Citation Nr: 22011733
Decision Date: 03/01/22	Archive Date: 03/01/22

DOCKET NO. 20-18 048
DATE: March 1, 2022

ORDER

Entitlement to service connection for a cervical spine disability, to include degenerative disc disease (DDD), cervicalgia, and spondylosis with radicular pain, is granted.

FINDING OF FACT

The Veteran has experienced neck pain related to cervical DDD since his separation from service.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

The criteria for entitlement to service connection for a cervical spine disability are met.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1112, 1113, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran served on active duty from July 2002 to November 2009.

This appeal comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) from a December 2018 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

In February 2022, the Veteran testified at a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge.  Based on the grant of benefits, the Board finds that it need not wait until the transcript is made a part of the claims file.  A transcript of the hearing will be associated with the claims file at a later time.

Entitlement to service connection for a cervical spine disability is granted. 

The Veteran contends he has a cervical spine disability caused by his duties as a paratrooper during service.  The Board agrees.  

Certain chronic diseases will be presumed related to service if they were shown as chronic in service; or, if they manifested to a compensable degree within a presumptive period following separation from service; or, if they were noted in service, with continuity of symptomatology since service that is attributable to the chronic disease.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1112, 1113, 1137; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309.  Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331, 1338 (Fed. Cir. 2013).

The Veteran has a current diagnosis of DDD as evidenced by a November 2017 private treatment record.  Arthritis is an enumerated condition under 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(a); Walker, 708 F.3d 1331.  

Service treatment records show the Veteran complained of recurrent back pain and neck stiffness and achiness upon service separation.  

Post-service, private treatment records show that he continued to complain of and seek treatment for the same symptoms beginning in at least 2011, and for years after.  The Veteran has asserted that his neck pain began while performing his duties as a paratrooper and he did not seek treatment for his neck during service because he did not want to be excluded from parachuting.  The Board finds his statements are credible and entitled to probative weight, as they are internally consistent and consistent with other evidence of record, which shows that the Veteran was awarded a parachutist badge, fellow service members recounted the Veteran's reports of neck and back pain following ruck marches and a parachute jump during service and his separation report of medical history noted he complained of neck and back pain upon separation.  Accordingly, service connection for a cervical spine disability is warranted.

 

 

K.A. KENNERLY

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	K. McDuffie, 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.