Citation Nr: 20006728 Decision Date: 01/28/20 Archive Date: 01/27/20 DOCKET NO. 17-36 775 DATE: January 28, 2020 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for a bilateral lower leg disability is denied. FINDINGS OF FACT The competent and credible evidence of record does not show a current diagnosis for any bilateral lower leg disability. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to service connection for a bilateral lower leg disability have not been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1111, 1131, 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303(a). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served on active duty from December 1955 to December 1957. The Board remanded the claim in May 2019. There has been substantial compliance with the remand and the Board will proceed with adjudication. Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998). Entitlement to service connection for a bilateral lower leg disability Establishing service connection generally requires medical or, in certain circumstances, lay evidence of: (1) a current disability; (2) an in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a nexus between the claimed in-service disease or injury and the present disability. See Davidson v. Shinseki, 581 F.3d 1313 (Fed.Cir.2009); Hickson v. West, 12 Vet. App. 247, 253 (1999). The Veteran contends that he has a bilateral lower leg disability that he related to when he was injured while parachute jumping during service. The question for the Board is whether the Veteran has a current disability that began during service or is at least as likely as not related to an in-service injury, event, or disease. The Board concludes that the Veteran does not have a current diagnosis of right or left lower leg disability to include his ankles and has not had one at any time during the pendency of the claim or recent to the filing of the claim. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107(b); Holton v. Shinseki, 557 F.3d 1363, 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2009); Romanowsky v. Shinseki, 26 Vet. App. 289, 294 (2013); McClain v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 319, 321 (2007); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a), (d). During the Veteran’s July 2019 VA examination, the examiner opined that the Veteran does not have any pathology to his bilateral lower extremities to render a diagnosis. During his April 2019 Board hearing, the Veteran testified that he injured his lower legs during a parachute jump training during service. The Veteran’s service treatment records were destroyed in the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) fire in 1973 and are unavailable. VA has conceded that the Veteran participated in parachute jumping during service. However, despite conceding that the Veteran participated in parachute jumping during service, the competent and probative evidence does not support that the Veteran has a current diagnosis of any bilateral lower leg diagnosis. (The VA examiner did find that the Veteran had a right knee diagnosis and service connection has been granted for that disability). In summary, the evidence of record does not show any competent or credible evidence that the Veteran has a current right or left lower leg disability. Accordingly, the Board finds that the preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that the Veteran is not entitled to service connection for a bilateral lower leg disability, to include his ankles. 38 U.S.C. § 5107 (b); Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49 (1990). Thus, the benefit of the doubt doctrine is not for application. M.E. Larkin Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board M. G. Perkins, Associate Counsel 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.