Citation Nr: 21065365
Decision Date: 10/26/21	Archive Date: 10/26/21

DOCKET NO. 17-48 277
DATE: October 26, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for a skin disability is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The appellant served on initial active duty for training (IADT) from January 1987 to February 1987.

This appeal is before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) from an April 2015 rating decision by a Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office.  In July 2021, the appellant testified at a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge; a transcript of the hearing is of record.

Although the Board regrets the additional delay, a remand is necessary to ensure there is a complete record on which to decide the appellant's claim.

The appellant contends that her skin disability was caused by exposure to wool clothing, blankets, and other items during basic training.

As the appellant only served a period of IADT, to establish veteran status and eligibility for service connection the record must establish that she was disabled from a disease or injury incurred or aggravated during such period.  See 38 U.S.C. § 101(24) (2018).

In July 2021, the appellant testified that she developed skin allergies soon after arriving at basic training.  Private treatment records show that the appellant was treated numerous times for skin conditions following her period of IADT. A September 2014 letter from her doctor diagnosed the problem as atopic dermatitis. Military treatment records suggest that these skin conditions may have preexisted her period of IADT, with reference to eczema as a child due to oleander.  The appellant's testimony was she began experiencing severe skin itching and burning in her first week of basic training at Fort Jackson that she had never had before.  The Veteran submitted articles indicating that the ground water at Fort Jackson was contaminate with from "RDX" and PFOA and PFOS chemicals. The appellant testified that she developed a wool allergy which has persisted to the present. No examiner has opined whether the appellant's skin conditions resulted from a disease or injury incurred or aggravated during her period of IADT.  For this reason, a remand is warranted for a VA examination.

The matter is REMANDED for the following action:

Schedule the appellant for an examination by an appropriate clinician to determine the nature and etiology of the appellant's skin conditions. The claims file should be reviewed, and the examiner should offer an opinion on the following:

a)	Is it as least likely as not (50 percent probability or greater) that the appellant's skin disability was caused by or is otherwise related to a disease or injury incurred during her period of initial active duty for training?

b)	Is it as least likely as not (50 percent probability or greater) that the appellant's skin disability preexisted her period of initial active duty for training?

c)	If the appellant's skin disability is an allergy, is that allergy related to the one for which she was treated during her initial active duty for training? If so, please offer a comparative study of the severity at entrance and subsequently to the extent possible.

In offering the opinion, the examiner is asked to consider and discuss all pertinent evidence in the claims file, to include the appellant's lay statements regarding the history of her symptoms and the articles submitted by the appellant in the claims file.

A thorough and complete rationale for all opinions offered is requested as adjudicators are precluded from making any medical findings.

 

 

J. B. FREEMAN

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	C.L. Hamilton, 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.