Citation Nr: 21000627 Decision Date: 01/05/21 Archive Date: 01/05/21 DOCKET NO. 18-42 873 DATE: January 5, 2021 ORDER Service connection for ischemic heart disease is granted. FINDING OF FACT Resolving the benefit of the doubt in the Veteran’s favor, he participated in temporary duty (TDY) missions to the Republic of Vietnam, and therefore in-service exposure to herbicides is conceded. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for ischemic heart disease have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1112, 1113, 1131, 1137, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active service in the Air Force from March 1963 to March 1967, September 1990 to May 1991, and March 2003 to June 2004. Service Connection—Ischemic Heart Disease 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; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a). Service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). Service connection requires competent evidence of (1) a current disability; (2) the incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury during service; and (3) a causal relationship between the current disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163 (Fed. Cir. 2004). A veteran who served in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam Era, the period beginning January 9, 1962 and ending May 7, 1975, shall be presumed to have been exposed to an herbicide agent (like the dioxin in Agent Orange), unless there is affirmative evidence establishing he was not exposed to any such agent. 38 U.S.C. § 1116 (f). A disease associated with exposure to herbicide agents, including ischemic heart disease, will be considered to have been incurred in or aggravated by service even though there is no evidence of such disease during service. 38 U.S.C. § 1116; 38 C.F.R. § 3.307(a)(6)(ii). Here, the Veteran’s service discharge form for his first period of active duty from March 1963 to March 1967 shows 5 months and 20 days of foreign service. Specifically, his service personnel records reflect TDY service for 95 days departing in August 1964 and for 75 days departing in May 1965. These records also show that his TDY was in the Philippines. On an August 2004 claim for service connection for another disability, the Veteran indicated that he served in the Republic of Vietnam from 1965 to 1966. In March 2017, the Veteran filed the current claim for service connection for ischemic heart disease. In April 2017, he submitted his personal handwritten flight log from service noting his various flights, including to Vietnam. In September 2017, through his Congressman, he submitted a letter he had written to his parents in September 1964 noting that he had been flying back and forth from Clark Air Base (AB), Philippines, to the Republic of Vietnam. The envelope is date stamped September 12, 1964. In a December 2017 response, the Army and Joint Services Records Research Center noted that, on August 5, 1964, the Veteran’s squadron participated in an air strike force deployment to Southeast Asia (SEA) as part of a buildup of forces as a result of the Bay of Tonkin crisis. It was described as a 60 to 90 day deployment, and a notation was made that a fully operational squadron was maintained at Clark AB, Philippines. It was further noted that flying missions increased and that combat missions between Clark AB and the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) started in conjunction with the troop build-up, although the histories do not specifically document that the Veteran or his squadron participated in TDY missions to RVN from Clark AB, Philippines. In light of the above, in this particular case, the Board will resolve the benefit of the doubt in the Veteran’s favor and find that he participated in TDY missions to the Republic of Vietnam. 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b); Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49 (1990). Therefore, exposure to herbicides is conceded. In light of this finding, as well as the documented diagnosis of ischemic heart disease, service connection for this disability is granted. THERESA M. CATINO Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board J. W. Kim, 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.