The Board has remanded the case due to a change in law regarding herbicide exposure and the need to determine if the Veteran served offshore of the Republic of Vietnam. The claim for service connection will be reconsidered with these new findings.
The deciding factor: The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019 changed the relevant regulations, necessitating a reevaluation of the Veteran's herbicide exposure status and its impact on his diabetes mellitus claim.
- Claimed conditions
- diabetes mellitus
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 3, 2020
- Citation
- 20000522
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,429 · Granted: 29% (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 20000522.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, prostate cancer, visual impairment, hypertension, and erectile dysfunction due to lack of exposure to herbicide agents during service. The Veteran's claims were not granted.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for service connection on the merits are being remanded due to new evidence and development needs. The maximum disability rating for tinnitus has already been assigned.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, prostate cancer, ischemic heart disease, right lower extremity peripheral artery disease, left lower extremity peripheral artery disease, and hypertension as the evidence did not establish an in-service event or exposure to herbicide agents.
- Granted
The Veteran's Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) based on the need for regular Aid and Attendance is granted as of April 25, 2024.,For diabetes mellitus, a rating in excess of 20 percent is denied.
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