Army Reserves and VA Disability Pay Explained

Fortunately, veterans do not have to give up disability pay to serve in the guard/reserves. This is a common misconception, and you can receive VA pay and drill pay -just not at the same time. Here's an example. Right now, 10% disability rate is at $140.05 per month. Guard/reserve pay for an E-5 with 4 years is  $364.44 per drill weekend. You DON'T have to give up your VA pay, you simply waive the VA pay for the days that you are receiving drill pay. For the two days that you are on drill, you have to pick VA pay or drill pay. Since your VA pay averaged out over 30 days in a month comes to about $4.67 per day, it makes sense to give this up and receive the drill pay for those TWO DAYS. Keep in mind guard units may hold two "drill days" in one calendar day, so you would then have to waive $4.67 * 4 "days" per drill weekend instead of $4.67 * "2 days". During the other 28 days of the month, you would receive your normal VA pay. So your end of month total take-home pay would be 100% of drill pay plus about 86.7% of your VA pay.

VA Rater's Handbook:
https://m21-1.com/M21/m21-1-part-iii-...

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