Citation Nr: 23014736 Decision Date: 03/10/23 Archive Date: 03/10/23 DOCKET NO. 17-41 254 DATE: March 10, 2023 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps from November 1996 to November 2000 and in the U.S. Army from June 2001 to October 2003. The Veteran was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB). See January 2015 Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a November 2013 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In October 2019, the Board remanded this claim for further development. In November 2021 the Board denied the Veteran's claim, and the Veteran appealed that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). In January 2023, the Court granted the parties' Joint Motion for Remand (JMR), which vacated the November 2021 Board decision and remanded the matter for readjudication. Entitlement to an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD, is remanded. In the Board's November 2021 decision, it was noted that the Veteran reported several stressors, including being ordered to run naked during boot camp and seeing a fellow soldier shoot himself in the foot on purpose. He also reported threatening to kill himself while serving in the Middle East and having a panic attack while getting on a plane to be deployed to Iraq. The Board noted that the Veteran was awarded the CIB and that his combat stressors were conceded. The Veteran's DD 214 reflects that he served in Afghanistan from December 2001 to June 2002. In the January 2023 JMR, the Court cited multiple reasons for vacating the November 2021 Board decision. First, it found the Board did not adequately explain why it assigned low probative value to an August 2003 military psychiatric evaluation. Second, the Board did not provide adequate reasons or bases for its finding that the May 2017 VA examiner's positive nexus opinion was less probative than other nexus opinions. Third, the Board did not provide adequate reasons or bases in support of an adverse credibility finding after finding the Veteran was "an inconsistent historian" and that he did not receive treatment for or report symptoms until around 2009/2010, nor did the Veteran's service treatment records show he had received mental health treatment in service. Fourth, the Court found the Board erred in finding the June 2020 VA examination adequate. Specifically, the June 2020 VA examination was inadequate because it was based on an inaccurate factual premise. In both its October 2019 remand and its decision on appeal, the Board found that the Veteran was subjected to combat stressors that were not addressed in the June 2020 VA examination. See January 2021 CAVC Decision. The Board finds a remand is necessary to obtain any outstanding service personnel records (SPRs) from his period of service in the Army. The Board observes that although SPRs pertaining to his USMC service are of record, SPRs pertaining to his service in the Army are not. This is of particular importance because the Veteran received a CIB as a result of this service. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain any outstanding VA or private treatment records and associate the records with the claims file. 2. Obtain any outstanding service personnel records from his service in the Army from June 2001 to October 2003, to include during his service in Afghanistan from December 2001 to June 2002. 3. Ask the Veteran to identify all PTSD stressors. 4. After the development above has been completed, attempt to verify any non-combat stressors, to include those reported during his May 2017 VA PTSD examination. 5. After the development in 1-4 has been completed, schedule the Veteran for a VA examination to determine the nature and likely etiology of any acquired psychiatric disorder. The claims file and a copy of this remand must be made available to and reviewed by the clinician. Based on the examination and the record, the clinician must address the following: (a.) Identify all current psychiatric disorders. (b.) Opine whether each diagnosed disorder is at least as likely as not related to service. (c.) If the Veteran is diagnosed with PTSD, opine whether it is at least as likely as not related to an in-service stressor and identify the specific stressor to which it has been linked. The Board notes that the Veteran has been awarded CIB and served in Afghanistan from December 2001 to June 2002. (d.) The examiner is asked to consider the February 2002 STRs reflecting assessments of depression and GAD; and August 2003 mental health evaluation with diagnoses of specific phobia, situational type and adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood, chronic. Clear rationales for the opinions would be helpful and a discussion of the facts and medical principles involved would be of considerable assistance to the Board. However, if a requested opinion cannot be provided without resorting to speculation, the examiner should so state and explain why an opinion cannot be provided without resorting to speculation. S. HENEKS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board K. Garey, Attorney-Advisor 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.