Citation Nr: 18150636
Decision Date: 11/15/18	Archive Date: 11/15/18

DOCKET NO. 11-15 670
DATE:	November 15, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include posttraumatic stress disorder (PSTD), is remanded. 
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty in the U.S. Navy from February 1969 to December 1970.
This appeal is before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from a March 2009 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). 
The Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) in a February 2012 Board Hearing. The claims file contains a transcript of that hearing. 
The Veteran contends that he experienced a stressor event that caused PTSD while his ship, Simon Lake, was docked in Bremerton, Washington in August 1970. He alleges that he witnessed a murder by the Hell’s Angels and that he was immediately in fear of his life. He claims that while he was running away from the crowd, he was hit on the right shoulder and the right elbow with a chain or a helmet. He claims that this incident has resulted in his “never [being] able to live a normal life,” to include difficulty sleeping, having recurrent episodes of awful nightmares, engaging in watchful behaviors and experiencing fear when driving and coming into contact with crowds. 
The Board remanded the appeal for further evidentiary development in February 2014 and January 2017. The Board finds that substantial compliance with the Board’s previous remand directives has been made.
However, upon the review of the Veteran’s claims file, the Board determines that an additional remand directive is warranted to verify the Veteran’s alleged in-service stressor. Extensive efforts were made in 2017-18 to corroborate the Veteran’s claimed stressor.  However, the National Archives Seattle Office’s correspondence of December 18, 2017, suggested VA contact the shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, to ascertain the alleged in-service stressor.  This must be done to satisfy VA’s duty to assist. 
Accordingly, the case is REMANDED for the following actions:
1. Contact a records management officer in the Command Records Management Branch at the shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, to request historical documents for the Bremerton, Washington, Naval Shipyard for the month of August 1970 to verify whether the base was essentially locked down due to this tension between the Navy and the Hell’s Angels, with mediators called in to resolve the dispute. 
2. ONLY IF any relevant records are obtained pursuant to the above request, then the claims file should be returned to the examiner who conducted the July 2018 VA examination, so that he can review the entire file and determine whether any of the newly-obtained information affects his previously formed medical nexus opinion. 
If the same examiner is unavailable, then the file should be provided to another VA medical examiner. 
 
MICHELLE L. KANE
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	C. Lee, Associate Counsel