Citation Nr: 21071764 Decision Date: 12/01/21 Archive Date: 12/01/21 DOCKET NO. 18-31 675 DATE: December 1, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for a skin condition is granted. FINDING OF FACT It is as likely as not the Veteran's skin condition started during his service or is otherwise related or attributable to his service. CONCLUSION OF LAW Resolving all reasonable doubt in his favor, the criteria are met for his entitlement to service connection for his skin condition. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from July 1977 to July 1980 and from November 1990 to June 1991, including in Southwest Asia (SWA) in support of Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield. Most recently, in January 2020, the Board remanded this claim back to the local Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO), which is the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ), to obtain a VA examination and needed medical opinion concerning the etiology of the Veteran's claimed skin condition. To this end, he underwent a VA examination in October 2020, and the report of the evaluation provides the necessary information, so the additional development directed to occur on remand regarding this claim has been accomplished. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998). Following that October 2020 VA examination, the RO (AOJ) did not, as is usually required, provide the Veteran a Supplemental Statement of the Case (SSOC) readjudicating this claim considering this additional evidence. 38 C.F.R. §§ 19.31, 19.37(a), 20.904(a)(2). He also then would have been provided opportunity to submit additional evidence and/or argument in response. However, that ultimately is harmless error since the Board is granting this claim in this decision, regardless. Service connection is granted for disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active military service in the line of duty. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Establishing service connection requires (1) evidence of a current disability; (2) evidence of in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or an injury; and (3) evidence of a correlation ("nexus") between the disease or injury in service and the present disability. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163 (Fed. Cir. 2004). The term "veteran" is defined, in relevant part, as "a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service...." 38 U.S.C. § 101(2); see also 38 C.F.R. § 3.1(d). Active military, naval, or air service includes: (1) active duty (AD) and (2) any period of active duty for training (ACDUTRA) during which the individual concerned was disabled or died from a disease or an injury incurred or aggravated in the line of duty and (3) any period of inactive duty training (INACDUTRA) during which the individual concerned was disabled or died from an injury (though not also disease) incurred or aggravated in the line of duty. 38 U.S.C. § 101(24)(A), (C). Regarding the latter two types of service, for members of the National Guard of any state, this encompasses duty in drills, field exercises, arms competitions, or military schools when required by Federal law. 38 U.S.C. § 101(20), (22)(C), 23(C). Thus, only disabilities during certain periods of the Veteran's service in the National Guard would be eligible for service connection. A person enlisted in a State National Guard unit is simultaneously enlisted in the National Guard of the United States; however, the person is only considered to be serving in the latter capacity when formally called into such service. See Allen v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 54 (2007); see also Clark v. United States, 322 F.3d 1358, 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2003). At all other times, the enlisted National Guard member is considered instead to be in the State militia or in civilian status, neither of which qualifies as active military service for purposes of Veterans' benefits. To have basic eligibility for Veterans' benefits based on a period of duty as a member of a State National Guard, a National Guardsman must have been ordered into Federal service by the President of the United States or must have performed "full-time duty" under the provisions cited in 38 U.S.C. § 101(22)(C), (23)(C). Here, while serving in the National Guard from November 1990 to June 1991, the Veteran was ordered into Federal service, serving in Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield from January 1, 1991 to May 9, 1991. See DD Form 214. As such, this period qualifies as active military service for purposes of Veterans' benefits. Moreover, the evidence of record indicates the Veteran's skin condition now being claimed was incurred during qualifying active service. As already alluded to, he had a VA examination concerning this claim in October 2020, on remand. During the examination, the examiner noted the Veteran had received diagnoses of multiple skin conditions namely, of eczema, contact dermatitis, allergic reactions, and dermatophytosis and, importantly, beginning during his service in 1991. He resultantly had a myriad of treatments at that time and currently receives topical treatment. Therefore, this VA examiner concluded the Veteran's skin condition is at least as likely as not related to his service. Given this favorable medical nexus opinion, which is uncontroverted, the Board finds that service connection for the Veteran's skin condition is warranted. This claim consequently is granted in full. KEITH W. ALLEN Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board Mukherjee, Cameron B. 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.