Citation Nr: 18104750
Decision Date: 05/23/18	Archive Date: 05/22/18

DOCKET NO. 14-44 063
DATE:	May 23, 2018
ORDER
Service connection for coronary artery disease, claimed as ischemic heart disease, is granted.
FINDING OF FACT
The Veteran’s coronary artery disease had its onset in or is otherwise related to his active service.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
The criteria for entitlement to service connection for coronary artery disease are met.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1112, 1113, 1131, 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303(b), 3.307, 3.309(a).
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Air Force from September 1966 to August 1970.
Service Connection for Coronary Artery Disease
The Veteran contends that his coronary heart disease, claimed as ischemic heart disease, was caused by exposure to herbicide agents during service.  The Board agrees, and grants his service connection claim.
Service connection requires competent evidence showing (1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service.  Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). 
Generally, where a veteran was exposed to an herbicide agent during active service and certain diseases, including ischemic heart disease and coronary artery disease, become manifest to a degree of 10 percent or more at any time after service, service connection is established for such disabilities, even though there is no record of such disease during service.  38 U.S.C. §1116; 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(e).
Although veterans who served in certain locations during specified time periods are presumed to have been exposed to herbicide agents, veterans who do not qualify for the presumption may satisfy the nexus or causal relationship requirement by demonstrating on a facts-found basis that they were exposed to herbicide agents.
Regarding a present disability, private treatment records show that the Veteran has ischemic heart disease, as confirmed by myocardial perfusion imaging in 2007.
Regarding an in-service event, the National Personnel Records Center was unable to verify any exposure to herbicides.  However, the Veteran testified that during service, he routinely came into contact with airplanes that engaged in reconnaissance missions in Vietnam and sprayed Agent Orange.  In particular, he testified that he worked as a photo laboratory specialist and unloaded canisters of reconnaissance film from cameras that were accessed from the exterior of the airplanes.
The Board finds the Veteran’s testimony credible, as it is consistent with military personnel records showing assignment to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, authorization for temporary duty reflecting at least two trips to Kwang-Ju Korea, and with performance evaluations showing that he processed and developed aerial reconnaissance film.  He further provided photographs documenting the type of plane the cameras were mounted on and illustrating the location of the cameras.  The Veteran also argued that he was exposed to herbicides while at Kwang Ju and Okinawa and provided an extensive amount of research from newspaper articles, environmental studies, photographs and other sources in support of his claim.  Considering all of the evidence, the Board finds the evidence in this case is in equipoise as to whether the Veteran was exposed to herbicides.  
Because the Veteran was exposed to herbicide agents during service, and because his current disability is a disease associated with exposure to herbicide agents, as found in 38 C.F.R. 3.309(e), service connection is established.
 
H. SEESEL
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	E. Jones III, Associate Counsel