Citation Nr: 20043779 Decision Date: 06/29/20 Archive Date: 06/29/20 DOCKET NO. 15-35 910 DATE: June 29, 2020 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from June 1972 to February 1973. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an October 2011 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Board remanded the matter for further development in June 2019. The Veteran testified at a hearing before the undersigned in November 2018; a transcript of the hearing is of record. Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include major depressive disorder and PTSD, is remanded. The Board remanded the claim, in part, to attempt verification of the Veteran’s reported stressor of assisting in recovery operations with respect to an explosion that occurred on the U.S.S. Basilone on February 5, 1973. The issue is not whether the explosion occurred on the U.S.S. Basilone, but whether it can be verified that the Veteran, who served on the U.S.S. Charles H. Roan, provided aid at the time. Further efforts must be made to attempt to verify the Veteran’s reported in-service stressor. A printout from a website regarding the naval history of the USS Charles H. Roan (DD 853), which has been uploaded to the claims file, does not cover the time period beyond 1960. A response from the U.S. Joint Services Records Research Center (JSRR) states that the Naval History & Heritage Command, which is the custodian of U.S. Navy histories, does not maintain a command history or ship history covering the 1973 time period for the USS Charles H. Roan. It further states that deck logs covering the period from January 1973 to December 1973 for the USS Charles H. Roan were being digitized and would not be available until early 2020. The JSRRC recommended resubmitting the research request in March 2020. The JSRRC noted that the 1973 command history and February 1974 deck logs for the USS Basilone documents the explosion incident, but does not indicate that the U.S.S. Charles H. Roan participated in recovery operations. In light of JSRRC’s response, another request should be submitted to that agency to verify whether the USS Charles H. Roan assisted the USS Basilone at the time of the February 1973 explosion. If possible, a copy of the Charles H. Roan’s deck logs for February 1973 should be obtained and associated with the file. In addition, another effort should be made to obtain any potentially outstanding service treatment records. Specifically, the AOJ submitted a request to the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) for the Veteran’s November 1972 in-service psychiatric evaluation, and received a response that no search was possible without the name or number of the hospital and location where the Veteran was treated. It does not appear that the Veteran was treated at a hospital. The Board notes that psychiatric treatment records are usually stored separately from other service treatment records, and require that a distinct request code be submitted to the NPRC via the Personnel Information Exchange System (PIE). See VBA Manual M21-1, III.iii.2.D.3.a. That request code was not used in the AOJ’s request. If the NPRC still requires a specific location, the service personnel records reflect that the Veteran was stationed at the Naval Training Center in Orlando, Florida when he underwent the psychiatric counseling and evaluation. Accordingly, another request should be made for any such outstanding records that may exist, using the appropriate request code. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Add to the file any outstanding VA treatment records pertaining to the Veteran dated since December 2019. 2. Submit a request to the NPRC for any outpatient psychiatric treatment records pertaining to the Veteran that may have been held separately from the other service treatment records, using the appropriate request code (i.e. C01-V or other request code, as deemed warranted). See VBA Manual M21-1, III.iii.2.D.3.a. If the NPRC needs the location where the Veteran was treated, the service personnel records indicate he was stationed at the Naval Training Center in Orlando, Florida. 3. Submit another request to the JSRRC to verify whether the USS Charles H. Roan assisted the USS Basilone at the time of its February 5, 1973 boiler explosion. (The JSRRC’s prior response indicates that deck logs for the former ship were not available at the time, and advised that the request be re-submitted beginning March 2020.) (Continued on next page)   4. If possible, obtain a copy of the USS Charles H. Roan’s deck logs for February 1973 and add them to the claims file. P.M. DILORENZO Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board J. Rutkin, 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.