Citation Nr: A25041293
Decision Date: 05/06/25	Archive Date: 05/06/25

DOCKET NO. 210127-131523
DATE: May 6, 2025

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran has active service from February 1997 to February 2001.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

In the January 2021 VA Form 10182, Decision Review Request: Board Appeal (Notice of Disagreement), the Veteran elected the Direct Review docket.

Therefore, the Board may only consider the evidence of record at the time of the May 2019 agency of original jurisdiction (AOJ) decision, which was subsequently subject to higher-level review. 38 C.F.R. § 20.301. If evidence was submitted during the period after the AOJ issued the decision, which was subsequently subject to higher-level review the Board did not consider it in its decision. 38 C.F.R. §§ 20.300, 20.301, 20.801. 

Evidence was added to the claims file during a period of time when new evidence was not allowed.  As the Board is remanding the claim for further development, this additional evidence will be considered by the RO in the adjudication of those claims.

1. Entitlement to service connection for an acquired psychiatric disability including PTSD.

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR RO ADJUDICATOR:

This claim is being remanded due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error. See 38 C.F.R. § 20.802(a). 

The Board notes that the AOJ attempted to obtain information from the Veteran pertaining to his reported in-service stressor of witnessing another soldier killed or severely injured while on leave in a Mediterranean port sometime between 1998 and 2000; however, because the Veteran did not provide a more specific 60 day time window, the AOJ determined it could not send a request for subsequent research. VA cannot limit the request for stressor verification records to a 60-day window and must make requests for multiple 60-day windows when necessary. See Gagne v. McDonald, 27 Vet. App. 397, 403-04 (2015). Accordingly, a remand is necessary to comply with VA's duty to assist.

THE REMAND DIRECTIVES FOLLOW

1. Develop through official sources the Veteran's reported in-service stressor of witnessing a soldier die or be severely injured in a boating accident somewhere in the Mediterranean in between 1998 and 2000 while he served aboard a USN ship. If necessary, submit multiple 60-day window requests as needed to cover the entire time the Veteran reported the incident could have occurred.

2. Readjudicate. 

 

Jennifer White

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	D. MacTavish, 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.