Citation Nr: 21004335 Decision Date: 01/26/21 Archive Date: 01/26/21 DOCKET NO. 12-33 838 DATE: January 26, 2021 ORDER Service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is granted. Service connection for a brain injury, also claimed as memory loss, is denied. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, his PTSD is at least as likely as not related to in-service stressors. 2. The preponderance of the evidence is against finding that a brain injury began during active service or is otherwise related to an in-service injury or disease. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The criteria for service connection for PTSD are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303. 2. The criteria for service connection for a brain injury are not met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from May 1981 to April 1985. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a May 2010 rating decision by a Regional Office (RO) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This matter was remanded in June 2017 and April 2019 for further development. Service connection for PTSD is granted. Establishing service connection for PTSD requires (1) medical evidence diagnosing PTSD; (2) credible supporting evidence that the claimed in-service stressor actually occurred; and (3) medical evidence of a link between current symptomatology and the claimed in-service stressor. 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f); see also Cohen v. Brown, 10 Vet. App. 128 (1997). A diagnosis of PTSD must be established in accordance with 38 C.F.R. § 4.125(a), which simply mandates that, for VA purposes, all mental disorder diagnoses must conform to the fourth edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-V). See 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f). In order to grant service connection for PTSD to a non-combat Veteran, there must be credible evidence to support the Veteran’s assertion that the stressful event occurred. Cohen v. Brown, 10 Vet. App. 128, 142 (1997); Moreau v. Brown, 9 Vet. App. 389, 395396 (1996). In this case, the Veteran submitted an October 2009 psychological evaluation summary in which he reported numerous stressors involving being beaten by fellow soldiers. He also reported a stressor in which a fellow marine committed suicide at Camp Pendleton, San Diego, in the summer of 1981. Following a thorough examination, the examiner issued a lengthy report in which he concluded that the Veteran had PTSD that was due to his reported in-service stressors. The Veteran underwent a VA examination in February 2020. He reported the same in-service stressors. The examiner diagnosed PTSD, and she attributed his PTSD to his in-service stressors. Given that two examiners have diagnosed the Veteran with PTSD, and they both have attributed it to his in-service stressors, the only point at issue is whether the Veteran’s stressors have been verified. The Board concludes that at least one stressor has been sufficiently verified. Regarding the alleged suicide, the Veteran reported that a fellow marine shot himself on the firing range. The February 2020 VA examiner noted that the suicide was documented online at www.leatherneck.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-95757.html. The site is a message board for Marines of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) in San Diego. In it, several marines discuss a suicide that occurred in 1981. One of the Marines even identified him as a private Franklin from El Paso. They discuss the fact that he shot himself on the pistol range. The discussion is consistent with the Veteran’s description of the event. Additionally, the Board was able to find a Los Angeles Times article (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-12-02-me-1040-story.html). The focus of the article is three suicides that occurred at Camp Pendleton in 1988. Although these suicides are not germane to the Veteran’s case, the article cites a Major J.B. (identified as an MCRD spokesperson) who stated that these were the first suicides by MCRD recruits since 1981. This is further evidence that a suicide occurred at Camp Pendleton in 1981. Service records confirm that the Veteran underwent recruit training in San Diego from May 1981 to August 1981. In giving the benefit of the doubt to the Veteran, the Board finds that a preponderance of the evidence weighs in favor of the claim. Consequently, service connection for PTSD is granted. Service connection for a brain injury, also claimed as memory loss is denied. Service connection will be granted if it is shown that the Veteran suffers from disability resulting from an injury suffered or disease contracted in line of duty, or for aggravation of a preexisting injury suffered or disease contracted in line of duty, in the active military, naval, or air service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. That an injury occurred in service alone is not enough; there must be chronic disability resulting from that injury. If there is no showing of a resulting chronic condition during service, then a showing of continuity of symptomatology after service is required to support a finding of chronicity. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b). Service connection may also 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). The service treatment records fail to reflect any findings attributed to a brain injury. A May 1981 treatment report reflects that the Veteran sustained a martial arts injury to his neck. There was no significant follow-up treatment regarding the injury. The Veteran underwent a separation examination in March 1985. It yielded normal findings. The record contains no post-service medical evidence for decades after service. The Veteran underwent neurologic examinations in September 2006 and February 2008. The examinations were normal. In October 2006, the Veteran reported that a neighbor pounded him in the face so severely that he went to the ER and was given a CT scan which revealed a fractured nose and a fractured right cheek bone. The Veteran underwent an MRI in March 2008 which revealed frontal and maxillary cysts. A March 2008 treatment report reflects that he also had an MRI of the brain in October 2006 (in conjunction with being beaten up). A June 2008 treatment report reflects that an MRI of the brain revealed two small mucous retention cysts in the sinuses. Otherwise, there were no abnormalities. At a May 2010 audiologic examination, the Veteran reported head trauma from explosions in the military, and a fever in 1996 in which he suffered brain damage from his liver failing. None of the post-service treatment records contain any findings attributed to a brain injury. The Board notes that the VA did not provide the Veteran a VA examination for the purposes of determining the etiology of his frontal and maxillary cysts. In light of the holding in McLendon v. Nicholson, 20 Vet. App. 79 (2006), the Board finds that an examination is not required. McLendon provides that in disability compensation (service connection) claims, VA must provide a medical examination when there is (1) competent evidence of a current disability or persistent or recurrent symptoms of a disability, and (2) evidence establishing that an event, injury, or disease occurred in service or establishing certain diseases manifesting during an applicable presumptive period for which the claimant qualifies, and (3) an indication that the disability or persistent or recurrent symptoms of a disability may be associated with the Veteran’s service or with another service-connected disability, but (4) insufficient competent medical evidence on file for the VA to make a decision on the claim. The standards of McLendon are not met in this case as the evidence of records fails to suggest that frontal and maxillary cysts, first reported many years post service, had their onset in service or are otherwise related thereto. Neither the service treatment records nor any of the post-service treatment records reflect any disability of the brain. The post-service treatment records reflect frontal and maxillary cysts of the sinuses. In light of the absence of any findings in the service treatment records or for many years afterwards, and considering that the Veteran described a severe post-service beating that could have accounted for his frontal and maxillary cysts, the preponderance of the evidence weighs against the claim. (Continued on next page) As the preponderance of the evidence is against this claim, the benefit-of-the-doubt doctrine does not apply, and the claim for service connection for a brain injury must be denied. See Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49 (1990). JAMES L. MARCH Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board M. Prem, 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.