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Plain-language VA benefits guides · J. Erickson — service-disabled Air Force veteran who served as a military firefighter and as a veteran service officer, and holds an MBA

Free field guides and worksheets for one claim task at a time — a first claim, a C&P exam, a secondary condition, an appeal deadline — readable on the page or as a PDF with no email, no account, and no signup. The site sells books and says so in a written pledge on its own homepage: it will never file your claim, never represent you before VA, and never take a percentage of your back pay, and it points readers to free accredited VSO help instead. Its standout is a law-checked explainer of who is actually allowed to charge a veteran for claim help, state by state.

Why we carry them. The anti-shark homework: plain-language guides that teach the process and the fee law together, so a family can spot a predatory pitch before anyone asks for money.

Start here — their essential work

• Start Here: Find the Right Free VA Claim Guide — Three questions and you get a short list of the free guides and worksheets that fit where you are — no purchase, no account, no signup.
• Free VA Claim Guides — The full shelf: a step-by-step field guide for nearly every claim task, from Intent to File and the C-file request to PCAFC caregiver applications and survivor claims.
• Filing Your First VA Disability Claim — A first claim end to end on Form 21-526EZ — protect the effective date, line up the three elements of service connection, and decide between a standard and a Fully Developed Claim.
• Who Can Charge You for VA Claim Help — Who may legally be paid for claim help and when: no fee before the first decision, accredited help only after it, VSO help free by law — with the state-law table and the citations to check.
• Claim Sharks: How to Spot Them — The predatory-company playbook and its red flags — big upfront fees, guaranteed ratings, no accreditation — and where to complain if one already took your money.
• VA Benefits Books by J. Erickson — The book shelf behind the free guides — manuals and playbooks on claims, C&P exams, PTSD, secondary claims, appeals, caregiving, and survivors.
• VA Claims Articles — The running article file: how VA rates specific conditions, from disc disease and meniscal tears to leukemia presumptives and secondary depression, in the same plain language.

Summaries are ours. The work is theirs — we link to it, we don’t lift it. Visit FWD Assist HQ →