The veteran's appeal is being remanded for additional development, including obtaining information from the National Personnel Records Center and the Marine Corps Historical Center.
The deciding factor: Further efforts are needed to confirm whether the veteran's unit sustained casualties or incoming fire during service.
- Claimed conditions
- post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT), liver disorder, peripheral neuropathy
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 28, 2004
- Citation
- 0402552
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. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0402552.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include unspecified depressive disorder with social anxiety disorder and PTSD, resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for spinal stenosis, peripheral neuropathy, and bilateral lower extremity radiculopathy to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for PTSD to be readjudicated on the merits due to new and relevant evidence.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for sleep apnea and an initial rating in excess of 50 percent for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as the evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were related to or caused by the Veteran's military service.
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