The appeal is remanded to the RO for further development and readjudication of the claims.
The deciding factor: Further verification of service on the land mass of the Republic of Vietnam is required, as well as clarification of any Coast Guard service.
- Claimed conditions
- coronary artery disease (claimed as a heart condition), diabetes mellitus Type II
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 10, 2009
- Citation
- 0904703
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,987 · Granted: 15% (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 0904703.
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
Service connection for diabetes mellitus Type II is granted. The Board also found that service connection should be granted for hypertension and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation as secondary to the Veteran's diabetes mellitus.
- Dismissed
The Board has dismissed the appeals for higher ratings of tinnitus, bilateral hearing loss, and right shoulder disability. The Veteran's diabetes mellitus Type II is granted as secondary to his service-connected musculoskeletal disabilities.
- Granted
The Veteran's diabetes mellitus Type II and hypertension are granted as service-connected due to presumptive exposure in Thailand, a location where herbicide agents were presumed to have been present.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient compliance with previous remands and additional development is needed, including research on potential exposure to herbicides and decontamination procedures. The claim for service connection for diabetes mellitus Type II will be reconsidered.
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