“National Guard and Reserve members do not qualify for VA disability.”
Guard and Reserve service can absolutely support a VA disability claim. The key is what you were doing when the injury or disease occurred: activated service counts broadly, drill weekends count for injuries, and training periods count for both injuries and diseases in the line of duty.
What the regulation actually says
Eligibility turns on the definitions of active service in 38 U.S.C. 101 and 38 CFR 3.6. Full time activated service under federal orders, including deployments, counts the same as any active duty.
Active duty for training (ACDUTRA), such as basic training, AIT, and annual training, supports service connection for injuries or diseases incurred or aggravated in the line of duty during that period.
Inactive duty training (INACDUTRA), such as drill weekends, supports service connection for injuries incurred or aggravated in the line of duty, and for certain acute cardiac events and strokes occurring during the training, but generally not for diseases that develop over time.
The exceptions
- Diseases that develop gradually generally cannot be connected to INACDUTRA drill periods alone
- Some presumptions available to veterans with qualifying active service do not attach to training periods unless the member earned veteran status through another period of service