VA Claims and Appeals Process

I think the trick is, and don't tell anyone, open the claim on ebenefits (https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits/homepage) but don't submit it until just before one year has passed. if you wait more than one year, you will have to start over. if the claim if approved, the VA will backpay to the date the claim was originally opened. maybe that just makes it seem that the claims process is faster, but I had a C&P exam scheduled with two weeks of submitting my claim.

from the time I submitted my latest claim to a decision was less than a month