News
Local veteran builds software for VA claims
After 12 years in the Army and his own long road to a 100 percent rating, a local veteran built Claim Compass to help other disabled vets organize the evidence behind their VA claims.
The Local Lantern · July 29, 2026
A local Army veteran has built a piece of software to help other veterans through one of the most frustrating parts of coming home: the VA disability claims process.
It is called Claim Compass, and the pitch from its founder, Christopher Lansaw, is right there in his own words.
“If you have got a denied, delayed, or underpaid claim in Alabama, you know where to find me.”
Lansaw served 12 years in the United States Army and came out the other side of the claims process with a 100 percent Permanent and Total rating. He says he learned the hard way how much the outcome depends on record-keeping: scattered notes, inconsistent documentation, and the overwhelming job of keeping everything organized while dealing with service-connected conditions. He built the tool he wished he had when he started.
The idea is to turn a pile of paperwork into a system. Veterans log symptoms and mood daily to build a consistent record, store medical documents in an encrypted vault, and generate professional statements as PDF or Word files to submit with a claim. There are reminders by email and text to keep the daily logging going, and badges to keep it from feeling like a chore.
What the tool does
- Daily symptom and mood tracking, to build consistent evidence over time
- An encrypted vault for medical records and documents
- A statement builder that exports professional PDF and Word documents
- Email and text reminders so the daily logging actually happens
- Post-approval tracking, to monitor new conditions after a rating
- No affiliate products and no selling of your data
One thing Lansaw is big on is what veterans call VA math, the reason two ratings never simply add up. A veteran rated 70 percent is considered 30 percent healthy. A second condition rated 50 percent applies to what is left, so it counts as 50 percent of that remaining 30 percent, or about 15 points. The result is a combined rating closer to 85 percent than the 120 you would get by adding them. It is exactly the kind of thing that makes tracking every single condition matter, because one missing link can cost a veteran thousands.
Claim Compass is free to start, with no credit card required, and a Pro plan runs 100 dollars a year for exports, unlimited storage, and text reminders. It is veteran owned and operated, based in Alabama, and, in Lansaw's telling, built for one reason: no veteran should lose the benefits they earned because their evidence was disorganized.
Reach Christopher Lansaw at rugbyman74@gmail.com or (850) 529-5601. Free to start, no credit card required.
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