The Board has reopened the veteran's claim for service connection due to new and material evidence provided, including statements from individuals who witnessed his alleged back injury during active duty training (ADT) in Egypt. The issue will be remanded to obtain additional medical records and personnel records.
The deciding factor: New and material evidence was submitted that linked the veteran's reported ADT injury with his subsequent back condition requiring surgery, raising a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim.
- Claimed conditions
- residuals of a back injury, postoperative residuals, L5-S1 hemilaminectomy and diskectomy with L5-S1 transverse process fusion
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- February 15, 2006
- Citation
- 0604301
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,175 · Granted: 22% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0604301.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board allowed the benefit or issue identified in this decision. Review the original order: other issues in the same appeal may have a different outcome, and this decision does not predict another claim.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied service connection for residuals of a back injury, head injury, and neck injury as the evidence did not support that these injuries occurred during or while traveling from active duty.
- Whole decision: Denied
The Board denied an initial rating in excess of 20 percent for residuals of a back injury and an effective date earlier than May 26, 2023, for the award of service connection for residuals of a back injury.
- Whole decision: Dismissed
The Board dismissed the Veteran's claims for service connection for migraines and residuals of a back injury due to untimely notice of disagreement.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for residuals of back, head, and neck injuries due to incomplete efforts in obtaining the Veteran's National Guard service records.
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