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Granted

The veteran's PTSD is productive of occupational and social impairment, with deficiencies in most areas, including work, family relations and mood, difficulty in adapting to stressful circumstances, persistent nightmares, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts and an inability to establish and maintain effective relationships. The Board finds that the evidence supports the assignment of a 70 percent rating.

The deciding factor: The veteran's PTSD symptoms clearly played a major role in his long-lasting and nearly debilitating functional difficulties, although not the only contributors. It was noted that the veteran's drinking and drug use were powerfully implicated in the veteran's functional difficulties and were likely as manifestation of his PTSD.

Claimed conditions
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
How they argued it
Direct service connection
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
70%
Decision date
January 23, 2009
Citation
0902442

Veterans Law Judge

STEVEN D. REISS

Decisions by this judge: 3,217 · Granted: 46% (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 0902442.

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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