The Board has remanded the claim of service connection for type II diabetes mellitus due to herbicide exposure, as it requires further action to verify the Veteran's exposure within 12 nautical miles of the Republic of Vietnam.
The deciding factor: Further verification is needed regarding the Veteran's ship assignments and dates, and any additional service personnel records showing the USS Caliente's location during its deployment in the Western Pacific (WESTPAC) cruise from September 1967 to November 1968.
- Claimed conditions
- type II diabetes mellitus
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 29, 2020
- Citation
- 20006437
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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