92 Decision Citation: BVA 92-28486 Y92 BOARD OF VETERANS' APPEALS WASHINGTON, D.C. 20420 DOCKET NO. 92-01 427 ) DATE ) ) ) THE ISSUE Entitlement to service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: Disabled American Veterans ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD C. L. Mason, Associate Counsel INTRODUCTION This matter came before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a July 1990 rating determination from the New York, New York, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The veteran served on active duty in the Armed Forces from April 1962 to April 1971. A notice of disagreement was received on February 11, 1991. A statement of the case was issued on July 11, 1991. A supplemental statement of the case was issued on December 16, 1991. A substantive appeal was received on January 9, 1992. The case was received at the Board on March 3, 1992, and docketed on March 6, 1992. The veteran is represented by Disabled American Veterans, and that organization submitted a written argument to the Board on April 15, 1992. The case is now before the Board for appellate consideration. CONTENTIONS OF APPELLANT ON APPEAL The veteran essentially contends that his alcoholism was his attempt to alleviate the symptoms of his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He maintains that his combat service including near misses with death in his unit's area of operation meets the provisions of 38 U.S.C.A. § 1154 (West 1991) and M21-1, paragraph 50.45e, that any veteran who engaged in combat with the enemy during a period of war and claimed a stressor related thereto should be service connected. DECISION OF THE BOARD In accordance with the provisions of 38 U.S.C.A. § 7104 (West 1991), following review and consideration of all the evidence and material of record in the veteran's claims folder, and for the following reasons and bases, it is the decision of the Board that the veteran's claim for service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder is not warranted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. A chronic acquired psychiatric disorder was not shown during the veteran's active service or for many years thereafter. 2. The veteran is not shown to have been exposed to a psychologically traumatic event during service of such magnitude as to evoke significant symptoms of stress in most people. 3. The veteran's current psychiatric symptoms do not have their origins in any psychologically traumatic incident experienced during service. CONCLUSION OF LAW An acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD, was neither incurred in nor aggravated by the veteran's military service. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1110, 1131 (West 1991); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.304 and 4.126 (1991). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS Service connection is appropriate when a veteran has disability as a result of disease or injury incurred in or aggravated during service. 38 U.S.C.A. § 1110 (West 1991). PTSD can result when a person has experienced an event that is outside the range of usual human experience, and that would be markedly distressing to almost anyone. The traumatic event is then persistently reexperienced, the individual persistently avoids stimuli associated with the trauma or exhibits numbing of general responsiveness and exhibits persistent symptoms of increased arousal. American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, at 247-51 (3rd ed. 1987) (DSM-III-R). The DSM-III-R provides that an essential diagnostic criterion for PTSD is the existence of a recognizable stressor. Service connection will not be established for PTSD on the basis of a diagnosis unsupported by credible evidence of an inservice stressor of sufficient gravity to evoke significant symptoms in almost anyone. The question of whether a specific event reported by a veteran as a stressor is a question of fact for the Board to decide involving, as it does, factors as much historical as psychological. Thus, the Board is not bound to accept the opinion or conclusion of a psychiatrist or any other person as to this fact question, merely because of their reported expertise in a particular field. The Board observes that the veteran served on active duty in Vietnam as an electrician. The veteran has not made any specific contentions regarding any specific stressor(s) he experienced during service other than being stationed in a war zone. The Board reviewed the veteran's personnel records for his period of active duty. These records reveal that the veteran was sent to Vietnam for approximately eight days in early November 1966, served in Vietnam from November 30, 1966, to August 2, 1967, and returned for a short period of time, approximately four days in October 1969. The records reveal that he was an electrician, although it is noted that his additional specialty was rifleman. The record reveals that the veteran received the Vietnam Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Medal as well as a good conduct medal; however, he did not receive any combat medals. On several occasions, the veteran has given a history of being assigned to an engineering unit where he worked wiring bridges for lighting and digging wells, and stated that he saw the aftermath of much combat. After the veteran's initial claim for PTSD was filed in February 1990, the RO, in April 1990, requested that he submit evidence in support of his PTSD claim including significant stressors experienced during service. The veteran did not provide any specific stressors. Upon review of the veteran's service medical records, it is noted that he was hospitalized and treated twice during military service for possible conversion reactions, once in September 1964 after drinking approximately eight or ten beers and collapsing claiming total right side paralysis, and again in March 1967, after falling, claiming paralysis. The September 1964 hospitalization was prior to service in Vietnam, and a psychiatric evaluation was performed at that time. Upon discharge his psychiatric evaluation was normal. Further, VA medical records reveal that the veteran was first diagnosed with PTSD after a VA neuropsychiatric examination in April 1990, in which the psychiatrist relied on the veteran's statements of what he experienced during service. The diagnoses also included alcohol abuse as well as dysthymia. A second diagnosis of PTSD was made by the Albany, New York, VA Medical Center (VAMC) in December 1990, and alcohol abuse was again noted. It appears that the diagnosis was made on the basis of the veteran's reported symptoms of PTSD, and no significant stressor or stressors were reported. The Board notes that these diagnoses were made almost 20 years after the veteran was discharged from active duty. The Board notes that just because a physician or other health professional accepted the veteran's description of his Vietnam experiences and diagnosed the veteran as suffering from PTSD due to his reported symptoms, it does not mean that the Board is required to grant service connection for PTSD. Wilson v. Derwinski, U.S. Vet. App. No. 91-169 (July 22, 1992). Further, the United States Court of Veterans Appeals (Court) held that the Board has the duty to assess the credibility and weight to be given to evidence and that such assessments will be overturned only if "clearly erroneous." Wood v. Derwinski, 1 Vet.App. 190, 193 (1991). Further, as previously mentioned, the veteran was requested to submit evidence supporting his claim for PTSD in an April 1990 letter, but he did not provide a specific stressor(s) experienced during his period of Vietnam duty. The Court stated in Wood v. Derwinski, 1 Vet.App. 406 (1991), "that the duty to assist is not always a one-way street." The veteran must cooperate with the VA in obtaining relevant evidence necessary for his claim. The VA's duty to assist the veteran was accomplished when he was asked to provide specific evidence, but did not do so. Thus, no further assistance is required to comply with the duty to assist set forth in 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107(a) (West 1991). After a thorough review of all the evidence as required by 38 U.S.C.A. § 1154 (West 1991), including places, types, and circumstances of the veteran's service, a history of his units, his medical records, and all pertinent medical evidence, the Board concludes that a stressor or stressors were nonexistent. The Board observes that the veteran has contended that the provisions of M21-1, paragraph 50.45e (now found in M21-1, Part VI, Section 7.46, Change 2 May 28, 1992) are also applicable. It basically states that, if the evidence shows that the veteran engaged in combat with the enemy and claimed a stressor related thereto, no further development for evidence was necessary. In the instant case, the evidence of record does not show that the veteran engaged in combat with the enemy, only that he served in Vietnam during the period of hostilities. Accordingly, in view of these findings, the Board has concluded that the diagnostic criteria for "PTSD" are not met, and that service connection for that disorder is denied. ORDER The appeal is denied. BOARD OF VETERANS' APPEALS WASHINGTON, D.C. 20420 G. H. SHUFELT C. D. ROMO 38 U.S.C.A. § 7102(a)(2)(A) (West 1991) permits a Board of Veterans' Appeals Section, upon direction of the Chairman of the Board, to proceed with the transaction of business without awaiting assignment of an additional Member to the Section when the Section is composed of fewer than three Members due to absence of a Member, vacancy on the Board or inability of the Member assigned to the Section to serve on the panel. The Chairman has directed that the Section proceed with the transaction of business, including the issuance of decisions, without awaiting the assignment of a third Member. NOTICE OF APPELLATE RIGHTS: Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7266 (West 1991), a decision of the Board of Veterans' Appeals granting less than the complete benefit, or benefits, sought on appeal is appealable to the United States Court of Veterans Appeals within 120 days from the date of mailing of notice of the decision, provided that a Notice of Disagreement concerning an issue which was before the Board was filed with the agency of original jurisdiction on or after November 18, 1988. Veterans' Judicial Review Act, Pub. L. No. 100-687, § 402 (1988). The date which appears on the face of this decision constitutes the date of mailing and the copy of this decision which you have received is your notice of the action taken on your appeal by the Board of Veterans' Appeals.