Citation Nr: 18144244 Decision Date: 10/24/18 Archive Date: 10/24/18 DOCKET NO. 15-03 733 DATE: October 24, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for diabetes mellitus type II, to include as due to exposure to herbicides is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The Veteran was exposed to herbicides while stationed aboard the USS Hanson. 2. The Veteran’s diabetes mellitus type II is presumed due to in-service herbicide agent exposure. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II, have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1116, 5103, 5103A, 5107 (West 2015); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.159, 3.307, 3.309 (2017). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION 1. Entitlement to service connection for diabetes mellitus type II, to include as due to exposure to herbicides Service connection may be established for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Evidence of continuity of symptomatology from the time of service until the present is required where the chronicity of a condition manifested during service either has not been established or might reasonably be questioned. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (b). Regulations also provide that service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disability was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (d). In order to prevail on the issue of service connection there must be medical evidence of a current disability; medical evidence, or in certain circumstances, lay evidence of in-service occurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and competent evidence of a nexus between an in-service injury or disease and the current disability. See Hickson v. West, 12 Vet. App. 247, 253 (1999); see also Barr v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 303 (2007); Pond v. West, 12 Vet App. 341, 346 (1999). Veterans who, during active service, served in the Republic of Vietnam during the period beginning on January 9, 1962, and ending on May 7, 1975, shall be presumed to have been exposed to an herbicide agent, unless there is affirmative evidence of non-exposure. See 38 U.S.C. § 1116 (f); 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (a)(6)(iii). If a veteran was exposed to an herbicide agent during active service, certain enumerated diseases, including diabetes mellitus, shall be presumptively service-connected even where there is no record of such disease during service, provided that the disease is manifested to a compensable degree as set forth in 38 C.F.R. § 3.307, and the rebuttable presumption provisions of 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 are met. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.309 (e); see also 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (a)(6)(ii) (providing that with the exception of chloracne or other acneform disease, porphyria cutanea tarda, and early onset peripheral neuropathy, the diseases listed in 38 C.F.R. § 3.309 (e) must be manifest to a degree of 10 percent or more at any time after service). The Veteran asserts that his current diabetes mellitus, type II, is the result of herbicide exposure while serving aboard the USS Hanson. The Veteran states that he never set foot on land in Vietnam. See November 2013 Report of General Information. Therefore, the presumption of herbicide exposure is not warranted based on in-country service. Rather, he asserts that he is a “brown water veteran” who, by virtue of the USS Hanson being in the Saigon River, was exposed to herbicides, and therefore should be entitled to a presumption of herbicide exposure. In this case, the Veteran’s service treatment records (STR) indicate that he served, and received medical treatment, aboard the USS Hanson from June 1966 to April 1967. As to the Veteran’s contention of herbicide exposure while on the Saigon River, the Board notes that the USS Hanson is recognized as a ship that temporarily operated in Vietnam inland waters of the Saigon River from July 2 through 3, 1965 and on September 13, 1966. As noted above, the Veteran was aboard the USS Hanson during service, including from June 1966 to April 1967. Because the Veteran served aboard the USS Hanson during its operation in Vietnam inland waterways, he is entitled to the herbicide exposure presumption. Furthermore, the Veteran’s private treatment records reflect a current diagnosis of diabetes mellitus, type II. In addition, an August 2016 private treatment record shows a glucose level of 206 milligrams per deciliter and a September 2016 private treatment record shows a glucose level of 129 milligrams per deciliter. The Veteran is presumed to have been exposed to herbicides during active service, and has a current diagnosis of diabetes mellitus, type II. Moreover, as an August 2014 private treatment record establishes that the Veteran’s diabetes mellitus requires diet control, the manifestation of his disability is consistent with at least a 10 percent evaluation under the appropriate diagnostic code. See 38 C.F.R. § 4.119, Diagnostic Code 7913. As a result, service connection for diabetes mellitus is warranted on a presumptive basis. See 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307 (a)(6), 3.309(e). DAVID L. WIGHT Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD J. Nelson, Associate Counsel