Citation Nr: 21040038 Decision Date: 07/02/21 Archive Date: 07/02/21 DOCKET NO. 17-33 102 DATE: July 2, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II (DMII), to include as due to exposure to herbicide agents is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for peripheral neuropathy, as secondary to DM II is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for residuals of cerebrovascular accident (CVA), as secondary to DMII is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had active service from October 1968 to October 1972. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO)'s rating decision issued in September 2013. The Veteran testified at a Board virtual hearing held before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge in February 2021. The transcript of this hearing is associated with the claims file. 1. Entitlement to service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II (DMII), to include as due to herbicide agents is remanded. The Veteran contends service connection should be granted for diabetes mellitus and associated peripheral neuropathy and residuals of cerebrovascular accident (CVA) secondary to alleged exposure to herbicide agents while he was stationed on the unincorporated organized territory of Guam from October 1970 to March 1972. The Veteran's arguments also address other contaminants that are not herbicide agents. See C.F.R. § 3.307(a)(6). The Veteran's service treatment records, service personnel records, and VA treatment records have been obtained. The Veteran has submitted extensive documentation in support of his claims. He has provided testimony at a Board hearing. See February 2021 Hearing transcript. The Veteran testified that he saw individuals spraying herbicide around the facility where he was stationed and that he was frequently present at the flight line during his duties as a driver. The Veteran's representative also offered anecdotal evidence regarding use of herbicide agents in Guam that were related to him by other individuals. The Veteran believes that service connection should be granted on a presumptive basis if his allegations of herbicide exposure in Guam are confirmed. 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(e). The Veteran has submitted, on an ongoing basis, a significant quantity of evidence concerning the presence of potentially pertinent toxic substances in Guam, including herbicides, which some parties suggest may be attributable to US military operations in Guam from around the time of the Veteran's period of service. He has submitted copies of articles indicating that contaminants have been released from a disposal site. See February 2006 Guam EPA Article; see also May 2020 Legal Article. In the May 2020 legal article, the authors cite Gov't of Guam v. United States, 341 F. Supp. 3d 74, 78, 2018, for the proposition that herbicide agents were stored and disposed of in Guam. This decision does not establish that herbicide agents were stored or disposed of in Guam but does note the Guamanian governments assertions of herbicide agents use by the Department of Defense. VA has developed specific procedures to determine whether a service member was exposed to herbicides in a vicinity other than the Republic of Vietnam or along the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in the Republic of South Korea. VA's updated Adjudication Procedure Manual, M21-1MR, Part IV, Subpart ii, Chapter 1, Section H, para. 6(a) directs that a detailed statement of the service member's claimed herbicide exposure be sent to the Compensation Service via e-mail and a review be requested of the Department of Defense's (DoD) inventory of herbicide operations to determine whether herbicides were used or tested as alleged. In this case, the RO did not request whether herbicides were used or tested as alleged because the Veteran's service in Guam was longer than two-month windows commonly used for verification. See September 2013 Memorandum. Where a period of time identified by the Veteran is longer than the two-month period, "the duty to assist require[s] VA to submit multiple 60-day record searches" where the period identified is not unreasonably long. Gagne v. McDonald, 27 Vet. App. 397, 404 (2015). Therefore, multiple requests, to verify the Veteran's claimed exposure to herbicide on Guam from October 1970 to March 1972 are warranted as this is a defined timeframe that is not unreasonably long. 2. Entitlement to service connection for peripheral neuropathy, as secondary to DM II is remanded. 3. Entitlement to service connection for residuals of cerebrovascular accident (CVA), as secondary to DMII is remanded. As the remaining claims for service connection are premised on service connection for DMII, they are inextricably intertwined with the claim remanded. The appropriate remedy for the remaining issues is to remand them pending resolution of the inextricably intertwined issue of service connection for DMII. Harris v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 180 (1991). The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain outstanding VA medical records. 2. The AOJ should take the necessary actions to comply with the evidentiary development procedures and provide a detailed statement of the Veteran's claimed herbicide exposure at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam from October 1970 to March 1972 to the VA Compensation Service and a review be requested of the DoD inventory of herbicide operations to determine whether herbicide agents were used, tested, or stored as alleged. All information obtained from the VA Compensation Service should be included in the claims folder for review. J. B. FREEMAN Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board J. Trickey 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.