Citation Nr: 21074700 Decision Date: 12/16/21 Archive Date: 12/16/21 DOCKET NO. 18-42 431 DATE: December 16, 2021 ORDER Service connection for headaches is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran's headaches had its onset in service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for headaches have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1154, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Army from September 1990 to September 2015 with service in Kuwait from October 1995 to December 1995 and Afghanistan from December 2011 to June 2012. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a November 2016 rating decision from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Veteran presented sworn testimony at a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge in September 2020. 1. Service connection for headaches. To establish service connection for a claimed disorder, the following criteria must be met: (1) medical evidence of a current disability; (2) evidence of an in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) evidence of a nexus between the claimed in-service disease or injury and current disability. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303; see also, Davidson v. Shinseki, 581 F.3d 1313, 1316 (Fed. Cir. 2009); Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1166-67 (Fed. Cir. 2004); Hickson v. West, 12 Vet. App. 247, 253 (1999). Service connection may be granted for a disability resulting in a disease or injury that is incurred in or aggravated by active-duty military service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Service connection may be established by credible lay evidence and medical evidence provided by the Veteran or otherwise. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. The Veteran seeks service connection for headaches, which he contends began in service and has been recurrent since that time. The Veteran has a diagnosis of ordinary headaches and sharp headaches. See VA Examination, October 2016. Service treatment records note a complaint of frequent headaches in January 2013. Post-service treatment records note a report of headaches three to four times per week and a medical history of ice pick headaches "likely since 2013" as per a Neurology note from July 2017. See Medical Treatment Records, April 2020. At the September 2020 hearing, the Veteran competently and credibly testified that his headaches started in 2012 when he returned from Afghanistan and he reported his symptoms while in service. He stated that his headaches last between 30 seconds and two minutes and because of the brevity of the headaches he tries not to take medication. The Veteran reported that his headaches feel like a stabbing pain, usually on the left side, but worse when it is on the right side. He stated that he has seven to nine headaches each month and he was told by his neurologist he has "ice pick headaches." The Veteran's previous spouse submitted a statement in June 2020 noting that she remembers the Veteran experiencing headaches during their marriage, after his tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2012. She stated that she remembers them happening a few times per week since 2012 and were still happening in 2018 when they divorced. A September 2010 statement submitted by the Veteran's friends of 20 years also noted that the Veteran and his wife have told them about how the Veteran complains of constant back pain. The Veteran is competent to report the onset and continuation of his headache symptoms and the Board finds his testimony credible. See Charles v. Principi, 16 Vet. App. 370, 374 (2002); see also Layno v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 465 (1994); Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d 1372 (Fed. Cir. 2007). The Board acknowledges that the October 2016 VA examiner opined that the Veteran's current headache disability was not related to service; however, because the competent and credible evidence shows that the Veteran's headache disability had its onset in service, service connection is warranted. See Flynn v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 500, 503 (1994) (noting that "the element of cause and effect has been totally by-passed in favor of a simple temporal relationship between the incurrence of the disability and the period of active duty"); see also 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a) (Service connection connotes many factors but basically it means that the facts, shown by evidence, establish that a particular injury or disease resulting in disability was incurred coincident with service in the Armed Forces). STEVEN D. REISS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board Sara Leigh, Attorney Advisor 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.