Citation Nr: 21071277 Decision Date: 11/30/21 Archive Date: 11/30/21 DOCKET NO. 16-38 042 DATE: November 30, 2021 ORDER Service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran began experiencing symptoms of his current acquired psychiatric disability during service, and he has continued to experience such symptomatology since separation from service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran has active service from August 2005 to November 2006 and from July 2008 to August 2009. During the current appeal, and in October 2019, the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) remanded this appeal for further development. Service connection will be granted if the evidence demonstrates that a current disability resulted from an injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by active military service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Service connection requires competent evidence showing: (1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163 (Fed. Cir. 2004). A layperson is competent to report on the onset and continuity of his or her current symptomatology. See Layno v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 465, 470 (1994) (a veteran is competent to report on that of which he or she has personal knowledge). The Veteran seeks service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability which he asserts onset in service. His VA treatment records show that he has been diagnosed with multiple acquired psychiatric disabilities, including a generalized anxiety disorder, (see May 7, 2014, VA Mental Health Treatment Note by VA psychiatrist) pursuant to the DSM criteria. As such, the current disability prong of this claim is met, and the remaining issue is whether the current disability can be related to any in-service event or whether it onset therein. At a March 2016 VA PTSD examination, the Veteran reported that he began to notice his psychiatric symptoms right after his second deployment. He has submitted multiple written statements from friends and family members who expressed their observations as to how he had changed in service, particularly after his second deploymentand that he essentially came back a different person, that he began distancing himself from his family and friends, and that his anxiety was "out of control." The Board finds the Veteran's lay reports as to the onset of his psychiatric symptoms to be credible. These reports are further corroborated by competent statements from people who knew him well before and after his second deployment. These lay reports, alone, are sufficient to establish service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability. As such, service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability is warranted. The Board acknowledges that the Veteran attended one VA PTSD examination where the examiner opined against service connection. Two other negative VA addendum nexus opinions were also rendered in May 2019 and in January 2021, the latter having been written by the same examiner who had originally examined the Veteran in-person in March 2016. While the Board cannot ignore or disregard the VA examiners' medical conclusions [Willis v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 66 (1991)], the Board is free to assess medical evidence and is not compelled to accept a medical opinion. Wilson v. Derwinski, 2 Vet. App. 614 (1992). The opinions by the March 2016 and January 2021 examiner are inadequate and of no probative value. The Veteran clearly identified his anxiety and other symptoms of other diagnosable conditions to her, but she focused only on the fact that, because it could be due to his alcohol use disorder, it could not be due to service, and did not address whether the symptoms which he said onset in service after a particularly intense deployment could have onset in service and whether they possibly caused the alcohol use disorder. The second (January 2021) addendum opinion from this provider was basically her reiteration of this same nexus opinion. As her opinions did not address all pertinent facts, the Board affords them little, if any, probative value. Also, as to the May 2019 VA examiner's addendum opinion, this examiner basically restated the inadequate March 2016 VA examiner's opinion. Thus, an adequate opinion by a VA examiner has not been rendered. In light of the above, the Board finds the Veteran's competent, credible reports of his psychiatric symptoms having onset in service to be the only probative evidence as to the etiology of his psychiatric problems. Thus, the evidence supports finding that the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disability symptoms onset in service and have continued since then. Accordingly, service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability is warranted. THERESA M. CATINO Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board C. Davidoski, 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.