Citation Nr: 18157750
Decision Date: 12/13/18	Archive Date: 12/13/18

DOCKET NO. 14-31 906
DATE:	December 13, 2018
REMANDED
The claim of entitlement to service connection for residuals of chemical exposure, to include early syringomyelia and syrinx, is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from January 1978 to November 1986, and from November 1990 to June 1991, including in the Southwest Asia theater of operations.
He initially requested a hearing before the Board in support of this claim, but withdrew this request in a September 2018 written statement.    
Entitlement to service connection for residuals of chemical exposure, to include early syringomyelia and syrinx.
The Veteran seeks service connection for medical problems he believes developed from his exposure to chemicals while serving on active duty, primarily overseas.  Allegedly, for one week during Desert Storm, he worked and slept in an area in Kuwait burning with oil well fires, fires that left an ash coating on trucks and tents.  In addition, while driving, he witnessed explosions from SCUD missiles, in an area where chemicals were later detected in the air.  He also worked in field sanitation, burning human feces using diesel fuel, used insecticides, and decontaminated trucks by spraying them with pressurized liquid.  Prior to Desert Storm, while working as a Machinist’s Mate, he was tasked with grinding old paint in the engine room, which left dust particles, and painting bilges using red lead paint.        
During this appeal, the Veteran attributed multiple medical conditions to these exposures, filing claims for each condition separately.  The AOJ granted some of these claims on the basis alleged while the Veteran withdrew others. In January 2009, the “claim of entitlement to service connection for chemical exposure” still pending, the AOJ asked the Veteran to identify with specificity those conditions, not the subject of another claim, which he believed developed secondary to the exposure. The Veteran responded by listing fibromyalgia (now service connected), early syringomyelia and possible early syrinx. 
In August 2012, the Veteran underwent a VA Gulf War examination, during which an examiner related some of the claimed conditions to the Veteran’s service overseas and ruled out such a relationship in the cases of the remaining conditions.  The examination report is inadequate to decide this claim, however, as the examiner did not discuss the Veteran’s syrinx and syringomyelia.  Another examination is therefore needed.      
The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 
Afford the Veteran a VA examination, preferably by the examiner who conducted the August 2012 examination.
The examiner should review all pertinent evidence of record, including: (a) service personnel and treatment records; (b) post-service treatment records confirming the claimed conditions; and (c) the Veteran’s written statements received on August 21, 1992, March 20, 2007, August 26, 2008, February 9, 2010 and February 14, 2012, which outline his allegations.
After conducting any necessary testing, opine whether the Veteran’s syrinx and syringomyelia initially manifested during the Veteran’s service or are at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) related to such service. 
If not, the examiner should opine whether each of these conditions represents a medically unexplained chronic, multi-symptom Gulf War illness.  
The examiner should provide rationale for all opinions expressed.  
 
LESLEY A. REIN
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	L. N., Counsel