DAV Department of Indiana

09/16/2026

The results are clear. Veterans overwhelmingly oppose benefits cuts as budget or PAYGO offsets. Congress can keep the promise to today’s and tomorrow’s veterans. They need to remove Section 108 and then pass the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act.

09/16/2026

Proposed VA Loan Fee Change: What Veterans Should Know

Veterans who use a VA streamline refinance to lower their interest rate could soon pay a lot more to do it.

A provision in the Take Care of America's Veterans Act (H.R. 9237) would:

🔹 Raise the funding fee on VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans (IRRRLs) from 0.50% to 1.42%
🔹Double the fee to assume an existing VA loan, from 0.50% to 1%

On a $400,000 refinance, that's the difference between a $2,000 fee and a $5,680 fee. Most borrowers roll that cost into a new loan, which means paying interest on it for years.

The fee increases would help pay for larger package of more than 60 veterans bills, including expanding benefits for catastrophically disabled veterans and surviving families. Those benefits matter, and so does protecting access to a benefit veterans have already earned.

✅ Who is exempt from the funding fee: Veterans receiving VA disability compensation, active duty service members who have received a Purple Heart and certain others with qualifying disability ratings.

⚠️ Who would feel it most: Active duty service members and veterans without a disability rating. Active duty status alone doest not exempt a borrower.

📋 Where it stands: The House has not passed the bill, and further consideration was postponed in July. Nothing has changed yet.

Not sure whether you qualify for a funding fee exemption? A DAV service officer can review your disability rating and benefits with you at not cost.

You can read the article about this from the Army Times.

https://www.armytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2026/09/15/proposed-va-loan-fee-hike-could-make-refinancing-more-expensive-for-some-borrowers/

09/10/2026

Stay connected with DAV Indiana.

We've made it easier to get Department new straight to your inbox. Our updated sign-up form takes less than a minute and lets you hear directly from us about benefits updates, upcoming events, service officer availability, volunteer opportunities, and the work being done for Hoosier veterans and their families across the state.

Ir you already receive our emails, you're all set, and there's nothing you need to do. If you don't, or know a veteran, family member, or supporter who should, now's a great time to sign up and share.

👉 https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/DYUpxUl

No veteran should miss out on a benefit or resource because the information didn't reach them. Help us close that gap.

By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from Disabled American Veterans Department of Indiana. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the Safe Unsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email.

09/06/2026

YOUR EXPOSURE HISTORY IS PART OF YOUR STORY

This week, we've talked about toxic exposure. Not just burn pits. Not just one war. And not just a list of presumptive conditions. We've talked about something much broader: The environment in which you served.

For many veterans, exposure wasn't a single dramatic event. There wasn't an explosion . There wasn't an injury report. There wasn't necessarily a trip to sick call. Sometimes it was simply the environment you worked in every day.

The smoke, the dust, the exhaust, the fuel, the solvents, the chemicals , the contaminated air or water, the things you handled, the things you breathed, the things everyone around you considered "just part of the job." That history can matter.

The PACT Act changed much more than a list of presumptive conditions.

It strengthened the way toxic exposure is recognized and considered throughout the VA system, including the concept of Toxic Exposure Risk Activities (TERAs). That makes understanding your own exposure history important. Think about your military career differently.

Don't remember only: Where did I deploy?

Also remember: What did I do there? What was around me? What did I work with? What did I breathe? How often was I around it? Did those exposures happen at more than one duty location?

Your answers may describe an exposure history you never realized you had.

TOM'S STORY SHOWED US WHY

On Friday, we met our fictional veteran Tom. For years, Tom never considered himself a veteran who had experienced a "toxic exposure." He remembered the burn pit. He remembered diesel exhaust. He remembered chemicals in the maintenance area. And he definitely remembered the smoke. But in his mind: "That's just how it was over there."

That sentence captures something important. Veterans can become so accustomed to the conditions around them that they stop recognizing how unusual those conditions actually were. Years later, when health problems develop, those details may be difficult to remember or may never get mentioned at all.

Recognizing a possible exposure doesn't mean deciding that it caused your medical condition. That's an important distinction. Your job is to tell the complete story. Your service records establish another part. And your history of what you actually experienced during military service can help complete the picture. Then the evidence, medical professionals, and applicable VA rules determine what relationship, if any exists.

Before you dismiss something because: "Everybody was around that." or "That was just part of the job." stop and think about it again. What seemed ordinary in a military environment may have been anything but ordinary. If you have a diagnosed medical condition and questions about toxic or environmental exposures during your service, talk with a DAV Service Officer. Tell them where you served. Tell them what you did. And tell them what you were around.

Make sure it isn't left out of the conversation.

09/04/2026

"WE JUST CALLED IT THE SMOKE"

Every evening, the smoke seemed to settle over the base. At least that's how Tom remembers it. He was an Army mechanic deployed to Iraq. His days were spent around trucks, generators, diesel exhaust, hydraulic fluid, solvents, dust- and whatever else kept the equipment moving.

Not far from where his unit worked was a burn pit. Everybody know it was there. You could smell it. Some days you could taste it. Plastic, trash, packaging, equipment; things Tom couldn't identify. Sometime the smoke drifted away from them Sometimes it didn't.

Nobody sat around talking about the "toxic exposure." Tom certainly didn't. They had vehicles to repair. Missions to support. Work to do. So when the smoke rolled through, Tom did what everyone else seemed to do. He kept working.

Years late, Tom was sitting in a doctor's office back home. He had developed breathing problems that weren't going away. His doctor asked about smoking. Tome had never smoked. They talked about his work. His family history. His symptoms. Then the doctor asked: "Were you ever around anything during your military service?"

Tom almost said no. Then he remembered Iraq. The generators. The exhaust . The chemicals in the maintenance area. The dust. And that smell. The smoke. For the first time in years, Tom started describing what an ordinary day on deployment had actually looked like . His doctor listened

Later, another veteran suggested that Tom speak with a DAV Service Officer. Tom almost didn't go. He wasn't convinced any of this had anything to do with VA benefits. But during that conversation, the Service Officer asked him many of the same questions.

Where were you? When were you there? What did your do? What were you around? Tom answered them. Then he said something he had probably said a hundred times before : "That's just how it was over there." The Service Officer looked at him and said: "That doesn't mean it doesn't matter."

Tom went home thinking about that sentence . For almost twenty years, he had remembered the missions. The people. The heat. The long days. The close calls. But he had never considered the air he breathed to be part of his military history. To Tom, the smoke hadn't been an incident. There wasn't a single day he could point to. There wasn't an accident report. There wasn't a moment when everyone stopped working. It was just there. And maybe that was exactly why he had never thought to mention it.

Tom still didn't know what the evidence would ultimately show about his medical condition. But he finally understood something he wished he's understood years earlier: The things that seemed normal during deployment weren't necessarily normal at all. Sometimes your military history included more than what happened you to. Sometimes it includes what surrounded you every single day. And sometime the thing you barely thought about then becomes something worth talking about now.

Tom is a fictional veteran created for educational purposes. His story does not represent an actual individual or guarantee the outcome of any VA disability claim.

🇺🇲 DAV Service Officers provide free assistance to veterans and their families.

09/03/2026

Final Disaster Relief Event for Our Shelbyville Veterans & Families 🇺🇸

If your family was affected by the storms on August 11, we want to make sure you aren't facing the recovery alone. This is our final relief event, and we’re here to help you navigate the paperwork and get the support you deserve.

📅 When: Thursday, September 3
🕙 Time: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
📍 Where: Shelbyville VFW Post 2695 (1622 East State Road 44, Shelbyville, IN)

Who can come?
This is for all veterans, spouses, and their families. You do **not** need to be a DAV member and there is absolutely no cost. Just show up—we’re here for you.

How we can help:
* Applying for Indiana State Disaster Relief grants (up to $5,000).
* Accessing the Military Family Relief Fund.
* Applying for SBA disaster loans (homeowners & renters).
* Finding temporary housing if you’re still displaced.
* Connecting with service officers for VA claims and FEMA applications.

What to bring:
If you have them, please bring your DD-214, insurance info, damage photos, and a contact number. **If you don’t have everything, come anyway!** We will work with whatever you’ve got to get the process started.

Questions? Give the Department office a call at 317-632-9266.

Please share this with any local veterans or military families who might need a hand. Let’s take care of our own! 🤝

09/02/2026

THE PACT ACT IS BIGGER THAN A LIST OF CONDTIONS

You've probably heard the words "PACT Act." Maybe you've seen the commercials. Maybe you've received information from VA. Maybe another veteran told you: "You need to file under the PACT Act." But what did the law actually change?

The PACT Act, signed into law in 2022, was one of the largest expansions of VA health care and benefits related to toxic exposure in decades. And while most conversations focus on the new preemptive conditions, that's only part of the story. Last week, we learned how presumptive service connection works.

The PACT Act expanded where some of those presumptions apply-but it also changed how toxic exposure is considered in the VA claims process.

1️⃣ IT EXPANDED PRESUMPTIVE SERVICE CONNECTION

The PACT Act added and expanded presumptions involving certain veterans exposed to burn pits, airborne hazards, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances.

For veterans who meet the requirements of an applicable presumption, this can make establishing service connection significantly different from a traditional direct claim. But we've already spent a week learning about presumptions. So let's look at what else changed.

2️⃣ TOXIC EXPOSURE BECAME A MUCH BIGGER PART OF THE CLAIMS CONVERSATION

The PACT Act established an important framework involving what VA calls a:

TOXIC EXPOSURE RISK ACTIVITY - TERA

A TERA can involve military activity in which a veteran was exposed to a toxic substance, chemical, airborne hazard, or other qualifying environmental or occupational hazard.

That means VA claims involving toxic exposure aren't limited to one specific generation of veterans or one particular type of exposure.

🟢 Your military ocupation.
🟢 Your duty environment.
🟢 Your deployments.
🟢 The substances you worked around
🟢 And the places you served may all become relevant when VA evaluates potential toxic exposure.

3️⃣ A CONDITION DOESN'T ALWAYS HAVE TO BE PRESUMPTIVE FOR EXPOSURE TO MATTER

This is where the PACT Act becomes especially important.

Suppose a veteran has evidence of participation in a TERA and later develops a medical condition. That condition may not necessarily be on a presumptive list. That doesn't automatically make the exposure irrelevant.

That creates an important question beyond: "Is my condition presumptive?"

The question may also be: "COULD MY CONDITION BE RELATED TO MY TOXIC EXPOSURE?"

Those are not the same question.

4️⃣ VA MAY HAVE TO CONSIDER THE VETERANS TOTAL EXPOSURE

When VA obtains certain medical opinions involving toxic exposure, the examiner may need to consider more than one isolated event. The evaluation can include the veteran's total potential exposure through all applicable military deployments and the combined effect of toxic exposure risk activities.

Thank about why that matters.

Military exposure doesn't always happen once. A veteran might spend years around: fuel, solvents, smoke, dust, exhaust, industrial chemicals, airborne contaminants, other hazards associated with their military duties. The veteran's exposure history may therefore be a career-long story, not a single incident.

THE BIG LESSON

The PACT Act should not be understood simply as: "VA added more condition to a list." It changed much more about how toxic exposure is recognized and evaluated. That's why Monday's question was so important:

WHAT WERE YOU EXPOSED TO?

Start thinking beyond your diagnosis. Think about: What job did you perform? Where did you perform it? What substances or hazards were around you? How often and for how long? What exposures occurred across your entire military career?

You don't need to determine the medical connection yourself. And you shouldn't assume that an exposure caused your medical condition. But you should make sure your exposure history isn't overlooked. If you have a diagnosed condition and believe toxic or environmental exposure occurred during your military service, speak with a DAV Service Officer. Let the evidence-and the law- determine what pathway may apply.

THE PACT ACT ISN'T JUST ABOUT A LIST

It's about taking toxic exposure seriously as part of a veteran's military history.

🇺🇲 DAV Service Officers provide fee assistance to veterans and their families.

08/31/2026

WHAT WERE YOU EXPOSED TO?

Last week, we talked about how where and when you served can matter when VA evaluates presumptive service connection.

This wee, we're taking the next step. Because sometimes the question isn't only: "Where did you serve?" It's also: "What were you exposed to while you were there?"

Military service can put people in environments most civilians will never experience. Burn pits, smoke, Jet fuel and other petroleum products, dust and airborne hazards, industrial chemicals, herbicides, contaminated water, radiation and other occupational or environmental hazards.

For many, those weren't things they thought of as "exposures." They were simply part of the job.

THEN THE YEARS PASS

A veteran leaves the military. Ten years go by. Twenty... Thirty... Then a medical condition appears. And one of the hardest questions becomes: Could something from military service have contributed to what is happening now? That is one reason toxic-exposure claims can be so important-and so complicated.

THE PACT ACT CHANGED THE LANDSCAPE

The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act significantly expanded VA health care and benefits related to toxic exposures.

Among its major changes, the law expanded certain presumptions involving veterans who served in qualifying locations and circumstances and added additional presumptive conditions. But remember last week's lesson: presumptive does not mean automatic. The details still matter.

Depending on the applicable law or regulation, VA may need to determine things such as:

📍 Where did you serve?
📅 When were you there?
☣️ What qualifying exposure or service circumstances applies?
🩺 What condition have you been diagnosed with?
📄 Do your service and condition satisfy the requirements of the applicable presumption?

TOXIC EXPOSURE ISN'T LIMITED TO BURN PITS

Burn pits receive a great deal of attention-and for good reason. But toxic exposure issues involving veterans are much broader. Different generations of veterans have faced different hazards.

Vietnam-era veterans may think about Agent Orange and other herbicides.

Gulf War and Post 9/11 veterans may think about burn pits and airborne hazards.

Other veterans may have questions involving radiation, contaminated water, chemicals, fuels, solvents, or occupational exposures.

Your era of service does not tell your entire story. Your actual military history does.

WHY IT MATTERS

Veterans sometimes remember the dramatic moments of military service but forget the everyday environment surrounding them.

Then smoke you breathed every day.
The Chemicals you worked around.
The water you drank.
The dust that covered everything.
The fumes you stopped noticing.

At the time, those things may have seemed ordinary. Years, later, they deserve another look.

START BUILDING YOUR EXPOSURE HISTORY

Think about your military career and ask yourself:

Where was I stationed or deployed?
What did I work around?
What did I breathe?
What chemicals, fuels, smoke, dust, or other hazards were routinely present?
When and for how long was I exposed?

You don't need to diagnose yourself. And an exposure doe NOT automatically mean it caused a later medical condition. But your exposure history is worth understanding.

This week, Operation: Earned Benefits will break down toxic exposure, the PACT Act, presumptions, and why your military environment may matter to a VA disability claim. If you have a diagnosed condition and questions about whether your military exposure history could be relevant , speak with a DAV Service Officer.

SOMETIMES THE DANGER DIDN'T END WHEN THE DEPLOYMENT DID.

🇺🇲 DAV Service Officers provide fee assistance to veterans and their families.

08/30/2026

PRESUMPTIVE SERVICE CONNECTION: WHAT YOU NEED TO REMEMBER

The week, we've focused on a different pathway to establishing VA service connection: Presumptive Service Connection. The concept sounds complicated, but the basic idea is straightforward: For certain medical conditions and qualifying circumstances of military service, federal law of VA regulations may presume the connection between the two.

Here are the most important lessons from Week 8.

1️⃣ A PRESUMPTION CAN CHANGE THE NEXUS QUESTION

In a typical direct service connection claim, evidence generally must establish a relationship between the veteran's current disability and military service. When an applicable presumption is established, the law may provide that connection. That can remove the need to prove causation in the same way as a traditional direct claim.

2️⃣ PRESUMPTIVE DOES NOT MEAN AUTOMATIC

This may be the most important lesson of the week. A diagnosis by itself doesn't necessarily establish entitlement under a presumption. The requirements of the specific presumption still have to be satisfied.

3️⃣ YOUR SERVICE HISTORY MATTERS

Depending on the presumption, details such as these can become extremely important:

WHERE you served
WHEN you served
The circumstances of your service
When a condition became manifest
Certain recognized exposures

Your military records aren't simply proof that you served. They can help establish whether a particular presumption applies to you.

4️⃣ THE CONDITION MATTERS TOO

Qualifying service is only part of the picture. The veteran must also have a condition covered by the applicable presumption and meet any additional requirements associated with it. That's why two veterans who served together may still have very different VA claims.

5️⃣ NOT BEING PRESUMPTIVE DOESN'T NECESSARILY END THE CLAIM

This is equally important. If your condition doesn't qualify under a particular presumption, that does not automatically mean it cannot be service connected. Presumptive service connection is one pathway. Depending on the facts and evidence, other theories of service connection may still apply.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN?

Don't look only at your diagnosis. And don't only look at your military records.

LOOK AT THEM TOGETHER.

Your condition + your service history + the applicable VA rules can determine whether a presumption applies. If you're unsure whether your service and medical condition fall under an established VA presumption, don't try to interpret the regulation alone.

🇺🇲 DAV Service Officers provide free assistance to veterans and their families.

08/28/2026

"I NEVER THOUGHT WHERE I SERVED MATTERED"

For years, Michael thought the most important information on his DD214 was his discharge status and military occupation. He rarely thought about something else recorded throughout his history: Where he had served.

Decades after leaving the military, Michael was diagnosed with a serious medical condition. Like many veterans, his first question was: "How could I possibly prove this was caused by something that happened 30 years ago?"

Michael began looking though his old records, orders, deployment dates, and duty locations. Places he hadn't thought about in years. Then he spoke with a DAV Service Officer. The conversation wasn't only about his diagnosis. The Service Officer started asking about his military service.

✔️ Where were you stationed?
✔️ When were you there?
✔️ Were you deployed anywhere else?
✔️ How long were you there?

Michael wondered why those questions mattered. Then he learned about presumptive service connection. For certain diseases and certain qualifying circumstances of military service, federal law and VA regulations may provide a presumption connecting the condition to service.Michael suddenly understood something important: His military history was evidence too.

A diagnosis alone doesn't establish that a particular presumption applies. And simply serving somewhere doesn't mean every later medical condition is presumptively service connected. The pieces have to match the requirements of the particular presumption.

That can include:

Qualifying service
Qualifying locations or circumstances
Qualifying dates
A qualifying diagnosed condition

Other requirements may apply depending on the specific presumption.

For Michael, the lesson wasn't that his claim was automatically approved. The lesson was that he had almost overlooked information that could be extremely important in determining which VA rules applied to him.

KEY TAKEAWAY

When thinking about a VA disability claim, don't remember only what happened during your service.

Remember:

WHERE you served
WHEN you served
WHAT conditions you have today.

Then let the evidence and applicable VA rules determine whether those pieces connect. It you're unsure whether a presumptive rule may apply to your military service and medical condition, talk with a DAV Service Officer. Sometimes the clue isn't hidden in a medical record.

SOMETIMES IT'S ON THE MAP OF YOUR MILITARY CAREER.

🇺🇲 DAV Service Officers provide free assistance to veterans and their families.

Michael is a fictional veteran created for educational purposes. His story illustrates concepts involving presumptive service connection and does not represent an actual veteran or guarantee any VA claim outcome.