Citation Nr: 21070060 Decision Date: 11/22/21 Archive Date: 11/22/21 DOCKET NO. 18-46 048 DATE: November 22, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from December 1963 to June 1971. The Veteran died in January 2011. The appellant is his surviving spouse. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) from a February 2018 rating decision. In August 2019, the Board denied the appellant's claims of service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death and for accrued benefits. The appellant appealed the Board's decision denying service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). In an April 2020 Order, the Court granted a Joint Motion for Partial Remand, vacating the Board's decision regarding service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death and remanding for additional proceedings. In October 2020, the Board again denied the claim, and the appellant again appealed the denial to the Court. In an August 2021 Order, the Court approved another Joint Motion for Remand (Joint Motion) vacating the October 2020 Board decision and remanding for additional proceedings. Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death is remanded. VA laws and regulations provide that if a veteran was exposed to an herbicide agent during service, certain listed diseases, including prostate cancer, are presumptively service-connected. 38 U.S.C. § 1116(a)(1); 38C.F.R. §3.309(e). The appellant has contended, in relevant part, that service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death should be established presumptively based on his exposure to herbicide agents while working on aircraft on a flight line while stationed at the Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base (RTFB), and based on his having died from metastatic prostate cancer. VA now recognizes that tactical or tactical-like herbicides were used on the fenced-in perimeters of military bases in Thailand. VA has determined that exposure to herbicide agents will be conceded for veterans whose duties placed them at or near the perimeters of certain Thai military bases, including Udorn, during the Vietnam era (February 28, 1961, to May 7, 1975), allowing for presumptive service connection of the diseases associated with herbicide exposure. VA based this determination on evidence contained in a declassified Vietnam era Department of Defense document titled "Project CHECO Southeast Asia Report: Base Defense in Thailand." Specifically, if a veteran served as an Air Force security policeman, security patrol dog handler, member of the security police squadron, or otherwise served near the base perimeter as shown by evidence of daily work duties, performance evaluation reports, or other credible evidence, herbicide exposure is to be conceded on a direct/facts-found basis. The sole fault identified by the Joint Motion with the reasons and bases of the Board in its October 2020 decision was the Board's failure to address the argument of the appellant's representative that the Veteran was exposed to herbicide agents and thus was entitled to the presumption of service connection for prostate cancer causal of his death based on there being a 500-meter drift zone for land-based application of the herbicides used, according to an Army Field Manual. The representative had argued that the flight line at the Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base (RTFB) where the Veteran had worked on aircraft was within that drift zone, or within 500 meters of the perimeter of the base. The Board notes that the Veteran had reported working on aircraft while stationed at Udorn RTAFB, and it has been argued that the flight line where the Veteran worked on aircraft was near the perimeter of Udorn RTAFB. A careful review of the record, however, fails to show that a map of the Udorn RTAFB has been presented showing where the flight line, or aircraft repair facilities, were located, or where they were located in relation to the perimeter of the base. Very rudimentary or non-scale diagrams or pictures of the base have been submitted which are of insufficient clarity to discern where the flight line and the aircraft hangers were located on the base. The Board accordingly concludes that remand is warranted to seek a clear map, with dimensional scale, showing the location of the perimeter of the Udorn RTAFB and the location of aircraft maintenance facilities on the base. The matter is REMANDED for the following actions: 1. The appellant and her representative should be afforded opportunity to submit additional evidence or argument in furtherance of the claim. 2. Obtain through official channels a clear map of the Udorn RTAFB which is contemporaneous to the period of the Veteran's stationing at that facility. The map should contain a clear dimensional (showing distance, e.g., in feet or meters) and showing the location of the aircraft repair facilities on the base and the perimeter of the base, with these features clearly labeled on the map. (Continued on the next page) 3. Thereafter, the claim should be readjudicated. L. CHU Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board D. Schechter 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.