VA runs six environmental health registries. There are four more programs outside VA that veterans are almost never told about. Every one of them is free, none of them is a claim, and all of them do the one thing most denied files are missing — put a dated exposure history into an official record.
Start with the hard part
That sentence is unfair and it is also how the system works. VA does not compensate an exposure. It does not compensate a fear, a bad feeling, or a base on a list. It compensates a diagnosed disability that service caused — and the diagnosis is the one piece a veteran cannot supply on his own. A medical professional has to name it and write it down. Everything on this page exists to get you in front of that professional.
There is one narrow exception, and it is worth knowing. Under 38 CFR 3.317, Gulf War veterans who served in the Southwest Asia theater can be compensated for a qualifying chronic disability that is undiagnosed, or for a medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illness. That exception is real, it is narrow, and it still requires a clinician to document the symptoms over time. For everyone else, the rule holds: no diagnosis, no claim.
First
Where you were, when, what your job actually was, and what you handled. Not the MOS on paper — the work you performed. This is the only link in the chain nobody else can build for you.
What was at your base and in your jobSecond
A clinician has to hear it and write it down. Almost none of them will ask. The words that get it into the note, and the phone script that gets you the appointment, are on the doctor page.
The words that get it into the recordThird
A registry evaluation, a screening, a specialist referral, a test. Symptoms are not a rating. Until a medical professional names the condition and puts it in the record, there is nothing for VA to grant.
How a registry evaluation runsThen, and only then
Service connection needs three things: a current diagnosed disability, an in-service event or exposure, and a link between them. Miss the first one and the other two do not matter.
What VA says when it deniesA registry evaluation is the cheapest, fastest way onto that chain. It is free, it does not require enrollment in VA health care, it is not a claim, and it produces a dated clinical record of your exposure written by a VA clinician. There is no version of your file that is worse off for having one.
Six steps, start to letter
Nobody explains this, so veterans imagine a hearing, a form, or a test they can fail. It is none of those. It is one appointment about your service, an examination, and a letter.
Call VET-HOME at 833-633-8846, Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Eastern, and say you want the registry evaluation that fits your service. Or call the environmental health coordinator at your own VA medical center and ask by that title. There is no referral, no cost, and no requirement to be enrolled in VA health care.
A clinician walks through where you served, when, what your job actually was, and what you handled, breathed, drank, or carried in a wound. Nothing else in the VA system sets aside an appointment for that single question. What you say here becomes a dated entry in VA's own record, in VA's own words.
A physical examination performed with your exposure history sitting in front of the clinician — not a fifteen-minute visit about one complaint. The difference is that the person examining you already knows what you were around.
Laboratory work or other testing is ordered at the clinician's discretion, not on request. Some programs are built around a specific test — the Depleted Uranium Follow-Up Program exists to run urine uranium testing. Ask for the numbers, not the word normal, and keep copies.
A VA health professional goes through the findings with you, and VA sends a written summary of what was found and what to follow up on. Put that letter in your own folder. It is a document you can hand to any doctor for the rest of your life.
De-identified information from every participant is used for health surveillance and research — spotting patterns across a whole cohort that no single chart shows. Taking part does not affect your care or your benefits in either direction.
One call starts any of the six
VET-HOME — the VA exposure team
Veterans Exposure Team — Health Outcomes Military Exposures. Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Eastern. They run the registry evaluations by telehealth for veterans anywhere in the United States and its territories, and a registry evaluation does not require you to be enrolled in VA health care. Say you want the registry evaluation that fits your service. They do not prescribe medication and they do not complete disability claim forms.
Every VA medical center has an environmental health coordinator. The doctor page lists them state by state with the direct line and the VA email.
It costs you nothing and it cannot hurt you
Most veterans hear the word registry and picture a mailing list. What it really is: a free appointment whose entire subject is what your service did to you, ending in a document nobody can argue you invented later.
Years from now the argument will not be whether you were exposed. It will be when you first said so. A registry evaluation creates a dated entry showing you raised a military exposure before the diagnosis, before the claim, and before there was any money on the table. That is very hard for anyone to wave away.
Regular medical care chases the complaint in front of it. No civilian doctor is going to ask what you burned in a pit or what you cleaned parts with. This is the one appointment in the entire system whose subject is your service exposure and nothing else.
Registry evaluations do not require enrollment in VA health care and there is no cost. That matters for veterans who were turned away years ago, who use private insurance, or who have never set foot in a VA facility.
VA mails a written summary of the findings. Most veterans have nothing on paper connecting their service to their health. One letter changes that, and it travels with you to every provider you see afterward.
A registry is not a claim. It does not start one, replace one, or count against one. It has no effect on your eligibility for care or compensation, and you can opt out. There is no downside risk to weigh.
Registry data is used to identify health trends across groups of veterans. Every presumptive condition on the books today started as a pattern somebody had to see first. Showing up is how the cohort behind you gets counted.
VA's own programs
VA runs six environmental health registries. They are keyed to where and when you served, not to your diagnosis — there is no registry for a disease, there is a registry for the exposure that may have caused it. Read the eligibility line first. If it describes your service, the program is open to you whether or not you have ever filed anything. Most veterans qualify for more than one.
Who it covers
Veterans who may have been exposed to herbicides, including Agent Orange, during service.
What happens
A free, exposure-focused health examination by a VA clinician, with your exposure history documented and a written summary of the findings.
It is not a disability exam, it is not a claim, and taking part does not commit you to filing anything.
Agent Orange Registry on VA Public Health
Who it covers
Veterans and service members who served in the listed operations and locations. Since August 1, 2024, VA and the Defense Department enroll eligible people automatically, from deployment records, for service between August 2, 1990 and August 31, 2021.
What happens
Nothing to sign up for, in most cases. If you enrolled yourself before the redesign, your enrollment carried over. To check your status, ask the environmental health coordinator at your facility.
The registry holds deployment and demographic data only — no medical information. It is optional, it is not required to file a claim, and it is not evidence of exposure on its own.
Open the burn pit registry
Who it covers
Veterans who served in the Gulf War and the Southwest Asia theater of operations.
What happens
A free registry examination and a documented exposure history, with a written summary of what was found and what to follow up on.
It is not the same thing as a claim, and it does not replace filing one. It also does not affect your eligibility for care or benefits either way.
Gulf War Registry on VA Public Health
Who it covers
Veterans who took part in a radiation-risk activity during service.
What happens
A free registry examination with your radiation exposure history documented in VA’s own record, plus a written summary.
It is not a claim and it is not a rating decision. It is a clinical assessment and a research record.
Radiation registry exam on VA Public Health
Who it covers
Veterans who were in or on a vehicle struck by depleted uranium rounds, who were near a fire or an explosion involving depleted uranium munitions or armor, or who were deployed to Karshi-Khanabad Air Base in Uzbekistan.
What happens
Urine testing for uranium plus a clinical evaluation. Call VET-HOME at 833-633-8846 and ask to speak with a nurse about depleted uranium urine testing.
A normal result does not erase the exposure from your history, and it does not decide a claim.
Depleted uranium program on VA Public Health
Who it covers
Veterans carrying retained fragments from a blast injury — metal that was never removed.
What happens
Long-term surveillance and evaluation through VA’s Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center, because embedded metal can keep releasing into the body for decades.
It is a surveillance and evaluation program, not a claim, and not a substitute for treatment of the injury itself.
Embedded fragment center on VA Public Health
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Outside the six
Two of these are not VA programs at all, which is exactly why veterans never hear of them — the VA employee in front of you has no reason to mention a database the Marine Corps runs or a health program administered by the CDC. One of them covers your family rather than you.
Who it covers
Anyone who lived, worked, or served at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune or MCAS New River during the contaminated water years — Marines, sailors, civilian employees, and family members who lived in base housing.
What it gives you
A Marine Corps notification database. Registering keeps you on the list for health studies, public health assessments, and program updates. Register at marines.mil/clwater, by phone at 877-261-9782 (Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET), or by email at [email protected].
It is not a VA program, it does not enroll you in VA health care, and it is not a legal claim. Camp Lejeune Justice Act claims go to the Tort Claims Unit of the Marine Corps, not to this database.
Email [email protected] to register
Who it covers
Family members — not the veteran — who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune or MCAS New River for at least 30 cumulative days between August 1, 1953 and December 31, 1987.
What it gives you
VA reimburses out-of-pocket health care costs for 15 covered conditions: bladder, breast, esophageal, kidney and lung cancer, leukemia, multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, female infertility, miscarriage, hepatic steatosis, renal toxicity, scleroderma, and neurobehavioral effects — which has included Parkinson's disease since November 11, 2023. Apply on VA Form 10-10068 with proof of relationship, proof of residency, and records showing the diagnosis. Customer service: 866-372-1144.
It is a last payer — other health insurance is billed first and the explanation of benefits goes in with the claim. It is not the veteran's disability claim, and it does not require one.
Camp Lejeune family program at VA
Who it covers
Responders who worked or volunteered in rescue, recovery, debris removal, or support services at the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon, or the Shanksville, Pennsylvania crash site — the category is defined by what you did and where, not by whether you were in uniform. Also survivors who lived, worked, or attended school in the New York City disaster area.
What it gives you
Federally funded monitoring and treatment for certified 9/11-related conditions at no out-of-pocket cost, run by NIOSH, part of the CDC. Authorized by the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act and reauthorized through 2090. Responders can enroll without having any current health problem.
It is not the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. The VCF is a separate Justice Department program for money, and enrolling here does not enroll you there.
WTC Health Program eligibility
Who it covers
Anyone in the United States living with ALS who is 18 or older. Veterans are a particular focus — the registry pulls cases from VA health and benefits data, but being counted that way is not the same as enrolling yourself.
What it gives you
Run by ATSDR at the CDC. Self-enrollment at cdc.gov/als is the only way to complete the risk-factor surveys — and those surveys are where military service history and environmental exposures actually get recorded. Registrants also get notified about clinical trials and research studies. Help line 877-442-9719, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET, or [email protected].
Data is never shared with employers or insurers, and no participant is identified by name in published findings. It is not a VA program and it is not a claim.
National ALS Registry at CDCSix things you were told wrong
Almost every one of these came from somebody trying to help — a buddy, a clerk, a forum post. They are still wrong, and each one has kept veterans out of a free appointment for years.
“I have to be in a registry before I can file a claim.”
False, and it has never been true. Registry participation is not required to file, and it is not required to win. If someone tells you your claim depends on it, they are wrong.
“Being in the registry proves I was exposed.”
No. The Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry holds deployment and demographic data only — no medical information. Being listed is not proof of exposure on its own, and not being listed does not sink a claim.
“I still need to sign up for the burn pit registry.”
Probably not. Since August 1, 2024, VA and the Defense Department enroll eligible people automatically from deployment records for service between August 2, 1990 and August 31, 2021. Self-enrollments from before the redesign carried over. Ask your environmental health coordinator to check your status.
“I have to be enrolled in VA health care first.”
Not for a registry evaluation. Enrollment is a separate thing. It is required for the PACT Act toxic exposure screening, which lives inside VA's health record — but not for a registry exam. If you are not enrolled and want to be, call 877-222-8387.
“The registry exam is basically a C&P exam.”
It is not. A registry evaluation is clinical and voluntary. A compensation and pension examination belongs to the claims process, the examiner is not your doctor, and neither one substitutes for the other. Keep the two separate in your head.
“My results came back normal, so there is nothing here.”
A normal result does not erase the exposure from your history and it does not decide a claim. It rules some things out. It does not rule everything out, and it does not undo where you were or what you were around. If a symptom is still there, go back.
The part nobody raises
A veteran assessing his own risk stops at his own body. That is the wrong boundary. The people who slept in the same base housing drank the same water. The person who washed your coveralls handled whatever was on them. A child conceived after a herbicide deployment has a benefit of his own that does not depend on your claim. Assess the household, not just yourself.
Take-home exposure is real and it is documented. Asbestos fibers and industrial dusts travel out of a shop on work clothing, boots, hair, skin, and the inside of a vehicle. Historically the person most often exposed at home was whoever did the laundry — shaking out and washing coveralls in an enclosed room. Asbestos disease has a latency of decades, so the illness shows up in a spouse forty years after the shipyard.
If your job involved asbestos, lead, or solvents, say so in your family's exam rooms too, not only your own.
Dependents in base housing drank the same water and breathed the same air. Camp Lejeune is the case everyone knows, and VA runs a family member program with 15 covered conditions for people who were there 30 cumulative days between August 1, 1953 and December 31, 1987 — spouses and children included. The family's eligibility does not depend on the veteran having a claim.
Check the base pages for what was in the ground where you were stationed, then take that to the family's doctors.
Spina bifida — other than spina bifida occulta — in the biological child of a veteran who served in Vietnam (January 9, 1962 to May 7, 1975), in Thailand during that same window with herbicide exposure, or in or near the Korean DMZ (September 1, 1967 to August 31, 1971), where conception occurred after the veteran first entered that region. The benefit is compensation, health care, and vocational training, applied for on VA Form 21-0304. The veteran's discharge characterization and length of service do not affect the child's eligibility.
This is the child's own benefit. It does not require the veteran's claim to be granted first.
For most household exposures there is no program and no check. That does not make the information worthless. A doctor who knows the whole family shared an exposure looks differently at an unexplained illness in a spouse or an adult child — different questions, different tests, a different threshold for chasing something down. The exposure history you build for yourself is useful to every person who lived with you.
Write it once. Give a copy to everyone who was in the house.
Do it this week
You do not need a diagnosis, a rating, a lawyer, or a dollar to make this call. You need to know roughly where you were and what you were around, and the clinician will draw the rest out of you. Use the appointment builder below to get your service and your hazards written down first — then dial.
The World Trade Center Health Program takes applications online through CDC rather than by a single national phone line, and the National ALS Registry sign-up is a web form you complete yourself. Every line above is published by the agency that runs the program.
Turn this page into an appointment
Reading a symptom list changes nothing on its own. A dated note in your medical record does — for your health first, and years later for a claim. Below is every route to an appointment, the phrase that gets your exposure history written down, and the numbers to dial. Nothing on this page is a diagnosis, and none of it replaces your doctor.
Some things do not wait for a scheduler
Chest pain or pressure lasting more than a few minutes, or chest pain with sweating, nausea, or pain spreading to the jaw or arm
Sudden trouble breathing, or breathlessness while sitting still
Face droop, weakness or numbness on one side, slurred speech, or sudden confusion
Coughing up or vomiting blood, or bleeding that will not stop
A first seizure, or fainting you cannot explain
Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. Do not wait to reach a VA facility first, and do not drive yourself. Tell VA as soon as you can afterward — VA asks to be notified within 72 hours of emergency care received in the community — and keep every discharge paper and bill.
The PACT Act requires VA to offer this to every veteran enrolled in VA health care. It takes about five to ten minutes, and it is the cheapest way to get your exposure history into VA's own record in VA's own words.
What it is
A short set of questions asking whether you believe you were exposed to open burn pits and other airborne hazards, Agent Orange, radiation, Gulf War-related hazards, or contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
Who can get it
Every veteran enrolled in VA health care. If you are not enrolled yet, enrollment comes first — call 877-222-8387.
How often
An initial screening, then at least once every five years. If you answer that you do not know whether you were exposed, VA schedules you again a year later.
How to get one
It is often done during a primary care or specialty visit — but you can ask for it sooner. Ask your primary care team directly, or ask your facility for its Toxic Exposure Screening Navigator by name.
What it is not
It is not an exam for any specific illness, and it is not part of the disability claims process. It is optional, and declining it does not affect your health care or your benefits.
Why bother
It creates a dated VA record that you raised military exposure. Years later, that entry is evidence that the concern predated the diagnosis.
A civilian or community provider cannot perform this screening — it lives inside VA's own health record. If you only see a private doctor, that is a reason to enroll in VA health care as well.
Since August 1, 2024, VA and the Defense Department enroll eligible veterans and service members in the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry automatically, from deployment records. For most people there is nothing to sign up for.
Automatic enrollment covers service between August 2, 1990 and August 31, 2021 in the listed operations and locations — Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and New Dawn, the Southwest Asia theater, Egypt, Afghanistan, Djibouti, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and the associated airspace and waters.
You do not need to have been knowingly exposed, and you do not need any current health problem, to be included.
If you enrolled yourself before the redesign, your enrollment carried over. There is nothing to redo.
To check your status, contact the Environmental Health Coordinator at your VA facility.
The registry holds deployment and demographic data only. No medical information is stored in it.
Participation is optional and you can opt out. Being in the registry is not required to file a claim, and it does not affect your eligibility for care or benefits either way.
Being in the registry is not evidence of exposure on its own, and it is not a claim. Treat it as a research tool, and do not let anyone tell you a claim depends on it.
Write the registry evaluation that fits your service at the top of that sheet, in the words the military used for it.
VET-HOME — VA's exposure team
833-633-8846
Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET
The number to call about a military environmental exposure specifically. VET-HOME books a free telehealth evaluation with a clinician trained in military exposures, and that clinician writes your exposure history into your VA record. Say you want a military environmental exposure assessment.
MyVA411 — VA main line
800-698-2411
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
The one number to call if you do not know who to call. Ask to be put through to your VA medical center's scheduling line, or press 0 for a person.
VA Health Benefits Hotline
877-222-8387
Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET
Enrolling in VA health care, health-care eligibility, VA medical bills, and community care billing.
Veterans Crisis Line
988, then press 1
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Any crisis, and you do not need to be enrolled in VA health care to use it. You can also text 838255.
My HealtheVet help desk
877-327-0022
Monday to Friday
Trouble signing in, secure messaging, or online scheduling.
VA Benefits Hotline
800-827-1000
Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET
Claims, ratings, and back pay — the benefits side rather than the medical side.
TTY
711
Relay service
If you are deaf or hard of hearing.
These are VA's own published lines. If a number ever gives you a runaround, MyVA411 at 800-698-2411 will transfer you — it is staffed every hour of every day.
After the evaluation
Make the call first — it is free, it is yours, and nobody can make it for you. When the registry letter and the visit notes are in your hand, that is the moment a second set of eyes is worth something. Albert Thombs, VA-Accredited Claims Agent #45147, reads a file for what VA will actually do with it: whether the exposure history landed in the record, whether the diagnosis is stated plainly enough to rate, and where a denial is arguable.
Nothing on this page is medical advice, a diagnosis, or legal advice, and we are not the VA. A registry evaluation is a clinical assessment — a clinician decides what is going on with you. Las Vegas, NV.
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You can ask Albert, our AI claims assistant, anything about exposure, evidence, or the claims process — he answers instantly. If you would rather have a direct, personal answer, send your question below and an accredited agent will come back to you. No cost, no obligation.
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