The SITREP · free briefing by email for veterans
Know before it changes.
A situation report for your benefits. When a rate, a form, a deadline, or a rule moves, you get one plain language message that says what changed, who it touches, and what to do. Bottom line up front, every time.
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One message when it matters. Silence when it does not.
No weekly filler, no roundups of things you already read. If nothing changed for you, you hear nothing from us.
- Rate changes, new forms, deadlines, and state level exemptions that affect the money.
- Every message cites the official source and the date it was verified.
- Your address goes to one place, our mail provider. It is never sold, shared, or attached to a lead.
Lenders, advisors and agents: the SITREP is for veterans. Your channel is the Partner Bulletin.
The format
Read one in under a minute.
Military briefing format, bottom line up front. Five lines, no scrolling, and the source at the end so you can check it yourself.
Every SITREP comes from a story on The Brief, our published record. The email is the alert; the Brief is the archive.
2026 VA disability COLA set at 2.8%.
- BLUF
- Your monthly compensation rises 2.8% with the December payment. A 100% rating with no dependents moves from about $3,831 to about $3,938 per month.
- What changed
- The VA adjustment matched the Social Security cost of living adjustment for 2026 under the annual COLA act.
- Who it affects
- Every veteran receiving compensation, including dependent and SMC amounts. Your rating does not change; the dollar amount at each rating does.
- What to do
- Nothing to file. Update the income figure anywhere it matters: a mortgage application, a plan, an insurance illustration. The COLA calculator shows your exact lift.
- Source
- Federal Register notice and the VA compensation rate tables, verified the week of publication.
Sourced
Every claim links to the official page and shows the date we checked it.
Private
Your address lives with our mail provider and nowhere else. It never becomes a lead.
Educational
Plain language, never advice. We tell you what changed; you decide what to do.
Quiet
No fixed cadence. When nothing changed, you get nothing. Every message has a one click out.
Latest from The Brief
What the last SITREPs were about.
VA funding fee rates hold steady for 2026. Full table inside
BLUF: VA home loan funding fee rates are unchanged for 2026 — first-use purchase with less than 5% down stays at 2.15%, subsequent use at 3.30%, IRRRL at 0.50%.
September 19, 2026The VA owes funding fee refunds it never sent . You can check if you’re one of them
BLUF: A 2025 VA Inspector General report found veterans who were owed funding fee refunds and never received them. If your disability rating was made effective
September 16, 2026California’s expanded veteran property tax exemption is not law yet
SB 296, the bill expanding California's disabled veteran property tax exemption, is still sitting in the Assembly suspense file. It is not law.
August 1, 2026The SITREP and The Brief are educational publications. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.