Citation Nr: 18145256 Decision Date: 10/26/18 Archive Date: 10/26/18 DOCKET NO. 16-32 709 DATE: October 26, 2018 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served honorably in the U.S. Navy from October 1965 through October 1969. The Veteran seeks service connection for COPD. He submitted medical records documenting that, by 2011, he had been diagnosed with COPD. At the request of VA, the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) supplied the VA with all available records. However, in August 2014, the Veteran received a letter from NPRC. The letter stated that they did not have inpatient treatment records from his hospitalization at the U.S. Naval Training Center (USNTC), but VA may have the records. On August 12, 2014, the Veteran wrote VA, stating that he had been advised that the VA has the records of his hospitalization per the NPRC and requested copies of his military records, i.e. service treatment records (STRs). He asked that, if VA could not comply with his request, he be so advised. There are no VA treatment records in the file. Nor does the file contain a record of VA’s response to the Veteran’s request. Remand is necessary to obtain any outstanding treatment records to include record of hospitalization at the USNTC. The Veteran has alleged that his COPD is a result of his exposure in Vietnam to Agent Orange. In 2013, the Veteran was granted service connection for prostate cancer because he was presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange while serving on active duty in Vietnam. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307(a)(6)(iii), 3.309(e). COPD is not a disease for which service connection will be presumed from exposure to Agent Orange. 38 C.F.R.§ 3.309(e). However, service connection may be established with proof of direct causation. Combee v. Brown, 34 F.3d 1039, 1042 (Fed. Cir. 1994). The Veteran has also alleged that his COPD is a result of pneumonia he contracted while stationed at the USNTC in Great Lakes, Illinois, in November of 1965. The Veteran’s STRs include a narrative summary that states that the Veteran was hospitalized for five days in November of 1965 because of an upper respiratory infection. Although STRs do not indicate that he was ever diagnosed with pneumonia, they do indicate that he was diagnosed with upper respiratory infections on two additional occasions. Remand is necessary to obtain a VA medical opinion on whether the Veteran’s COPD is as likely as not related in-service upper respiratory infection. McClendon, supra. The matters are REMANDED for the following actions: 1. Attempt to obtain any outstanding STRs through official sources to include the Veteran’s hospitalization at the USNTC in November of 1965 and any VA medical records. If documents do not exist or further attempts to locate would prove futile, Veteran should be so notified and a memorandum documenting those efforts made to obtain STRs, including the USNTC hospitalization records, prepared for the record. Provide the Veteran copies of the records requested by him. 2. After obtaining any outstanding STRs and VA medical records, schedule the Veteran for an examination by an appropriate clinician to determine the nature and etiology of his COPD. The examiner must opine as to whether it is as likely as not that his COPD is related to service, to include any documented upper respiratory infection/disorders. 3. Ensure that the VA medical opinion contains the information requested along with a complete rationale for the conclusions reached. The medical opinions must support the conclusions reached with an analysis that is adequate for the Board to consider and weigh against other evidence of record; medical opinions must contain not only clear conclusions with supporting data, but also a reasoned medical explanation connecting the two. 4. Readjudicate. C.A. Skow Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD P. Mucklow, Associate Counsel