Citation Nr: 21013291 Decision Date: 03/09/21 Archive Date: 03/09/21 DOCKET NO. 17-21 370 DATE: March 9, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for lumbar disability is granted. REMAND Entitlement to service connection for asthma is remanded. INTRODUCTION The Veteran served on active duty from August 1980 to April 1986. These matters come before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a July 2013 rating decision by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In March 2021, the Veteran testified at a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran’s lumbar disability began during active service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for a lumbar disability are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran asserts that his current lumbar disability occurred in or is due to his active duty. Service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all of the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that a disease was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). The evidence of record includes current diagnoses of lumbar disability, including arthritis. The Veteran’s service treatment records include numerous instances of treatment for low back pain, to include as due to a motor vehicle accident and heavy lifting associated with his military occupational specialty. The Veteran was provided a VA examination pursuant to this claim in April 2013, with a July 2013 supplemental opinion. For reasons unknown to the Board, the Veteran’s service treatment records were not associated with the claim file for review by the examiner. Thus, the negative etiological opinions rendered are predicated on an incomplete factual predicate and, as such, are not probative. The Veteran essentially asserts that he experienced in-service back injuries and symptoms and that these symptoms continued after his separation from active service. The Board finds the Veteran’s consistent statements regarding his injuries in service and his continuous symptoms since service are competent, credible and, therefore, probative. See Layno v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 465 (1994) (A veteran is competent to report symptoms because this requires only personal knowledge, not medical expertise, as it comes through the senses; lay testimony is competent to establish the presence of observable symptomatology, where the determination is not medical in nature and is capable of lay observation.). In sum, the Board finds that the probative evidence of record shows that the Veteran’s lumbar spine disability began in service and has continued since then. Accordingly, service connection for lumbar disability is warranted. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303(b); 3.307; 3.309(a); Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331, 1338 (Fed. Cir. 2012). REASONS FOR REMAND In April 2013, the Veteran was provided a VA examination with respect to his asthma. Subsequent to the examination, the Veteran’s service treatment records were associated with the claims file. As such, the Board finds that a remand to obtain a supplemental opinion is warranted. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: Obtain a supplemental opinion from the April 2013 VA examiner or, if unavailable, a qualified substitute. The Veteran’s electronic claims file must be made available to the examiner and the examiner must specify in the report that it was contemporaneously reviewed. All pertinent symptomatology and findings must be reported. The examiner must provide an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not (a 50 percent probability or greater) that the Veteran’s asthma was incurred in or due to his active duty. In so doing, the examiner must consider and discuss the Veteran’s assertions as to the onset and course of lay observable symptoms. A complete rationale for any rendered opinion must be provided. T. REYNOLDS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Sean G. Pflugner, 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.