Veterans leaving military service could see weeks removed from the process of securing disability compensation, health care and other federal benefits under an executive order directing military and veterans agencies to fundamentally restructure how service records move between the departments.
President Donald Trump signed the executive order, titled “Accelerating Access to Veterans’ Benefits and Employment Opportunities,” directing the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of War to establish continuous access to service members’ Military Personnel Files and Service Treatment Records beginning when an individual enters military service.
The directive addresses a longstanding administrative interval between military separation and the federal benefits system veterans encounter afterward. Personnel and medical records are integral to establishing eligibility, documenting service-connected conditions and adjudicating claims for disability compensation, VA health care and other programs. Obtaining and transferring those records can consume valuable time between the filing of a claim and a final determination.
Under the order, VA would gain access to those records throughout an individual’s military career rather than waiting until separation to obtain the documentation. Personnel histories, medical treatment records and other qualifying information would consequently be available to VA when a service member transitions into veteran status and begins applying for benefits.
VA estimates the arrangement could reduce processing times for recently separated service members by an additional 20 to 30 days on average.
The potential reduction would encompass considerably more than disability claims. Military records are instrumental in establishing eligibility for VA health care, education assistance through the GI Bill, VA-backed home loans and other federal programs available following military service.
The order also directs the departments to modernize the information technology systems responsible for transferring and maintaining those records. Artificial intelligence is expected to be incorporated into portions of the benefits process, while technology contracts associated with the records systems are to be modified to accommodate the administration’s requirements.
The technological undertaking accompanies a substantial reduction in disability claim processing times reported by VA. Department figures place the current average at 76.1 days, down from 141.5 days, representing a 46 percent decrease during Trump’s second administration.
If the additional reduction projected from continuous military-record access is achieved, recently separated veterans could see another 20 to 30 days removed from the administrative timeline.
Employment assistance is also incorporated into the executive order. VA and the Department of Labor are directed to coordinate with the Department of War as changes are made to the Transition Assistance Program and other initiatives intended to connect departing service members with civilian employment.
VA Secretary Doug Collins said continuous access to military records is intended to eliminate administrative delays that can follow service members beyond their final day in uniform.
“Giving VA continuous access to warfighters’ military records will eliminate weeks of waiting for Veterans applying for VA healthcare and financial benefits,” Collins said. “We want to make the transition from military to Veteran status as seamless as possible.”
The records initiative arrives as the VA system manages expanding volumes of medical care, disability claims and other services nationwide. More than 250,000 veterans have enrolled in VA health care during 2026, according to department figures, while 41 new VA health care facilities have opened across the country.
VA also reports that its backlog of veterans awaiting benefits decisions has declined by more than 70 percent during Trump’s second administration. Department figures provided with the announcement state that the backlog had increased 24 percent during the Biden administration.
Health care utilization has simultaneously reached record levels. VA completed 82,083,918 direct-care appointments during fiscal year 2025, an increase of 4.1 percent from fiscal year 2024. Community-care appointments reached 59,989,662 during the same period, climbing 12 percent from the previous fiscal year.
More than 3.2 million appointments were offered outside normal operating hours, providing veterans with additional opportunities to receive care beyond conventional weekday scheduling.
Federal investment in VA infrastructure has also reached nearly $5 billion during the current fiscal year for repairs and improvements to health care facilities nationwide. VA identifies the expenditure as the largest nonrecurring maintenance investment in the department’s history.
Housing programs recorded another substantial figure during fiscal year 2025, when VA reported permanently housing 51,936 homeless veterans across the country, its highest annual total in seven years.
The executive order places the next phase of the administration’s veterans initiative much earlier in a service member’s career, beginning while military records are still being created rather than after an individual has already entered the veterans benefits system.
A medical condition documented during training, an injury treated during deployment or personnel information recorded during an assignment can eventually become critical evidence in a VA benefits determination. Under the existing sequence, records created and maintained within the military must later become accessible to the separate federal department responsible for administering veterans benefits.
The executive order directs that exchange to begin at military entry and continue throughout the individual’s service.
Implementation will require the departments to integrate information technology systems, revise applicable technology contracts and establish procedures capable of maintaining continuous records access. The projected 20-to-30-day reduction remains an administration estimate dependent upon those systems operating as intended.
For service members preparing to leave the military, the directive could alter one of the most consequential administrative passages into civilian life. Instead of beginning the transfer of essential military documentation after separation, the federal government would position those records within VA’s reach throughout a service member’s career, allowing the benefits process to begin with the veteran’s history already available rather than waiting for it to arrive.