Citation Nr: 18141271 Decision Date: 10/10/18 Archive Date: 10/10/18 DOCKET NO. 10-46 559 DATE: October 10, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to nonservice-connected pension is denied. FINDING OF FACT 1. The Appellant served on a period of active duty training from August 1980 to November 1980; he also had service with the United States Army Reserves/Army National Guard of Texas. 2. The Appellant is not shown to have had any active service during a period of war. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for basic eligibility for VA nonservice-connected pension benefits have not been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 101, 1521, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.2, 3.3, 3.314 (2017). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Appellant served on a period of active duty training from August 1980 to November 1980. He also had service with the United States Army Reserves/Army National Guard of Texas. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeal (Board) on appeal from a June 2009 rating decision. A hearing before the Board was held in July 2015. The matter was remanded by the Board in September 2015 along with claims of entitlement to service connection for high blood pressure, tuberculosis, hepatitis C, and an acquired psychiatric disability. In June 2018, the Appellant elected to participate in the Rapid Appeals Modernization Program (RAMP). In response to his request, the claims of entitlement to service connection for high blood pressure, tuberculosis, hepatitis C, and an acquired psychiatric disability were withdrawn and discontinued and a new decision will be issued based on the higher-level review option he selected. The pension claim remains in the legacy appeal process and has been returned to the Board for appellate disposition. Entitlement to nonservice-connected pension The question before the Board is whether the Appellant has established threshold eligibility for VA nonservice-connected pension benefits. The law authorizes the payment of nonservice-connected disability pension to a Veteran of a war who has the requisite service and who is permanently and totally disabled. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1502, 1521. A veteran has met the necessary service requirements if he served in active military, naval, or air service under one of the following conditions: (1) for 90 days or more during a period of war; (2) during a period of war and was discharged or released from service for a service-connected disability; (3) for a period of 90 consecutive days or more and such period began or ended during a period of war; or (4) for an aggregate of 90 days or more in two or more separate periods of service during more than one period of war. 38 U.S.C. § 1521(j); 38 C.F.R. § 3.3(a). The term “active military, naval, or air service” includes active duty, any period of active duty for training during which the individual concerned was disabled or died from a disease or injury incurred or aggravated in the line of duty, and any period of inactive duty training during which the individual concerned was disabled or died from an injury incurred or aggravated in the line of duty or from an acute myocardial infarction, a cardiac arrest, or a cerebrovascular accident which occurred during such training. 38 U.S.C. § 101 (24); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.6 (a)-(d). The term “period of war” means the Mexican border period, World War I, World War II, the Korean conflict, the Vietnam era, the Persian Gulf War, and the period beginning on the date of any future declaration of war by the Congress. 38 U.S.C. § 1501 (4); see also 38 C.F.R. § 3.2, (setting forth the beginning and ending dates of each war period beginning with the Indian wars). The term period of war in reference to pension entitlement under 38 U.S.C. §§ 1521, 1541, and 1542 means all of the war periods listed in 38 C.F.R. § 3.2 except the Indian Wars and the Spanish-American War. 38 C.F.R. § 3.2; see also § 3.3(a)(3) and (b)(4)(i). A review of the record shows that the Appellant served on a period of active duty training from August 1980 to November 1980. He also had service with the United States Army Reserves/Army National Guard of Texas. The Appellant’s period of service commenced after the Vietnam era. Thereafter, the Gulf War started in August 1990, a decade after the Appellant’s service. Therefore, the Appellant did not serve 90 days or more during a period of war. 38 U.S.C. § 101; 38 C.F.R. § 3.2. As the Appellant did not have any qualifying wartime service, he does not meet the basic eligibility requirements for VA nonservice-connected pension benefits. In this case, the law is dispositive. Accordingly, his claim must be denied as a matter of law. Sabonis v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 426 (1994). TANYA SMITH Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD K. L. Wallin, Counsel