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Service Connection for Alcoholism: When Does VA Grant It?
Veterans cannot be directly service-connected for alcoholism; however, they can be service-connected on a secondary basis for conditions that arise from alcoholism, if the alcoholism is due to a service-connected condition. For example, a veteran is service-connected for PTSD and uses alcohol to cope with their psychological symptoms and sleep disturbances. As a result of this prolonged alcohol use, the veteran develops cirrhosis of the liver. This veteran may be able to receive service-connected compensation for their cirrhosis of the liver on a secondary basis. Here, the veteran’s alcoholism serves as an intermediate step between their service-connected PTSD and cirrhosis. In other words, alcoholism can potentially be used as a bridge to connect a veteran’s primary service-connected condition to the secondary condition they developed as a result of their alcoholism.

Importantly, veterans can receive disability ratings for alcohol-related conditions as long as the alcoholism was not a product of the veteran’s own “willful misconduct.” VA defines willful misconduct as “an act involving conscious wrongdoing or known prohibited action.” If VA wants to deny benefits based on a veteran’s willful misconduct, it must prove by a “preponderance of evidence” (i.e., more likely than not) that the cause of the veteran’s condition is in line with the definition provided above

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