Citation Nr: 21066933 Decision Date: 11/02/21 Archive Date: 11/02/21 DOCKET NO. 17-65 557 DATE: November 2, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability is denied. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran's current right knee disability, to include degenerative joint disease, is not related to service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability have not been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1110, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.6, 3.102, 3.303, 3.310. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served honorably on active duty from October 1969 to March 1970, with additional service in the National Guard. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a March 2015 rating decision of a Regional Office (RO) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) at a virtual Board hearing in July 2021. A transcript of this hearing has been associated with the claims file. 1. Entitlement to service connection for a right knee disability is denied. The Veteran contends that his right knee arthritis was either caused by or related to his military service. Specifically, he testified that he believed his disability was due to wear and tear from being in the National Guard for so long, to include serving nine years in a tank unit with no padding and jumping on and off tanks, and walking through tough terrain like sand to maintain targets in the field. Service connection will be granted for disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service, even if the condition was first diagnosed after service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.304. Generally, the three-element test for service connection requires: (1) a current disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the current disability and the in-service disease or injury. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1166-67 (Fed. Cir. 2004). For Reserve or National Guard service, service connection may only be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred or aggravated while on active duty for training (ACDUTRA or ADT), or for an injury incurred or aggravated during inactive duty training (INACDUTRA or IDT), but not for a disease during inactive duty training, except from an acute myocardial infarction, a cardiac arrest, or a cerebrovascular accident. 38 U.S.C. §§ 101(24), 106; 38 C.F.R. § 3.6. Presumptions for direct service connection apply for certain conditions, which are discussed below as relevant, but they generally do not apply to ACDUTRA or IDT. In adjudicating the merits of such claims, reasonable doubt that exists because of an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence concerning any point will be resolved in favor of the claimant. 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. A current disability has been demonstrated by the record. Records from the Veteran's National Guard service reflect that the Veteran was diagnosed with degenerative joint disease of the right knee in December 1997. As such, the first element of service connection has been met. As relevant to the service connection issue on appeal, the Board acknowledges that the Regional Office made a finding of unavailability of service treatment records (STRs) from the Veteran's active-duty service from October 1969 to March 1970 in February 2015. VA made appropriate efforts to attempt to obtain any outstanding records. As such, no further remand or development is needed for a fair adjudication. The diagnosed degenerative joint disease, or arthritis, is considered a listed chronic disease of organic disease of the nervous system. However, this disability was not shown as chronic during service, or manifested to a compensable degree during service or within the applicable presumptive period of one year after active-duty discharge, and continuity of symptomatology since service without intervening cause is not established. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303(b), 3.307, 3.309(a)(3). Instead, the most probative evidence shows that the Veteran's diagnosed disability and noticeable symptoms had an onset more than one year after his March 1970 active-duty discharge. For his subsequent National Guard service, the chronic disease presumption does not apply to ACDUTRA periods. Smith v. Shinseki, 24 Vet. App. 40, 47 (2010). Service connection may still be granted for a right knee disability on a direct basis. However, these criteria also have not been met because the preponderance of the evidence is against finding a nexus between the current right knee condition and in-service injury, event or disease. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a), (d). The Veteran has asserted that his right knee disability manifested during his Reserves service, within one year of his discharge from active-duty service in 1970. However, the Veteran is not competent to establish a diagnosis of arthritis. Instead, this question requires medical training to consider and interpret his medical history, including diagnostic tests, and specialized medical knowledge of the involved orthopedic or musculoskeletal system. Thus, the Board gives more probative weight to the competent medical evidence. Medical records reflect that during the Veteran's National Guard service in October and December 1997 he was placed on a physical profile with restrictions as a result of his right knee degenerative joint disease. The October 1997 medical treatment note reflects that the Veteran reported that he sustained a knee injury while playing basketball sometime in 1989. However, the Board finds that there is no evidence that the injury occurred or was aggravated during a period of active service, ACDUTRA, or INACDUTRA. In this regard, the note is dated outside a period of active duty and is not accompanied by a line of duty determination showing that a knee injury occurred during a period of ACDUTRA or INACDUTRA. While sympathetic to the Veteran's claim, the only evidence of record tending to support the claim consists solely of lay statements. A right knee disability, specifically degenerative joint disease, can have many different causes and, accordingly, determining the etiology of such requires medical expertise which the Veteran has not shown to possess. See Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d 1372, 1376-77 (Fed. Cir. 2007). The preponderance of the evidence is against the claim for service connection; there is no doubt to be resolved; and service connection for a right knee disability is not warranted. See Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49, 55 (1990); 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b). Bethany L. Buck Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board R. M. Lowman, 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.