Citation Nr: 18158465 Decision Date: 12/17/18 Archive Date: 12/17/18 DOCKET NO. 18-27 197 DATE: December 17, 2018 ORDER Service connection for prostate cancer due to presumed herbicide agent exposure is granted. FINDING OF FACT 1. The Veteran is presumed to have been exposed to herbicide agents while at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, in 1962. 2. Prostate cancer was diagnosed following active service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for prostate cancer presumed due to herbicide agent exposure have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1112, 1113, 1116, 5103, 5103A, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.159, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309; VA Adjudication Procedures Manual, M21-1MR, Part IV.ii.2.C.10.q. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active service from August 1961 to July 1964. The Veteran appeared at a July 2018 hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. The hearing transcript is of record. Service Connection for Prostate Cancer The Veteran asserts that service connection for prostate cancer secondary to his presumed herbicide agent exposure is warranted as he was billeted at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base while performing his service duties; crossed the base’s perimeter on several occasions; and has been diagnosed with and treated for prostate cancer. Service connection may be granted for a disability arising from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R § 3.303(a). Where a veteran was exposed to herbicide agents during active service and prostate cancer becomes manifest to a degree of 10 percent or more at any time after service, service connection shall be established for that disability if the requirements of 38 C.F.R. § 3.307(a)(6) are met even though there is no record of that disease during service, provided that the rebuttable presumption provisions of 38 C.F.R. § 3.307(d) are also satisfied. 38 U.S.C. § 1116; 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(e). A veteran 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 during that service to an herbicide agent, unless there is affirmative evidence to establish that the veteran was not exposed to any herbicide agent during that service. The last date on which such a veteran shall be presumed to have been exposed to an herbicide agent shall be the last date on which he or she served in the Republic of Vietnam during the period beginning on January 9, 1962, and ending on May 7, 1975. 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (a)(6)(iii). VA’s Compensation and Pension Service has determined that a special consideration of herbicide exposure on a factual basis should be extended to Air Force veterans whose duties placed them on or near the perimeters of certain Royal Thai Air Force bases anytime between February 28, 1961, and May 7, 1975. The listed Thai military facilities include Korat. If a veteran’s service duties, as shown by evidence of daily work duties, performance evaluation reports, or other credible evidence, placed him near the air base perimeter, then VA is to concede herbicide exposure on a direct or facts found basis. The service medical records do not refer to prostate cancer. The service personnel records show that the Veteran served with the Army at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base from April 1962 to August 1962. At the July 2018 Board hearing, the Veteran testified that his Army unit camped “right at the end of the taxiways” at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base. He clarified that he had crossed the base’s perimeter on several occasions. The Board finds that the Veteran’s testimony as to both his proximity to the perimeter of Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base to be consistent with his military duties. Therefore, the Veteran’s presumed exposure to herbicide agents while stationed at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base is conceded. A September 2017 written statement from B. Williams, M.D., shows that the Veteran had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Resolving reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran, the Board finds that the Veteran was exposed to herbicides while stationed at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, because his service duties required crossing the base perimeter, and he subsequently manifested prostate cancer following service separation. Therefore, the Board concludes that service connection for prostate cancer is warranted. 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. Harvey P. Roberts Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD J. T. Hutcheson, Counsel