The Board has remanded the case due to uncertainty about whether the Veteran was exposed to herbicide agents while serving in Vietnam. The AOJ must determine if the Veteran served within 12 nautical miles of Vietnam and then decide on service connection for type II diabetes mellitus based on this determination.
The deciding factor: The Board is uncertain about the Veteran's exposure status due to a lack of information from the ship’s deck logs, which could indicate whether he was within 12 nautical miles of Vietnam while serving aboard the U.S.S. Coral Sea.
- Claimed conditions
- type II diabetes mellitus
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 9, 2020
- Citation
- 20001344
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 remands the Veteran's claim for an increased rating in excess of 20 percent for type II diabetes mellitus to address a pre-decisional duty to assist error regarding VA not requesting private treatment records.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter of entitlement to service connection for type II diabetes mellitus due to a need for an additional medical opinion.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss and an effective date of October 24, 2022, for obstructive sleep apnea. Other claims were denied or remanded.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for type II diabetes mellitus, finding no evidence of the condition during service or within a year of discharge and no link to in-service exposure.
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