- 2A5X1 Aircraft MaintenanceAircraft maintenance — airframe, powerplant, and crew chief specialties
- 2F0X1 Fuels SpecialistPetroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) — aircraft and vehicle fueling operations
- 2W1X1 Aircraft Armament SystemsMunitions and weapons systems — aircraft armament loading and maintenance
- 3P0X1 Security ForcesSecurity and law enforcement — installation and expeditionary defense
How MOS evidence helps a VA claim
Your lists your primary MOS, AFSC, NEC, or Rating. VA uses that occupational classification — together with guidance for noise exposure (high/moderate/low probability) and the conceded-exposure tables for hazardous materials — to evaluate the credibility of an in-service exposure .
For example, lists 11-series Army infantry MOS as 'highly probable' noise exposure, which functionally concedes hazardous noise exposure for a hearing-loss or tinnitus . Similar concession lists exist for combat arms across services, flight-line personnel, vehicle mechanics, and shipboard ratings.
Infantry, Combat Arms, and Cavalry (Army 11/19-series, Marine 03xx)
- Musculoskeletal — bilateral knee strain/meniscal injury, ankle instability, hip impingement, lumbar IVDS, cervical strain (Kevlar weight, ruck weight, dismounted patrols).
- Hearing loss and tinnitus — conceded as highly probable noise exposure.
- Mental health — PTSD, depression, anxiety; substance use as secondary.
- Sleep apnea — strongly associated as secondary to PTSD and weight gain post-combat.
- GERD, IBS — secondary to PTSD/medication.
- TBI — blast exposure, vehicle accidents, training injuries.
Artillery and Mortar (13-series Army, 0811/0844 Marine)
- Tinnitus and bilateral sensorineural hearing loss — universally conceded.
- Vertigo and Ménière-type symptoms secondary to noise exposure.
- Cervical and lumbar strain from heavy lifting (rounds, charges).
- Cold-weather injuries (residuals of frostbite) for those at northern-tier units.
- Mental-health conditions related to deployment.
Special operations and divers
- Decompression sickness residuals, dysbaric osteonecrosis (divers).
- Hearing loss, tinnitus, and barotrauma.
- Repetitive-jump injuries — knees, ankles, lumbar (airborne).
- TBI from blast and parachute landings.
- Mental-health conditions and sleep disorders from operational tempo.
Reading the M21-1 noise tiers — what 'conceded' actually changes
VA's adjudication manual sorts military occupations into three probability tiers for hazardous noise: highly probable, probable, and low probability. A 'highly probable' specialty does not grant anything on its own — it removes one of the three elements from dispute. Once in-service noise exposure is conceded, the remaining fight is over the current diagnosis (a 38 CFR § 3.385 qualifying audiogram for hearing loss) and the medical link between the two.
That distinction explains a common denial pattern: a 13B cannon crewmember is denied hearing loss not because VA doubted the noise, but because the audiogram thresholds did not meet § 3.385, or because the examiner cited normal separation audiograms without addressing delayed-onset noise injury. On appeal, the productive argument is almost never 'I was in artillery' — it is the audiometric data and the adequacy of the examiner's .
For a 'low probability' specialty, the burden is different: the record has to build the exposure itself. Collateral duties, range NCO assignments, flight-line access, convoy duty, and hearing-conservation enrollment all do that work.
Documents that carry the occupational story
Most MOS-based claims are lost on documentation, not on plausibility. The DD-214 alone is thin: it states a primary specialty and little about what the body actually did for four to twenty years. The records below fill that gap, and each one is obtainable.
- Enlisted or Officer Record Brief (ERB/ORB/SRB) — every specialty held, every duty assignment, with dates.
- Evaluation reports (NCOER, OER, EPR, FITREP) — narrative bullets quantifying rounds fired, sorties supported, patients moved, hours on the flight line.
- Leave and Earnings Statements — hazardous-duty pay lines (flight, jump, dive, demolition, imminent danger) are audited financial proof the duty was performed.
- Hearing-conservation audiograms (DD 2215 / 2216) — enrollment itself indicates a noise-hazardous assignment; threshold shifts between entry and separation are the strongest single data point in a hearing .
- Individual flight records, DA Form 1307 jump records, and dive logs — cumulative-exposure counts for aircrew, airborne, and dive specialties.
- Post-Deployment Health Assessment / Reassessment (DD 2796 / 2900) — contemporaneous self-reported exposure and symptom entries, often the only in-service paper for symptoms never treated at sick call.
- Unit records and JSRRC research — places you at a location on a date for stressor and location-based exposure claims.
Why the same MOS produces very different decisions
- Era. A 1970s motor-pool mechanic and a 2015 motor-pool mechanic share a code but not a hazard profile — asbestos brake work versus post-9/11 deployment particulate exposure.
- Duty status. Reserve and Guard service is analyzed period by period; without a line-of-duty determination for the right period, the injury may not count as service at all.
- Location. Burn pit, herbicide, radiation, and contaminated-water presumptions attach to places and dates, not to job codes.
- Collateral duty. The clerk who spent two years as the unit's range NCO has a hearing-exposure record the specialty code never shows.
- Documentation depth. Two identical infantry careers diverge entirely based on whether sick call, profiles, and post-deployment assessments were completed.
Where MOS evidence matters most on appeal
On a , occupational evidence already in the file is the lever: the reviewer can find a duty-to-assist error where VA never obtained personnel records, flight records, or hearing-conservation data that the clearly implicated. On a , newly obtained personnel records are usually new and relevant evidence under 38 CFR § 3.156(a), which is a lower bar than the old 'new and material' standard.
Occupational records also matter for effective dates. When VA reopens on records that existed in federal custody at the time of the original decision, the argument for an earlier is materially stronger than when the file is built on newly created private evidence.
Check this against your own paperwork
What is literally in your file on the left; what it means procedurally on the right.
| If your record shows this | What it means |
|---|---|
| Denial says 'no evidence of acoustic trauma' and your specialty is combat arms, artillery, armor, or aviation | The exposure element likely should have been conceded under the manual's noise tiers. This is a rating-decision reasoning problem — a Higher-Level Review candidate rather than a new-evidence problem. |
| Denial cites a normal separation audiogram | A normal exit audiogram does not by itself defeat a hearing-loss claim; the examiner must address delayed-onset noise injury. Whether the rationale is adequate is an appealable question. |
| Your DD-214 shows one specialty but you spent years in another | The record brief (ERB/ORB) listing every specialty held is missing from the file. Adding it puts the higher-exposure duty in front of the adjudicator. |
| LES shows flight, jump, dive, or demolition pay for months or years | That pay line documents hazardous duty independent of the specialty code and is rarely in the claims file unless someone submits it. |
| Claim mentions burn pits but the file has no deployment orders or DD 2796 | Presumptive exposure attaches to locations and dates. Without the orders or health assessment, the adjudicator has no location proof to apply the presumption to. |
| Reserve or Guard injury with no line-of-duty determination in the file | Duty status is usually the controlling issue. Locating the LOD packet often matters more than any additional medical evidence. |
| Musculoskeletal denial for 'no in-service treatment' after a load-bearing career | Evaluation bullets, profiles, and duty rosters describing the physical demand can supply the in-service element that sick-call notes never captured. |
General information only. Whether any of this applies to a specific decision depends on the full record.
Frequently Asked Questions
References & sources
- M21-1 Adjudication Procedures Manual (public knowledge base) — Department of Veterans Affairs · Source of the occupational noise-probability tiers and exposure-concession guidance.
- 38 CFR § 3.385 — Disability due to impaired hearing — eCFR
- 38 U.S.C. § 1154(b) — Consideration to be accorded time, place, and circumstances of service — U.S. Code
- Request military service records (eVetRecs) — National Archives
- Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry — VA Public Health
Useful Tools & Topics
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Disclaimer: This page is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Oakridge Claims is a private business and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. No guarantees of outcomes are made. Each claim is decided on its individual facts.
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