The veteran seeks service connection for PTSD, claiming it was caused by witnessing the death of a student recruit at Chanute Air Force Base. The Board finds insufficient evidence to verify this stressor and requests further development including verification of the incident and VA outpatient records.
The deciding factor: Insufficient verification of the reported stressor related to the veteran's service in Vietnam.
- Claimed conditions
- Acquired psychiatric disorder, to include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 5, 2005
- Citation
- 0500203
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 541 · Granted: 32% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 0500203.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, to include PTSD, due to an inadequate VA medical examination and opinion.
- Dismissed
The appeal for service connection of a psychiatric disorder, including PTSD, is dismissed due to the Veteran's death.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided that the case needs further development due to the need to verify the Veteran's reported stressor events. The claim will be returned to the RO for this purpose.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for further development, including scheduling a VA psychiatric and Aid and Attendance/Housebound examination to determine the current nature of any diagnosed psychiatric condition and whether the Veteran is housebound due to his PTSD. The SMP claim will be readjudicated based on this new evidence.
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