Citation Nr: 20006303 Decision Date: 01/24/20 Archive Date: 01/24/20 DOCKET NO. 17-15 897 DATE: January 24, 2020 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for flat feet is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran’s flat feet began during active service and have continued to the present. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria to establish service connection for flat feet have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 5103, 5103A, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.159, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from May 2001 to June 2005. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an April 2016 rating decision by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO), which denied the Veteran service connection for flat feet. A Board hearing was held in November 2019. A transcript is of record. A Veteran is entitled to VA disability compensation if there is a disability resulting from personal injury suffered or disease contracted in the line of duty in active service, or for aggravation of a preexisting injury suffered or disease contracted in the line of duty in active service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131. Generally, to establish a right to compensation for a present disability, a veteran must show: (1) a present disability; (2) an 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, the so-called “nexus” requirement. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all of the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that a disease was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). The Veteran contends that he has flat feet that became symptomatic in service and continued since leaving service. See Board hearing Tr. at 4. The Veteran contends he has flat feet. Id. Specifically, the Veteran described the symptoms associated with his feet as pain and increased difficulty with balancing. Id. at 5. Notably, the symptoms appeared gradually during service after days of standing on his feet for fourteen hours in ill-fitting shoes. Id. at 5. These symptoms have continued and increased in severity since leaving service. Id. at 4. The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court) has held that a lay claimant is competent to report such symptoms. Falzone v. Brown, 8 Vet. App. 398, 403 (1995) (pes planus is observable by a lay person). Thus, the first Shedden element is met and is not in dispute. The Board notes that the Veteran contended he had a foot condition prior to service that caused difficulty in his ability to maintain balance. See Board hearing Tr. at 4. However, on his entrance examination, his feet were noted as normal. See DPRIS response. The examiner specifically noted that the Veteran had normal arches, not pes planus, that were asymptomatic. Id. The Board finds the examiner’s opinion credible and probative. Thus, the Board finds that the Veteran’s flat feet did not preexist service. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.306(a); see also 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(b). Further, the Board notes that the evidentiary record shows that the Veteran’s service treatment records could not be located. See January 2016 memorandum. However, the Veteran contends that his flat feet symptoms started in service after fourteen hour shifts of standing on his feet in ill-fitting shoes. See Board hearing Tr. at 5. The symptoms have continued and worsened since service. Id. The Veteran is competent to testify regarding observable symptoms, such as his foot pain and the effect his pes planus had on his service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(a)(2); see Layno v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 465 (1994); see also Washington v. Nicholson, 19 Vet. App. 362 (2005). The Board also finds these statements to be credible and probative, as they are consistent with each other and have been the same throughout the appeal. No evidence of record contradicts these findings. Thus, the Veteran’s flat feet were incurred in service and have continued to the present. Therefore, the second and third Shedden elements are met. Accordingly, the Board finds that the Veteran’s flat feet are etiologically related to service. Therefore, the criteria for service connection for the Veteran’s flat feet have been met. See 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.159, 3.303; Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 9, 55-57 (1990). DONNIE R. HACHEY Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board A. Strickland The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential, and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.