The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient medical nexus opinions regarding the Veteran's current pulmonary disability and his exposure during service in the Gulf War. The Veteran needs a new opinion from a VA examiner to determine if his current condition is related to his active duty service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner must consider the Veteran’s history of smoking and environmental exposures during service, including dust, soot from a brick factory, and smoke from trash burning, in the Persian Gulf War.
- Claimed conditions
- mild obstructive defect (claimed as pulmonary function disease)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- Gulf War
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 11, 2019
- Citation
- 19102575
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,592 · Granted: 19% (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 19102575.
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
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