The Veteran's claims for service connection are being remanded due to the need for verification of his periods of National Guard and Reserve service, as well as additional medical records. A VA examination is also needed to address the etiology of his hearing loss and tinnitus.
The deciding factor: Verification of the Veteran's periods of active duty, active duty for training, and inactive duty for training is required to establish service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- left ear hearing loss, tinnitus, diabetes mellitus, type II
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 26, 2010
- Citation
- 1019499
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 1019499.
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for asthma and remanded claims for insomnia and sleep apnea. Other conditions were denied.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew the appeals for service connection for bilateral pes planus, obstructive sleep apnea, bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 20 percent disability rating for left and right lower extremity radiculopathy from April 3, 2023 onward, but denied higher ratings prior to that date. Service connection was also granted for alcohol use disorder as secondary to PTSD with traumatic brain injury.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for tinnitus to correct a duty to assist error, as the Veteran's lay statements regarding onset and continuity of symptoms were not adequately considered in the previous decision.
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