The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims of service connection for a back disability and a respiratory disability due to insufficient evidence in the record. The Veteran served on active duty from January 1966 to May 1969.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found that the current back disability is more likely related to post-service employment rather than military service, while the respiratory disabilities are not currently diagnosed and may be due to error in previous diagnoses. The Board requires further examination to address these issues.
- Claimed conditions
- Back disability, Respiratory disability (asbestosis, pulmonary fibrosis)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 6, 2021
- Citation
- 21062096
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,863 · Granted: 26% (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 21062096.
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 the Veteran's claim for service connection of a back disability, finding that there was no evidence to support a nexus between his current condition and active duty service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the Veteran's claim for a back disability due to incomplete service records and failure to consider all available evidence, including in-service treatment records from F.E. Warren Air Force Base.
- Granted
The Veteran's rating for residuals status post lumbar fusion was reduced from 40 percent to 20 percent effective October 25, 2023. The reduction was granted as there was no evidence of actual improvement in the Veteran's condition prior to this date.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for service connection for a back disability is being remanded due to duty-to-assist errors and the need for a VA examination.
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