The Board has reopened the Veteran's claim for service connection for a left ankle disability and finds that new evidence supports this reopening. The Board also finds sufficient evidence to grant service connection, concluding that it is as likely as not that the current left ankle disorder is causally linked to an in-service injury during basic training.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's credible description of his in-service injury and the VA medical examination reports indicating degenerative changes in his ankle raise a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim for service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- left ankle sprain, degenerative arthritis
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 12, 2010
- Citation
- 1009409
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 1009409.
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
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The appeal seeking service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II, degenerative arthritis, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension was dismissed due to non-compliance with claims processing rules.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for various conditions to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors, including obtaining outstanding Social Security Administration records.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for left shoulder strain and left ankle sprain, finding that the evidence was in approximate balance showing injuries during active duty training (ADT) from August 12, 2023 to August 25, 2023.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for hypogonadism with fatigue, GERD, and a right ear hearing loss disability. The Veteran's left rib disability was denied, and the ratings for his left shoulder injury, left hip bursitis, impairment of the left thigh, left knee retropatellar pain syndrome limitation of extension, and left ankle sprain were either granted or denied with specific rating percentages.
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