VA analyst builds AI benefits guide now in field testing with veterans

Veterans, families and caregivers have a new AI guide to help them find benefits across federal, state and local programs—though it remains in field testing. Battle Buddy was built by Gary Crull, a former Marine and Department of Veterans Affairs analyst, whose project Microsoft described in a November 9 feature.

The test includes veterans, Veteran Service Organizations and VA employees. Participants can reach the agent through links and QR codes, including inside the VA Augusta Medical Center in Georgia. The department authorized public field testing, but there is no timeline for a final public release. This is a chance to try a benefits-navigation tool, not a completed nationwide rollout.

An entire day spent finding help

Crull’s motivation came from helping a homeless veteran find the right hospital and obtain assistance, a process that consumed an entire day. He told Microsoft that having Battle Buddy then would likely have given him more information and direction at the outset. The project targets that search for help, walking people through regulations and programs.

He brings experience on both sides of the system. Crull served in the Marine Corps and Army National Guard, deployed to Iraq, and later worked at the Veterans Benefits Administration. His work with veterans in the court system and through the Veterans Experience Office added to that background. He now works as a VA management and program analyst.

The potential audience is substantial: about 17 million U.S. veterans can apply for hundreds of benefits and services, according to Microsoft’s account. Those programs cover disability compensation, healthcare, education, housing and employment, along with support for families and survivors. Battle Buddy is intended to help people discover relevant support, including programs they may not know exist.

This technology can really help get me the answers to my veterans and their families sooner

Gary Crull, VA management and program analyst, speaking to Microsoft

Rules, real questions and changing information

Crull is not a professional developer. He built Battle Buddy with Microsoft Copilot Studio, a graphical tool for creating AI agents and workflows with limited coding. He recognized its potential while exploring it for another project. He is also a leading member of the VA’s Citizen Developers community, where employees use Microsoft Power Platform to address problems in their work.

The knowledge base combines official material with examples of how veterans describe their needs. Crull assembled several kinds of source material:

• VA regulations, benefit information and other resources describing the programs.
• Thousands of discussions from veteran forums, capturing the questions people bring to one another.
• About 1,000 questions and answers, compiled to reflect both what veterans ask and how they ask it.

He later connected the agent to a federal regulations database so it could reflect changes, and to a VA system for location information. Its intended coverage follows veterans from leaving military service through hospital care, burial services and memorial agencies. That gives the project a wider remit than answering questions about a single benefit.

VA backing, early accounts of time saved

Crull says he developed Battle Buddy largely on his own, but the department now supports it. The VA provided Copilot Studio and funded licensing through its innovation program. That backing puts departmental resources behind an employee-built tool rather than leaving it solely as a personal project.

Crull puts an interaction at 10 to 20 minutes, compared with hours or days spent getting questions answered otherwise. Microsoft also describes testers who reported saving hours or finding information they had sought for more than a year. These are creator estimates and tester accounts, not measured results from a comparative evaluation.