The Board has granted the Veteran's claims for service connection for cervical neck degenerative joint disease and low back degenerative joint disease, finding that these conditions are at least as likely as not related to his time in service as a fighter pilot.
The deciding factor: The VA examiners and private physicians provided opinions linking the Veteran’s current conditions to his military service, with reasonable doubt resolved in favor of the Veteran.
- Claimed conditions
- cervical neck, degenerative joint disease, status post anterior discectomy with fusion and residuals, lumbar spine, degenerative joint disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 11, 2019
- Citation
- 19153555
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,456 · Granted: 23% (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 19153555.
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.
- Partly granted
The Board has granted restoration of a 40 percent rating for the Veteran's lumbar spine disability, effective July 1, 2020. The issue of an increased rating in excess of 40 percent remains on appeal.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found that additional development is necessary due to the inadequacy of a previous VA examination, and thus remands the case for further action.
- Partly granted
The Board has found that the Veteran's claims for service connection for a hernia disability and a headache disability are reopened, but further development is needed to determine their etiology.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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