Bitch'in! So you will be 120% disabled ( 12 10% disabilities). ? Hope that gets you a handicapped parking pass.
It doesn't actually work that way. They take your highest rating. Let's say it is 20%. Then they take the next highest rating, let's say it is also 20%. You get the first 20%, then they apply the second 20% to what is left. So 20% for the first rating, then 20% of the 80% remaining is 16%. 20% + 16% results in a total of 36%. They continue to do that with the rest of your ratings. Theoretically you could never get to 100%, but the VA rounds up, making 95% the target to get 100% total. I think there are also significant injuries/ailments that will get you 100% automatically.
Bilateral ratings stack differently. If both of your ankles have a rating, then they are added together and then a 10% kicker is applied. You take two ankles with a 10% rating each, "Bilateral" makes it 10% left + 9% right (using similar rule as above), plus 10% of the total (1.9%), for 20.9%. Then the bilateral combined rating, 20.9% in this case, is added just like other ratings using the % of what is left formula.
12 * 10% ratings is 71.75%, rounded to 70% total disability.
As I wrote this post, my breakdown came in. It turns out that my top rated item was rated at 30% plus a bilateral factor making it worth 56.1%. Then a 20% item and 6 X 10% items.
I suppose you can try to "game the system". The interweb is full of attorneys who will promise to increase your VA disability and get you "What You Deserve!" The guy I saw was free, worked in an office of the Vystar on base, and was listed as a POC on my retirement physical paperwork provided by the Navy Branch Clinic. You can do it yourself and get shorted (I did this when I left the Navy), use the people the service recommends, or lawyer up and go for it all. Getting that last 20% would be VERY financially beneficial to me, but honestly, I am pleased with 80%. Greater than 50% gets you Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP). This makes up for the amount of pay (jn the amount of your disability payment) deducted from your retirement pay. Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) does the same thing but kicks in at 10%. You have to apply for CRSC, but CRDP is automatic. Also, receiving CRSC requires you to waive CRDP. CRDP is taxable and divisible by a judgement (ie divorce). CRSC is not taxable or divisible. VA disability of course is not taxable or divisible.
For everyone here on AW, DFAS says CRSC is for
Disabilities that may be considered combat related include injuries that occurred as a direct result of:
- Armed conflict
- Hazardous duty
- An instrumentality of war
- Simulated war
According to VA.gov hazardous duty for CRSC purposes includes demolition,
flying, or parachuting.
I think that CRSC applies only to that portion of your disability rating that is combat related. But the calculations and examples all seem to assume the combat related portion is the same as the combine VA rating.
Also, there is military disability retirement. That's a whole different thing.