The Board has remanded the case due to uncertainty regarding the Veteran's exposure to Agent Orange and his service in Vietnam waters. Further development is needed, including obtaining deck logs from the USS Davis and verifying if the ship was within 12 nautical miles of the Republic of Vietnam during the Veteran's service.
The deciding factor: The Board found that there is uncertainty regarding the Veteran's exposure to Agent Orange due to conflicting information about his exact dates of service aboard the USS Davis in Vietnam waters. The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019 requires further development to determine if he was exposed to herbicides while in the territorial sea of the Republic of Vietnam.
- Claimed conditions
- ischemic heart disease
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Agent Orange / herbicides
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 16, 2020
- Citation
- 20003869
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,350 · Granted: 26% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed 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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 20003869.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a heart condition, including ischemic heart disease. The evidence did not support a finding of a current disability related to service.
- Granted
The Veteran's ischemic heart disease is granted as presumptively related to his service in the Gulf War, specifically aboard the USS Chanticleer and USS Mataco.
- 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 claim for a heart disability prior to his death is granted as he was entitled to accrued benefits due to the September 1994 claim, which included ischemic heart disease, a covered herbicide disease.
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