The Board has granted service connection for degenerative disc disease of the lumbosacral spine, postoperative status, and denied service connection for PTSD. The veteran's low back disability is found to be related to in-service parachute jumps, while his PTSD claim was not supported by credible evidence of an in-service stressor.
The deciding factor: The VA physician provided a medical opinion linking the veteran's current back disability to a parachute accident during military service, which resolved the issue in favor of the veteran. For PTSD, the Board found insufficient evidence to corroborate the occurrence of the claimed stressors related to combat experience.
- Claimed conditions
- degenerative disc disease of the lumbosacral spine, postoperative status, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 11, 2006
- Citation
- 0628802
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,377 · Granted: 17% (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 0628802.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
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