Citation Nr: 18140078
Decision Date: 10/02/18	Archive Date: 10/02/18

DOCKET NO. 17-57 039
DATE:	October 2, 2018
REMANDED
The issue of service connection for a recurrent respiratory disorder other than bronchial asthma claimed as the result of hydrochloric acid and jet fuel exposure is remanded.
The issue of service connection for a recurrent skin disorder claimed as the result of hydrochloric acid and jet fuel exposure is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from June 1964 to September 1967.  
The issues of service connection for a recurrent respiratory disorder other than bronchial asthma claimed as the result of hydrochloric acid and jet fuel exposure and a recurrent skin disorder claimed as the result of hydrochloric acid and jet fuel exposure are remanded.
The Veteran contends that service connection for both a recurrent respiratory disorder other than bronchial asthma and a recurrent skin disorder are warranted as he incurred the claimed recurrent disabilities after being exposed to hydrochloric acid in a large cleaning tank at McChord Air Force Base, Tacoma, Washington and soaked in JP-4 jet fuel at Paine Field Air Force Base.  He states that he was treated at the McChord and Paine Field Air Force medical facilities after the claimed in service chemical exposures.  
The service personnel records indicate that the Veteran served at McChord Air Force Base from January 1965 to June 1966 and at Paine Field Air Force Base from June 1966 to September 1967.  Clinical documentation of the cited in service chemical exposure treatment is not of record.  When a veteran identifies clinical treatment associated with specific military facilities, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has a duty to either undertake an exhaustive record search or explain why such action is not justified.  Dixon v. Derwinski, 3 Vet. App. 261, 264 (1992).  
The matters are REMANDED for the following action:
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Contact the United States Army and Joint Services Records Research Center (JSRRC) or any appropriate service entity and request that a search be made of the records of the McChord Air Force medical facility for the period from January 1965 to June 1966 and the records of the Paine Field Air Force medical facility for the period from June 1966 to September 1967 for any entries pertaining to the Veteran.  If no records are located, a written statement to that effect should be incorporated into the record.
 
J. T. HUTCHESON
Acting Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	Robert Batten, Associate Counsel