Citation Nr: 21068491 Decision Date: 11/10/21 Archive Date: 11/10/21 DOCKET NO. 17-52 332 DATE: November 10, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Army from November 1979 to November 1982. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from an August 2017 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). A hearing was held before the undersigned in August 2020. A transcript of the hearing has been associated with the claims file. At the time of the hearing, the Veteran's representative requested and was granted 90 days to submit additional evidence. Additional medical records were received in August 2020. 1. Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including depression and PTSD, is remanded. The Veteran filed a claim for depression and PTSD in June 2017. In his June 2017 statement in support of claim, the Veteran reported that his platoon seargeant verbally abused him and ordered him outside anytime in the morning with whatever he had on in freezing temperatures. When he arrived overseas, he discovered his roommate and half the unit were intravenous drug users. Someone overdosed while he was on guard duty and they were going to throw him out the window before he got there. Mental health treatment notes from November 2017 reflect the Veteran was diagnosed with depression and PTSD, and was receiving treatment for these conditions. Treatment notes from November 2017 reflect the Veteran processed feelings associated with with traumatic events in deployment to Germany where his roommate was a drug dealer, he felt helpless and unsafe, and he was afraid to report this information because his platoon seargeant was a heroin user and got his drugs from his roommate. At the time of the Board hearing, the Veteran testified that he was serving on guard duty, went to a room where a person had overdosed, and others were talking about throwing him out the wondow. The Veteran took him to the shower to wake him up. Others thought he was dead and were going to throw him out the window. He stated there was another incident in the same room with a different person. He felt that he just had to deal with the drugs because there was no on he could turn to. If he did say something, he thought he would be beat up. He also explained when he was training for the Iran crisis, a sergeant would wake him and others up at four or three in the morning and say everybody outside. They could not put clothes on or blankets on. They had to go outsdise in the freezing cold at Fort Dix in 1979. He explained he saw a lot of people overdose in Germany. The Board cannot make a fully-informed decision on the issue of service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability because no VA examiner has opined whether his current disabiliies were caused by or onset in service. Remand is warranted to obtain an opinion. See McClendon v. Nicholson, 20 Vet. App. 79 (2006). Additionally, the Board notes the record includes a diagnosis of PTSD, however, it is unclear how this determination was made and whether there is a link between the Veteran's current symptoms and an in-service stressor. Additional development is needed. The matter is REMANDED for the following actions: 1. Obtain the Veteran's VA treatment records for the period from March 2019 to the present. 2. Schedule the Veteran for a VA examination to determine whether he has a psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD and/or depression, that is related to service. The examiner must review the claims file. If the evaluation results in a diagnosis of PTSD, the examiner must determine whether the Veteran's claimed stressors are adequate to support a diagnosis of PTSD, and whether the Veteran's symptoms are related to the claimed stressors. If a diagnosis of PTSD is not made, the examiner should explain in the examination report why such a diagnosis is not warranted. For each psychiatric disorder other than PTSD that is diagnosed, the examiner should opine as to whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent probability or greater) that any such psychiatric disorder had an onset in service or is otherwise related to service. The examiner must explain the rationale for any opinion(s) given, and if unable to provide the requested opinions without resorting to speculation, it should be so stated, and an explanation provided. (Continued on the next page) 3. Readjudicate the claim. L. CHU Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board R. Vemulapalli, 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.