Citation Nr: 21006040 Decision Date: 02/03/21 Archive Date: 02/03/21 DOCKET NO. 20-10 924 DATE: February 3, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for a right hip condition is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had active duty service from October 1954 to August 1958. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals from a September 2017 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ). 1. Entitlement to service connection for a right hip condition is remanded. The Veteran contends that he has a right hip disability from a football injury in service. See VA Form 9 dated in February 2020. He recalled that while serving in the United States Air Force as an aircraft mechanic/ flight engineer, he was injured while playing football for the squad team in the base league. Id. He further stated that he was in the hospital for approximately two weeks and was put on light duty. Id. The Veteran’s service treatment records are not available for review. The service department has stated that they were likely destroyed by fire. As part of his notice of disagreement the Veteran reported that he was enclosing a report of injury for his right hip showing his hospitalization. However, the document submitted is illegible. The Veteran should be notified and given an opportunity to resubmit the report of injury. Some of the military personnel records were obtained, which note the Veteran’s dates of service in the United States Air Force and note that he was stationed at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia; and that he was an aircraft mechanic. Given that the Veteran has provided competent statements as to a football injury in service and his service treatment records are unavailable for review, he should be scheduled for a VA examination to determine the etiology of any right hip disorder based on his reported injury. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Ask the Veteran to resubmit a legible copy of the report of injury for his right hip hospitalization that he submitted as part of his notice of disagreement in February 2018. Also, ask the Veteran to provide any additional information concerning the date of injury and the name of the hospital where he was treated in service. 2. Make efforts to obtain records of any inpatient treatment at the Langley Air Force Base hospital during the Veteran’s service. If available, use any additional information provided by the Veteran in the records request. Document all requests for information as well as all responses in the claims file. 3. Then, schedule the Veteran for a VA examination to determine the etiology of the Veteran’s claimed right hip disability. The examiner must review the claims file. If a diagnosis cannot be provided but the Veteran’s condition nonetheless manifests in symptoms that cause functional impairment, then the examiner should consider them a “disability” for the purpose of providing the requested opinion(s) below. The examiner is asked to provide a response to whether any right hip disability is at least as likely as not related to service, including the reported football injury in service. Provide a rationale to support the opinion. In providing the requested opinion, consider the Veteran’s description of his in-service injury and symptoms as well as his post-service symptoms. If there is any medical reason to accept or reject the proposition that the Veteran’s reported injury and symptoms in service and thereafter represented the onset of his current disability, this should be noted. Stated another way, do the Veteran’s reports about his symptoms align with how the currently diagnosed disability is known to develop or are the Veteran’s reports generally inconsistent with medical knowledge or implausible? S. L. Kennedy Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Sarah B. Richmond, 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.