For reference I'm a reservist, a little over 7 years in, I've done alot of physical labor on the civilian side and if I'm being honest my civilian life and the army have probably contributed equally to my physical pain.

So over the last few years I've noticed a pretty decent degradation of my body but no real injuries to speak of. My left knee hurts basically all the time, my right knee hurts on and off, weakness and pain in my hands, etc, etc. Basically I have no knowledge of the VA and how they operate, I just know the cliche "it's not service related" jokes everyone says. My left knee is 100% from competing in Best Warrior but I didn't get it checked out at the time and so I have no documentation of it. How do I make sure I'm covering my ass? Will they just take my word that it's the army's fault?