Citation Nr: 21028018 Decision Date: 05/10/21 Archive Date: 05/10/21 DOCKET NO. 18-21 617 DATE: May 10, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for coronary artery disease is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for diabetes mellitus type II (diabetes) is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from January 1963 to January 1967. These matters come before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a July 2017 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO), which denied reopening the claims of service connection for coronary artery disease and diabetes. In a June 2019 Board decision, the claims for service connection for coronary artery disease and diabetes was reopened and remanded for readjudication. Subsequent, a Supplemental Statement of the Case (SSOC) was issued in May 2020 and the appeal was returned to the Board. In November 2020, the Board again remanded the issues. This appeal has been advanced on the docket pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 20.900. 1. Entitlement to service connection for coronary artery disease is remanded 2. Entitlement to service connection for diabetes is remanded While the Board regrets the additional delay, due to the VA's failure to assist, the Veteran's claims of entitlement to service connection for coronary artery disease and diabetes must be remanded. The VA has the duty to make reasonable efforts to assist a claimant in securing evidence necessary to substantiate their claim for VA benefits. See 38 U.S.C. § 5103A; 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(c). Additionally, a remand confers on the claimant, as a matter of law, the right to compliance with the remand order and imposes upon the VA a concomitant duty to ensure compliance with the remand. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998) (holding that where the remand of the Board or the Court is not complied with, the Board errs as a matter of law when it fails to ensure compliance). The Veteran contends that his service around planes that had been in or over the Republic of Vietnam at both the Plattsburgh Air Force Base in New York and the Upper Heyford Air Force Station in England resulted in exposure to herbicide agents which caused his coronary artery disease and diabetes. The November 2020 Board Remand directed the AOJ to, in relevant part, request verification of the Veteran's alleged herbicide exposure during his service by sending a request to the Joint Service Record Research Center (JSRRC), now the U.S. Department of Army, Records Management and Declassification Agency (RMDA). The remand also directed that if sufficient information required to attempt to verify herbicides exposure does not exist, the JSRRC coordinator must make a formal finding to the effect. The record does not show that the RO submitted a request to the JSRRC as directed by the November 2020 Board Remand. A "Records Research Response" was received, but it appears that was completed by the Veterans Benefits Administration, Compensation Service. Additionally, that research did not consider the Veteran's contention that during his service at the Plattsburgh Air Force Base in New York and the Upper Heyford Air Force Station in England he had herbicide agent exposure from airplanes that had been in Vietnam. Furthermore, even if it was indeed JSRRC that submitted the "Records Research Response," the response was not a formal finding by the JSRRC coordinator as required by the Board remand. The Board therefore finds that there has not been substantial compliance with the remand directives and corrective action is necessary. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998). The matters are REMANDED for the following action: Send a request to the RMDA for verification of the Veteran's alleged herbicide exposure during his service, particularly while stationed at the Plattsburgh Air Force Base in New York and the Upper Heyford Air Force Station in England. Consideration must be given to the assertion that the Veteran was exposed to herbicides at these locations from airplanes that had been in Vietnam. If sufficient information required to attempt to verify herbicides exposure does not exist, the RMDA coordinator must make a formal finding to that effect. N. NELSON Acting Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board B. Temple, 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.