The Board dismissed the Veteran's appeal for service connection of a back disability and denied his claim for service connection of an acquired psychiatric disability, including PTSD. The Board found that there was no credible evidence to support the Veteran's claimed in-service stressors and concluded that the preponderance of the evidence is against the claim.
The deciding factor: The Board determined that the Veteran's reported history of sexual assault during service was not credible and did not have corroborating evidence, leading to a finding that there were no verified stressors for PTSD. The Board also found that the Veteran had a history of drug use in service which could explain his current psychiatric symptoms.
- Claimed conditions
- Back disability, Acquired psychiatric disability (including Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)]
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 16, 2018
- Citation
- 18102834
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 18102834.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection of a back disability, finding that there was no evidence to support a nexus between his current condition and active duty service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claim for a back disability due to incomplete service records and failure to consider all available evidence, including in-service treatment records from F.E. Warren Air Force Base.
- Granted
The Veteran's rating for residuals status post lumbar fusion was reduced from 40 percent to 20 percent effective October 25, 2023. The reduction was granted as there was no evidence of actual improvement in the Veteran's condition prior to this date.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for service connection for a back disability is being remanded due to duty-to-assist errors and the need for a VA examination.
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