Citation Nr: 21062574 Decision Date: 10/08/21 Archive Date: 10/08/21 DOCKET NO. 17-16 309 DATE: October 8, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for sarcoidosis is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for a traumatic brain injury (TBI) is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from February 1975 to January 1987. The Board previously remanded the appeal for further development in September 2019. The case has now been returned to the Board for appellate review. 1. Service connection for tinnitus 2. Service connection for a right knee disability 3. Service connection for sarcoidosis 4. Service connection for TBI In the September 2019 remand, the Board directed the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) to undertake appropriate efforts to request and associate with the Veteran's claims file any outstanding service treatment records and/or military personnel records pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 3.159. A review of the record since then indicates that the AOJ has not taken appropriate actions as directed in the September 2019 remand. In a November 2019 correspondence, the AOJ stated it had made the following attempts to obtain his federal records with a summary of actions that it took in 2014. As noted in the September 2019 remand, an inquiry dated April 2015 in response to a rescan request states that the file was immediately returned to the RMC (Records Management Center) and that an "O50 PIES request must be submitted to RMC." The evidence of record indicates that as of April 2015, the Veteran's service records were at the RMC. Only the PIES request dated April 2014 is of record; no new request has been made after April 2015 or after the September 2019 remand. The remand directive has not been substantially complied with. Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998). Additionally, the Veteran reported, in a January 2014 private evaluation by Dr. P. Y. and in an April 2020 VA examination, that he had had a neoplasm surgically removed from his neck on the right side due to sarcoidosis and undergone a biopsy while he was stationed in Germany in 1978. His military personnel records indicate that he was stationed in Germany from April 1978 to April 1980 with 198th Personnel Service Company in Schwabisch Gmund in Germany. The AOJ must attempt to obtain in-service hospital records for the 1978 surgery while he served in Germany. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain the Veteran's complete service personnel records/service treatment records. The AOJ must undertake appropriate efforts to request and associate with the claims file any outstanding service treatment records and/or military personnel records; such effort must include another inquiry to the Records Management Center. 2. Obtain records of any inpatient, in-service treatment at a service hospital in 1978 in Schwabisch Gmund or near Stuttgart in Germany. 3. With respect to both directives 1 and 2, if the AOJ cannot locate the aforementioned records, it must specifically document the attempts that were made to locate them and explain in writing why further attempts to locate or obtain any government records would be futile. The AOJ should then: (a) notify the Veteran of the specific records that it is unable to obtain; (b) explain the efforts VA has made to obtain that evidence; and (c) describe any further action it will take with respect to the claim. The Veteran must then be given an opportunity to respond. 4. The case should be reviewed on the basis of the additional evidence. If the benefit sought is not granted in full, the Veteran and his representative should be furnished a Supplemental Statement of the Case. Emily Tamlyn Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board Y. Taylor 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.