The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for service connection for back spasms, hearing loss, and ulcerative colitis due to missing records from his Army Reserve service. The Veteran must provide information about his periods of active duty, ACDUTRA, and INACDUTRA. He also needs a VA examination to determine the nature and etiology of these conditions.
The deciding factor: The Board found that there are gaps in the Veteran's service records due to missing records from his Army Reserve service, which makes it difficult to establish periods of active duty, ACDUTRA, or INACDUTRA. The Veteran needs to provide this information and must undergo a VA examination for each condition.
- Claimed conditions
- back spasms, hearing loss, ulcerative colitis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 24, 2019
- Citation
- 19140466
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,645 · 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 19140466.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hearing loss, tinnitus, and an acquired psychiatric disorder due to incomplete medical records and need for further examination.
- Granted
The Board has reopened the Veteran's claim for service connection for hearing loss and tinnitus. However, it was determined that the Veteran does not have a current disability of bilateral hearing loss or tinnitus for VA purposes, thus denying both claims.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim of entitlement to service connection for a colon condition, including as caused by herbicide agent exposure or secondary to his service-connected disabilities, was denied. The Board found that the evidence did not support a finding of service connection on any basis.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for an initial evaluation in excess of 30 percent for persistent depressive disorder with anxious distress and service connection for ulcerative colitis are being remanded due to the failure to obtain relevant medical records.
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