The Veteran's recurrent depression is related to his service patrolling the coast of Cuba, including Guantanamo Bay. The Board has granted service connection for this condition.
The deciding factor: The Veteran provided credible testimony and a competent medical opinion linking his depressive symptoms to his in-service experiences.
- Claimed conditions
- recurrent depression
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 15, 2020
- Citation
- 20066891
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,549 · 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 20066891.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that a remand is necessary to obtain an addendum medical opinion and to obtain any outstanding treatment records from Dr. Levi Kirkland.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient evidence regarding the relationship between the Veteran's current psychiatric conditions and her in-service insomnia. The Veteran will be given another opportunity for a VA examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran seeks service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD. The Board finds that additional development is needed to fully and fairly adjudicate this issue.
- Denied
The Board has denied the claim of service connection for major affective illness, recurrent depression, heel spurs, and right leg pain due to a character of discharge under conditions other than honorable.
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