VBA BENEFIT PROGRAM to assist wartime veterans in need whose non-service- connected disabilities are permanent and total preventing them from following a substantially gainful occupation. A Veteran who meets the wartime service requirements is potential eligible if he/she is: • permanently and totally disabled for reasons not necessarily due to service, • age 65 or older, or • is presumed to be totally and permanently disabled for pension purposes because: o he/she is a patient in a nursing home for long-term care due to a disability, or o being disabled, as determined by the Commissioner of Social Security (SS) for purposes of any benefits administered by the Commissioner, such as SS disability benefits or Supplemental Security Income. Income restrictions are prescribed in 38 U.S.C. 1521. Pension is not payable to those whose estates are so large that it is reasonable they use the estate for maintenance. A Veteran meets wartime service requirements if he/she served: • a total of 90 days or more during one or more periods of war; • 90 or more consecutive days that began or ended during a period of war; or • for any length of time during a period of war if he/she was discharged or released for a service-connected disability. Veterans entering service after September 7, 1980, must also meet the minimum active duty requirement of 24 months of continuous service or the full period to which the Veteran was called to active duty. (38 U.S.C.5303(A)).