Citation Nr: 21013855 Decision Date: 03/10/21 Archive Date: 03/10/21 DOCKET NO. 17-66 326 DATE: March 10, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for type 2 diabetes mellitus (diabetes), to include as due to Agent Orange exposure, is granted. FINDING OF FACT The evidence of record reflects that the Veteran was on board a transport ship that was in the territorial waters of Vietnam. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to service connection for diabetes mellitus type 2 (diabetes), to include as due to in-service herbicide agent exposure have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5103(a), 5103A, 1131, 1112, 1113 (2014); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309, 3.310. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from May 1964 to April 1966. The undersigned Veterans Law Judge presided over a Board hearing in February 2021. A transcript of this hearing is of record. Entitlement to service connection for type 2 diabetes mellitus (diabetes), to include as due to Agent Orange exposure The Veteran is seeking service connection for diabetes due to Agent Orange exposure. Specifically, he asserts in several written statements and in February 2021 hearing testimony, that as a Chemical Operations Specialist, he was exposed to Agent Orange. He claims exposure, both on a presumptive basis, aboard USS BRECKINRIDGE (AP-176), a transport vessel that made several stops well within the blue waters of Vietnam, as well as directly while serving on Okinawa and at Ft. McClellan, Alabama. He specifically recounts that during Operation Red Hat, which involved the removal of many types of weapons, munitions, and hazardous substances from Okinawa, he was involved in chemical spill cleanups and regularly handled barrels containing Agent Orange. He regularly did so without adequate protective gear. Generally, to establish service connection for a present disability, “the veteran must show (1) the existence of a present 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, 116667 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Moreover, presumptive service connection is available to a veteran who served in the Republic of Vietnam from January 9, 1962 to May 7, 1975. Service in the Republic of Vietnam includes service in the waters offshore and service in other locations if the conditions of service involved duty or visitation in the Republic of Vietnam. 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (a)(6)(iii). The Board notes the 2019 passage of the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019, H.R. 299, 116th Cong. (2019), which clarifies that the “Republic of Vietnam” includes its territorial waters, which in turn includes the waters “12 nautical miles seaward of a line commencing on the southwestern demarcation line of the waters of Vietnam and Cambodia. See also Procopio v. Wilkie, 913 F.3d 1371, 1379 (Fed Cir. 1371) (clarifying that the term “Republic of Vietnam” refers to both the Republic of Vietnam’s “landmass and its 12 nautical mile territorial sea.” Service connection is warranted for a veteran who has been exposed to toxic herbicide agent during active military service (subject to the requirements of 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (a)) for diseases such as chloracne or other acneform diseases consistent with chloracne, Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, porphyria cutanea tarda, multiple myeloma, prostate cancer, soft-tissue sarcomas, early-onset peripheral neuropathy, Parkinson’s disease, B-cell leukemias, respiratory cancers, ischemic heart disease, and Type 2 diabetes. 38 C.F.R. § 3.309 (e). After a review of the record, the Board concludes that service connection is warranted his type 2 diabetes. Specifically, the evidence of record establishes that the Veteran was part of the 175th Ordinance Company and, according to a July 1966 Unit history, also establishes that the Unit transferred from the continental United States to Okinawa from approximately September to October 1965. Additionally, a review of deck logs, as well as a June 2014 response from the Joint Services Records and Research Center (JSRRC) also confirms that BRECKINRIDGE was in territorial waters of Vietnam on a number of occasions from July through November 1965. In the Board’s view, the only remaining question is whether the Veteran was personally on board BRECKINRIDGE during one of these passages through the territorial waters of Vietnam. While there is no documentation of whether this is true, the Veteran’s testimony that he was on board is consistent with the other evidence of record, and there is no reason to truly doubt his assertions in this regard. Therefore, the Board will acknowledge that the Veteran was exposed to Agent Orange in service and, as such, service connection for diabetes mellitus is warranted on a presumptive basis.   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. B.T. KNOPE Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Z. M.