The veteran's claim for service connection for undiagnosed illnesses as due to Persian Gulf War syndrome is denied because he did not serve in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War. The Board also notes that his claim for Lyme disease cannot be granted under current law.
The deciding factor: The veteran's service records do not indicate that he served in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War, and there is no provision in the current law to grant service connection based on association with other veterans who served in that region.
- Claimed conditions
- undiagnosed illnesses as due to Persian Gulf War syndrome, Lyme disease
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 25, 2003
- Citation
- 0332941
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0332941.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for the claimed conditions, finding that they are not related to active duty service or any period of ACDUTRA/INACDUTRA service. The appellant's claims are based on secondary service connection due to a non-service-connected condition (Lyme disease), but the evidence does not support this claim.
- Granted
The Veteran's Lyme disease is granted as service connected, with evidence linking his symptoms to a tick bite during training in 2013.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an initial 60 percent rating for coronary artery disease (CAD), status post myocardial infarction, and a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) effective May 27, 2021.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for a compensable rating for service-connected Lyme disease, TDIU, and SMC based on housebound status due to errors in the previous decision.
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