Pearce is a training base, and training bases generate their own injury pattern — high sortie rates, high instructional loads, and years of repetition.
Instructional aircrew accumulate spinal loading across thousands of sorties, along with hearing loss and the fatigue-related conditions that come from a relentless flying program. Ground and airfield trades bring musculoskeletal injury from maintenance work and noise exposure from continuous flight-line operations.
Pearce is a training base, and training bases generate their own injury pattern — high sortie rates, high instructional loads, and years of repetition.
Instructional aircrew accumulate spinal loading across thousands of sorties, along with hearing loss and the fatigue-related conditions that come from a relentless flying program. Ground and airfield trades bring musculoskeletal injury from maintenance work and noise exposure from continuous flight-line operations.
For Western Australian veterans, the documentary stages of a claim remove distance from the equation entirely.
Units and establishments associated with RAAF Base Pearce:
79 Squadron · 2 Flying Training School heritage · No. 25 Squadron · Pearce maintenance and airfield trades
Whatever you served on, the claim is decided on your record. Start with the complete guide to DVA claims, find the Statement of Principles for your condition, or read example Diagnostic Assessments written for conditions like yours.
For most conditions there is no general time limit on lodging an initial liability claim, and veterans who discharged decades ago lodge and succeed regularly. What matters is whether a condition can be diagnosed now and connected to service on the available evidence.
Common, and not a bar. Mechanism can often be established from your unit, trade and duties along with later records showing the consequences. A chart review is how that material gets found.
Not for the documentary stages — chart reviews, diagnostic assessments, diagnosis forms and appeal documents are produced from your file. Only a physical impairment examination requires attendance.
Every claims stage is $600 + GST and a Permanent Impairment Assessment is $1,500 + GST — fixed, quoted in writing, and payable only once the stage is delivered. Never a percentage of your compensation.
The expert in veterans’ medicolegal medicine — Expert DVA Doctor.








Dr Thomas Perkins is the founding doctor at the Veterans Health Centre in Ipswich, Queensland, and the leading expert in veterans’ medicolegal work in Australia. He has spent over 13 years working exclusively with current and former Australian Defence Force members — treating conditions, writing reports, and navigating the DVA system alongside them.
With 100,000+ DVA claims submitted and over 2,000 Permanent Impairment Assessments completed, Dr Perkins brings a depth of experience that simply cannot be replicated from a textbook. He understands the Statements of Principles, the GARP tables, the imaging that proves what a physical examination alone cannot — and the difference that a properly written report makes at every level, from initial liability through to the VRB.
Every chart review, every diagnostic assessment, and every impairment rating is personally overseen by Dr Perkins. If you’re looking for a doctor who knows veterans medicine inside and out, you’ve found the right clinic.
0429 146 039 reception@vhc.org.au
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