Citation Nr: 21077464 Decision Date: 12/29/21 Archive Date: 12/29/21 DOCKET NO. 20-08 049 DATE: December 29, 2021 ORDER Service connection for prostate cancer is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran was exposed to herbicides at Don Muang Royal Thai Air Force Base (RTAFB) during his Vietnam-era service and has a current diagnosis of prostate cancer. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for prostate cancer are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1112, 1113, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from December 1961 to December 1965. The Board thanks him for his service to our country. The Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge during a November 2021 hearing. A transcript of that hearing is in the record before the Board. Service connection for prostate cancer. The Veteran seeks service connection for prostate cancer due to exposure to Agent Orange at Don Muang RTAFB. The Veteran contends that barrels of Agent Orange were stored at Don Muang RTAFB while he was there as a radar aircraft controller. Planes flew to and from Vietnam multiple times a day. See August 2018 Notice of Disagreement. During the hearing, the Veteran testified that his MOS was aircraft control and warning/radar aircraft controller. He testified that he had a tour of duty at Don Muang RTAFB from March to May 1964 and worked near the flight line/perimeter. He specified that he worked in a Quonset hut on the flight line 100-200 yards from the perimeter and that his barracks were less than a quarter-mile from the perimeter. He could not recall any vegetation near the Quonset hut where he worked, and it looked barren. He testified he was very close to the flight line and perimeter area. When he had time off, he would leave the base. The Veteran testified that he began having prostate issues one or two years after separation. He saw a urologist who diagnosed him with prostatitis and treated it with hot sitz baths and prostate massage, even when blood was shown in his specimens. He stated that records of his treatment soon after service are unavailable as the doctors are deceased. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2017. The Veteran's DD 214 reflects that his MOS was ACW [aircraft and control] operator. His service personnel records include an October 1964 evaluation reflecting that he had recently been on a TDY to Thailand where he acted as an advisor to Thai Air Force personnel. Turning to the relevant law, service connection may be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred coincident with or aggravated by service. Establishing direct service connection generally requires competent evidence of three elements: (1) a current 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, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004); 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Prostate cancer is listed as a disease presumptively linked to exposure to certain herbicide agents under 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307 (a)(6), 3.309(e). It need only manifest to a degree of at least 10 percent at any time after service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (a)(6)(ii). Certain veterans, albeit not those who served in Thailand during the Vietnam era, shall be presumed to have been exposed during such service to herbicide agents, including the herbicide commonly referred to as Agent Orange. 38 U.S.C. § 1116 (a)(3); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309. Vietnam-era veterans who served in Thailand are entitled to demonstrate actual exposure to herbicides. Combee v. Brown, 34 F.3d 1039 (Fed. Cir. 1994) (unavailability of a presumption does not foreclose service connection on a direct basis). The United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims has noted that "[t]he VA Compensation Service has acknowledged that there was 'some evidence that the herbicides used on the Thailand base perimeters may have been either tactical, procured from Vietnam, or a commercial variant of much greater strength and with characteristics of tactical herbicides.'" Parseeya-Picchione v. McDonald, 28 Vet. App. 171, 177 (2016). A declassified Vietnam-era Department of Defense document titled Project CHECO Southwest Asia Report: Base Defense in Thailand, indicated herbicides were used for weed control in Thailand. See Overton v. Wilkie, 30 Vet. App. 257 (2018). The Board must make a determination as to whether the Veteran was exposed to herbicides while in service. Significantly, it does not appear that any further development of the evidence is reasonably likely to offer worthwhile clarification. The Board finds that the evidence in this case, including the credible assertions of the Veteran, shows that it is at least as likely as not that his active duty included service at Don Muang RTAFB that regularly included time in or near the perimeter such that he was exposed to herbicides. Reasonable doubt is resolved in the Veteran's favor. Therefore, exposure to herbicides is acknowledged on a facts found basis. See Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49, 54 (1990). The evidence shows that the Veteran has prostate cancer. See January 2018 VA Prostate Cancer VA examination report. As the Board now finds that the Veteran was exposed to herbicide agents in service, and prostate cancer is presumptively linked to exposure to herbicides, it is presumed that this disorder was incurred in service. 38 U.S.C. § 1116 (a); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307 (a)(6), 3.309(e). Thus, service connection for prostate cancer is warranted. 38 U.S.C. § 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. M. C. GRAHAM Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board J. Davitian, 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.