Citation Nr: 18141097
Decision Date: 10/09/18	Archive Date: 10/09/18

DOCKET NO. 16-30 017
DATE:	October 9, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to an effective date earlier than February 20, 2015, for the grant of service connection for bilateral hearing loss is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from July 1966 to March 1973. 
The Board finds that additional development is required before the Veteran’s claim is decided.  38 C.F.R. § 3.156(c) permits the assignment of an earlier effective date when relevant service department records are received following a denial of a claim.  Although the record does not contain the Veteran’s service treatment records, various documents in the file indicate that they may have been received by VA in the past and remain available.  Specifically, although the record reflects a 1999 VA determination that the Veteran’s service medical records are not available, the National Personnel Records Center stated in 2009 and 2013 letters to the Veteran that his “medical record” had been provided to “the Department of Veterans Affairs.”  As a result, the Board herein remands the claim for additional action to ascertain the availability of those records. 
The matter is REMANDED for the following action:
1.  Contact all pertinent records repositories to determine whether any portion of the Veteran’s military personnel and service treatment records are available.  
2.  Review National Personnel Records Center correspondence indicating that the Veteran’s service medical records were provided to the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Note that the claims file reveals that the Veteran’s record was transferred from Winston-Salem RO to Huntington RO on numerous occasions, to include in 1975 and February 2015; request all appropriate searches.  If any requested records are not available, or the search for any such records otherwise yields negative results, that fact must clearly be documented in the claims file.  Efforts to obtain these records must continue until it is determined that they do not exist or that further attempts to obtain them would be futile.  The non-existence or unavailability of such records must be documented for the record and required notice must be provided to the Veteran. 






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3.  Thereafter, readjudicate the Veteran’s claim. 
 
JEBBY RASPUTNIS
Acting Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	A. Yaffe, Associate Counsel