Citation Nr: 18160241 Decision Date: 12/26/18 Archive Date: 12/26/18 DOCKET NO. 16-12 545 DATE: December 26, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for ischemic heart disease, to include as due to herbicide exposure is granted. Entitlement to service connection for diabetes mellitus, to include as due to herbicide exposure is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, he is presumed to have been exposed to herbicide agents during service. Ischemic heart disease, including coronary artery disease and coronary bypass surgery is presumptively related to in-service herbicide agent exposure. 2. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, he is presumed to have been exposed to herbicide agents during service. Diabetes mellitus II is presumptively related to in-service herbicide agent exposure. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The criteria for service connection for ischemic heart disease, to include coronary artery disease and coronary bypass surgery, as a result of exposure to herbicides have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1112, 1131, 1137, 1154, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.304, 3.307, 3.309. 2. The criteria for service connection for diabetes mellitus II as a result of exposure to herbicides have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1112, 1131, 1137, 1154, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.304, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served on active duty from October 1961 to March 1965. Service Connection Entitlement to service connection for ischemic heart disease and diabetes mellitus, to include as due to herbicide exposure The Veteran contends that his current diagnoses of coronary artery disease and diabetes mellitus were caused by exposure to herbicides while loading classified equipment on and off aircraft temporarily stopped at Da Nang Air base in Vietnam. In November 2010 the Veteran submitted a Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) documenting that in 1999 he was diagnosed with coronary artery disease and unstable angina that required coronary artery bypass surgery. The Veteran also had percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with a stent implant in October 2008. The Veteran also submitted private medical records documenting his PCI and stent placement in November 2010. In December 2010, the Veteran submitted private medical records documenting his diabetes diagnosis in May 2007. The Veteran’s service treatment records are silent for and complaints, treatment or diagnoses relating to either diabetes or any cardiac conditions. Service connection may be granted for disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. The three-element test for service connection requires evidence of: (1) a current disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the current disability and the in-service disease or injury. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1166 -67 (Fed. Cir. 2004). The Board concludes that the currently diagnosed ischemic heart disease and diabetes mellitus are related to presumed exposure to herbicides during service. A veteran who, during active military service, served in Vietnam during the period beginning in January 1962 and ending in May 1975, and who suffers from any of certain designated diseases, shall be presumed to have been exposed to herbicides, unless there is affirmative evidence to establish that the veteran was not exposed. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309. Coronary artery disease, coronary bypass surgery, ischemic heart disease and diabetes mellitus are among the designated diseases. 38 C.F.R. § 3.309 (e). The Veteran’s personnel records show that he was a voice interceptor process specialist in the U.S. Air Force 6988 Radio Squadron Mobile, U.S. Air Force Security Squadron, based in Yokota Air Base, Japan. The Veteran’s records do not document him operating in Vietnam during his service. The Veteran submitted two personal statements that he served in Vietnam. One is with his May 2013 notice of disagreement (NOD) and the second was attached to his March 2016 substantive appeal Two buddy statements from fellow service members were also submitted by the Veteran. In the first statement, S.B. stated that he did work very similar to the Veteran and could attest to the fact that when flying on missions the Veteran landed at Da Nang, Vietnam as part of the mission requirement. S.B. further stated that because of the classified nature of the work that was performed, orders were never received for their deployments to Southeast Asia, including to Vietnam. The second statement was from R.K. who stated that he flew the opposite rotation than the Veteran while assigned to the 6988th Security squadron at Yakota Japan. R.K. provided specific details of the daily routine of taking off from Don Muang, Thailand and landing at Da Nang AB, Vietnam. They would load equipment and additional crew and fly about eight hours in the Gulf of Tonkin. After which, they would return to Da Nang AB, Vietnam, unload classified equipment and mission reports, and then fly back to Don Muang Thailand where the C-130 aircraft were parked. The Veteran submitted a May 2014 letter from the Chief Historian of the Joint Base – San Antonio Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency. The purpose of the letter was to provide clarification for personnel assigned to the 6988th Security Squadron during the Vietnam conflict from 1965-1975 and that due to the nature of their assignment, members of Veteran’s unit often landed in Da Nang, Vietnam and do not have documentation in their records that they were there. The Veteran also submitted a May 2014 memorandum from the Director of Staff of the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency from Joint Base San Antonio. The memorandum states that many times personnel were sent to Vietnam from bases in Japan on “verbal orders of the commander (VOCO).” Under such conditions, records of individuals who went to Vietnam on verbal orders were not kept and not available. A further review of the Veteran’s military records, show that both S.B. and R.K., who submitted buddy statements, served by with the Veteran in the 6988th Security Squadron. The Veteran’s flight logs are also in his personnel records and document that most of his actual flying time were about 10 hours for each mission logged. Medical treatment records from November 2012 and September 2018 document that the Veteran has continuously been taking medications metformin, Glimepiride to control his diabetes and the beta blocker medications metoprolol and carvedilol for his heart. Following a review of the record, the Board finds that the credible evidence is at least in equipoise with regard to whether the Veteran was actually present at some point on the landmass, or “stepped foot” in Vietnam. The Veteran submitted his own statement plus two buddy statements by service members who are verifiably in the same unit as the Veteran and that the Veteran’s activities regularly had him operating on the Da Nang Air Base, Vietnam during his flight missions. Furthermore, the Veteran’s flight log document that his flight missions were logged as approximately 10 hours each. This is consistent with the statement from R.K. who described in detail the flight mission routine to which he stated he flew on opposite days than the Veteran. These circumstances routinely place the Veteran in Vietnam on a regular basis. The May 2014 memorandum and letter from Joint base San Antonio account for the lack of documentation in the Veteran’s file pertaining to his TDY assignments to the Gulf of Tonkin and Vietnam from his base in Japan. Therefore, the Board finds that the competent credible evidence is at least in equipoise regarding the Veteran’s presumed exposure to herbicides. The benefit of the doubt is resolved in the Veteran’s favor. Thus, the presumption of exposure to herbicides is warranted. The Veteran underwent coronary artery bypass surgery and has been diagnosed with ischemic heart disease. Throughout the period on appeal, the Veteran has taken metformin, an oral hypoglycemic, to control his diabetes. Service connection is warranted to ischemic heart disease and diabetes mellitus as presumptively related to in-service herbicide exposure. 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(e). M.E. Larkin Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Perkins, Michael