Citation Nr: 21065721
Decision Date: 10/27/21	Archive Date: 10/27/21

DOCKET NO. 16-08 745
DATE: October 27, 2021

REMANDED

Service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is remanded.

Service connection for a psychiatric disorder other than PTSD, to include depressive disorder and anxiety disorder, is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran had active service from August 1968 to August 1970.  This matter is on appeal from an October 2014 rating decision.

In August 2019, the Board denied service connection for PTSD and a psychiatric disorder other than PTSD, including depressive disorder and anxiety disorder.  The Veteran appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court or CAVC).  In a January 2021 Memorandum Decision, the Court vacated the Board's decision on the bases that the Board provided inadequate reasons or bases for its reliance on the negative JSRRC response to a search for records to corroborate the claimed stressor.  The Court noted that the Board did not explain whether the JSRRC search response regarding records for the "7th Service and Transportation Battalion" was consistent with the appellant's unit of record, which was listed as "7th S&T" Battalion in the service records, so it was unclear whether the JSRRC sufficiently searched for any relevant records.  The Court vacated the issue of service connection for a psychiatric disorder other than PTSD on the basis that it was inextricably intertwined with the PTSD issue.  

1.  Service connection for PTSD is remanded.

2.  Service connection for a psychiatric disorder other than PTSD, to include depressive disorder and anxiety disorder, is remanded.

To comply with the orders of the Memorandum Decision, the Board will remand to search for any relevant records for the Veteran's unit, as listed in the service records (i.e., Co B, 7th S&T Bn, 7th Inf Div.).

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

Attempt to verify the following claimed stressor event reported by the Veteran  i.e., while serving as a heavy truck driver with Co B, 7th S&T Bn, 7th Inf Div. USARPAC in February or March of 1970, he was stopped at a checkpoint, taken from his vehicle at gunpoint, struck in the head and neck with a gun, taken to a hut, later informed that he had killed a young boy with the vehicle, and shown the young boy's remains in the truck wheel well.   

State whether 7th S&T Bn is the same as 7th Service and Transportation Battalion. 

State what historical records or databases were searched.  

 

J. PARKER

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	C. Palmer, 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.