Citation Nr: 1322888 Decision Date: 07/18/13 Archive Date: 07/24/13 DOCKET NO. 09-18 623A ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Petersburg, Florida THE ISSUE Entitlement to service connection for psychiatric disability, claimed as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: The American Legion ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD R. Kessel, Counsel INTRODUCTION The Veteran had active military service from January 1970 to September 1971. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a September 2007 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in St. Petersburg, Florida. The record before the Board consists of the Veteran's paper claims file and an electronic file known as Virtual VA. REMAND In July 2009, the Veteran requested that he be afforded a hearing before a member of the Board sitting at the RO. Although the Veteran appeared to withdraw the hearing request in December 2009, his representative confirmed in June 2013 that the Veteran in fact still desires a Board hearing. As the RO schedules this type of hearing, a remand of this matter is warranted to schedule the desired hearing in accordance with the Veteran's request. Accordingly, this case is REMANDED to the RO for the following action: The RO should schedule the Veteran for a hearing before the Board sitting at the RO in accordance with the docket number of this appeal. By this remand, the Board intimates no opinion as to any final outcome warranted. (CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE) No action is required of the Veteran until he is otherwise notified by VA, but he has the right to submit additional evidence and argument on the matter the Board has remanded. See Kutscherousky v. West, 12 Vet. App. 369 (1999). _________________________________________________ Shane A. Durkin Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7252 (West 2002), only a decision of the Board is appealable to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. This remand is in the nature of a preliminary order and does not constitute a decision of the Board on the merits of your appeal. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1100(b) (2012).