Citation Nr: 21022843 Decision Date: 04/19/21 Archive Date: 04/19/21 DOCKET NO. 17-00 883 DATE: April 19, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to reimbursement for/repayment of loans, pursuant to Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) services, to include other than employment services, pursuant to 38 U.S.C. Chapter 31, is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had honorable active duty service with the United States Army from October 1976 to May 1982. This matter is before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a December 2010 letter of determination issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office. The Veteran appeared at a videoconference hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) in February 2020. A transcript of the hearing is associated with the file. This case was previously before the Board in June 2020, when it was remanded to the agency of original jurisdiction (AOJ) for additional development. After taking further action, the AOJ confirmed and continued the prior denial and returned the case to the Board. Entitlement to reimbursement for/repayment of loans, pursuant to VR&E services, to include other than employment services, pursuant to 38 U.S.C. Chapter 31, is remanded. The Veteran claims entitlement to reimbursement for/repayment of loans that the Veteran asserts were utilized for VR&E purposes. Although the Board sincerely regrets the additional delay, a remand is necessary to ensure that there is a complete record upon which to decide the Veteran’s claims and to afford him every possible consideration. As noted above, this case was last remanded by the Board in June 2020. In the June 2020 remand, the Board directed that the AOJ to obtain the entire vocational rehabilitation file, specifically any evidence concerning a contract for repayment of loans, evidence of payment to the school from VA, or the communication with the Veteran regarding his responsibility to repay student loans utilized for VR&E approved education. Subsequently, the AOJ indicated that all available evidence was uploaded in October 2020 and November 2020. See December 2020 Supplemental Statement of the Case. In reviewing the record, however, the AOJ simply associated screenshots of the CWINRS with the record in October 2020 and November 2020 and did not associate the entire paper vocational rehabilitation and employment folder with the claims file. The Board is unable to view this database and, as such, it is unclear whether the records referenced in the screenshots are associated with the claims file. In light of the above, this case is remanded to the AOJ for substantial compliance with the Board’s June 2020 remand directives. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998) (holding that a remand by the Court or the Board confers on the veteran or other claimant, as a matter of law, the right to compliance with remand orders). This matter is REMANDED for the following action: Ensure the entire paper vocational rehabilitation and employment folder has been scanned and associated with the electronic claims file. Special attempts should be made to obtain any evidence concerning a contract for repayment of loans, evidence of payment to the school from VA, or the communication with the Veteran regarding his responsibility to repay student loans utilized for VR&E approved education. All attempts to obtain the paper vocational rehabilitation employment folder should be clearly documented and associated with the claims file, to include any evidence of unavailability of all, or a portion of, the vocational rehabilitation employment folder. If the full vocational rehabilitation employment folder is unable to be obtained, the AOJ is to contact the Veteran to determine if any of the evidence contained therein is in his possession. Paul Sorisio Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board R. Kettler, Associate 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.