Citation Nr: 21041275 Decision Date: 07/08/21 Archive Date: 07/08/21 DOCKET NO. 16-61 272 DATE: July 8, 2021 ORDER Service connection for a psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD and depression, is granted. FINDING OF FACT The evidence is in relative equipoise as to whether the Veteran's psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD and depression, is etiologically related to his active military service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for a psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD and depression, have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active service in the Army from March 1977 to February 1980. This issue was previously before the Board in January 2019 where this issue was remanded for additional development including obtaining any outstanding VA and private medical treatment records, attempting to obtain verification of the Veteran's stressor of witnessing a helicopter crash in Honduras, and obtaining a VA examination and opinion on the Veteran's PTSD. Such development has since been completed and the Board is satisfied that there has been at least substantial compliance with the remand directives. Service Connection Service connection will be granted if the evidence demonstrates that a current disability resulted from an injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by active military service. 38 U.S.C. § 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Service connection requires competent evidence showing: (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 (nexus). Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). The Veteran asserts that he has a psychiatric disorder primarily as a result of situations he encountered while serving as a military police officer. Specifically, in his April 2016 Notice of Disagreement (NOD), the Veteran states that he experienced several stressful incidents while in service, including recovering a decomposing body from a lake in Fort Hood, Texas, witnessing auto accidents on the Autobahn freeway in Germany where individuals were severely injured, responding to a domestic incident where a child was injured, and witnessing a helicopter crash in Honduras in 1990. Service personnel records show that the Veteran's Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) was a Military Police Officer. The Veteran's Service Treatment Records (STRs) do not indicate any diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder. On a December 1976 Report of Medical History (ROMH), the Veteran did not report any psychiatric problems including depression, excessive worry, or nervous troubles. The Veteran also did not report any psychiatric disorders on either the February 1983 or November 1991 ROMH forms during his reserve service. In February 2020, the Veteran was afforded a VA examination at which he was diagnosed with PTSD. During the course of the examination, the Veteran described that he experiences trouble sleeping, intrusive thoughts, hypervigilance, and nightmares that contribute to his sleep disturbances. The Veteran once again described the four in-service stressors which he believes have led to his mental health problems in consistent detail. The examiner opined that the Veteran met the DSM-5 criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD based on the in-service stressors cited. The stressors that the Veteran reported during his VA examination, as well as on two previous occasions, are consistent with the circumstances of his service as a military police officer. See 38 U.S.C. § 1154(a). The Board finds that the Veteran's reports are credible that these reported stressors are sufficient to support a claim of service connection for a psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD and depression. Here, there is a VA medical opinion which concluded that the Veteran had PTSD as a result of in-service stressors. Therefore, the evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether an acquired psychiatric disorder was incurred in service. Resolving reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran, service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder is warranted. MATTHEW W. BLACKWELDER Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board Jennifer M. Narvaez, 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.