Citation Nr: 21041516 Decision Date: 07/09/21 Archive Date: 07/09/21 DOCKET NO. 15-26 521 DATE: July 9, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is denied. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran does not have a verifiable in-service stressor upon which a diagnosis of PTSD may be based. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for PTSD are not met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102, 3.303, 3.304, 4.125. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from July 1974 to July 1977. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a November 2013 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Los Angeles, California. This matter was previously before the Board, in May 2019. At that time, the Board remanded the claims for service connection for depression and PTSD in order to attempt to verify the Veteran's claimed in-service stressors and afford him a VA examination. As the record reflects that the development occurred, the Board finds that there has been substantial compliance with the remand directives. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998). The Board notes that the RO granted service connection for depression in an April 2021 rating decision. As that determination is considered a full grant of the benefit sought, the claim for service connection for depression is no longer on appeal. See, AB v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 35 (1993). Service Connection for PTSD Generally, service connection will be granted if the evidence demonstrates that a current disability resulted from a disease or injury incurred in active military service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a). Establishing service connection requires evidence of a current disability, an in-service incurrence, disease or injury and a causal relationship between the current disability and the in-service incurrence, disease or injury. Saunders v. Wilkie, 886 F.3d 1356, 1361 (Fed. Cir. 2018). Service connection for PTSD in particular requires medical evidence diagnosing the condition under the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), or by findings supported in an examination report; a link, established by medical evidence, between current symptoms and an in-service stressor; and credible supporting evidence that the claimed in-service stressor occurred. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.304(f), 4.125(a). Importantly, though the regulation regarding PTSD provides various circumstances in which PTSD stressors do not require independent verification (as for combat veterans, prisoners of war, or fear of hostile military or terrorist activity) or have lower thresholds for verification (as for military sexual trauma or in-service personal assaults), stressors that do not fall into those categories must still be verified before PTSD may be granted. See, e.g., Kays v. Snyder, 846 F.3d 1208 (Fed. Cir. 2017); Cohen v. Brown, 10 Vet. App. 128 (1996). When there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding any issue material to the determination of a matter, VA shall resolve reasonable doubt in favor of the claimant. 38 U.S.C. § 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102; Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49 (1990). To deny a claim on its merits, the evidence must preponderate against the claim. Alemany v. Brown, 9 Vet. App. 518 (1996). Here, the Veteran identified three stressors that occurred during service. According to the Veteran, he witnessed sailors die by suicide and he was handcuffed and interrogated regarding a crime he did not commit. Review of the Veteran's military personnel records and service treatment records do not reflect the occurrence of these incidents. Requests to verify the incidents based on the Veteran's reports of the timing and locations were made to the Joint Services Records Research Center (JSRRC). No evidence to support documentation of the claimed stressors was located. Based on the foregoing, while the Veteran has credibly testified as to his experiences in service, the claimed stressors remain unverified by the evidence of record. Where, as here, a Veteran has not served in combat, his or her statements alone generally are insufficient to establish a noncombat stressor. See Sizemore v. Principi, 18 Vet. App. 264, 270 (2004); see also 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f). Further, the Board finds that there is no further development that could be accomplished to attempt to corroborate the Veteran's stressors. As the Veteran's claimed in-service stressors cannot be verified, service connection for PTSD may not be granted, and the claim is denied. S.C. KREMBS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board M. Snyder, 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.