Citation Nr: 18156344 Decision Date: 12/07/18 Archive Date: 12/07/18 DOCKET NO. 16-62 692 DATE: December 7, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to a total disability rating due to individual unemployability. is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran is unemployable due to his service-connected disabilities. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for a TDIU have been met. 38 U.S.C. § 1155; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.340, 3.341, 4.16, 4.19, 4.25. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Marin Corps from August 1967 to August 1970. Entitlement to a total disability rating due to individual unemployability. TDIU is governed by 38 C.F.R. § 4.16, providing that such a rating may be assigned where the scheduler rating is less than total, and when the disabled person is, in the judgment of the rating agency, unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation as a result of service-connected disabilities. If there is only one such disability, this disability shall be ratable at 60 percent or more, and that, if there are two or more disabilities, there shall be at least one disability ratable at 40 percent or more, and sufficient additional disability to bring the combined rating to 70 percent or more. 38 C.F.R. § 4.16 (2017). The Board has reviewed all of the evidence in the Veteran’s claims file, with an emphasis on the evidence relevant to this appeal. Although the Board has an obligation to provide reasons and bases supporting its decision, there is no need to discuss, in detail, every piece of evidence of record. Gonzales v. West, 218 F.3d 1378, 1380-81 (Fed. Cir. 2000) (holding that VA must review the entire record, but does not have to discuss each piece of evidence). Hence, the Board will summarize the relevant evidence where appropriate and the Board’s analysis below will focus specifically on what the evidence shows, or fails to show, as to the claims decided herein. Merits Here, the Veteran is service-connected for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (rated as 70 percent disabling from April 23, 2012). This rating results in a 70 percent combined evaluation, with at least one disability rated at 40 percent or more, which does render him eligible for a TDIU under the scheduler percentage requirements contemplated by VA regulation. See 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(a) The Veteran is also service connected for tinnitus (rated as 10 percent disabling from June 29, 2004), and right ear hearing loss and genital herpes simplex as noncompensable. The only remaining issue is whether the Veteran was able to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation as a result of this service connected disability. On this issue the Board finds that the March 2017 private examination conducted by a vocational consultant to be probative. The vocational consultant found that the Veteran’s psychiatric disability would render him unemployable. The Board notes that the private examination took a detailed history from the Veteran regarding the nature and extent of his disability. Additionally, the examiner included several methods to support his rationale and his conclusion that the Veteran’s was unemployable. See Nieves-Rodriguez v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 295, 304 (2008) (Most of the probative value of a medical opinion comes from its reasoning and the Board must be able to conclude that a medical expert has applied valid medical analysis to the significant facts of the particular case in order to reach the conclusion submitted in the medical opinion). The Veteran’s occupational history comprises of 11 years of fulltime work and indicates that he stopped working on January 15, 2016. The Veteran’s educational history reveals that he graduated from college and has a Ph.d. Despite his strong transferable skills, [the Veteran] has concentration, memory, and attention problem, which would impact his ability to adequately perform the demanding duties involved in any type of work. In sum, the Board accepts the March 2017 opinion of the vocational consultant who opined that despite the Veteran’s education the combined limitations caused by his PTSD have led him to be unemployable. (Continued on the next page)   Considering the foregoing, the Board reasons that the combination of the Veteran’s PTSD and employment background and despite his educational training, render him unemployable. Therefore, the Board finds that a total disability rating due to individual unemployability is appropriate. GAYLE STROMMEN Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD J. Acosta, Counsel