The Board remands the claims for service connection for various conditions, including facial injury with six teeth missing, sinus disability, right eye injury, traumatic brain injury (TBI), bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, acquired psychiatric disability, cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes mellitus type II, and cause of death, as well as Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1318, to the AOJ for further development.
The deciding factor: The claims must be remanded because there is no evidence in the claims file that the AOJ fulfilled its duty to assist through sufficiently attempting to locate records related to the Veteran's alleged beating during basic training in 1968 and his need to repeat basic training due to injuries sustained from this incident.
- Claimed conditions
- Facial injury with six teeth missing, Sinus disability, Right eye injury, Traumatic brain injury (TBI), Bilateral hearing loss, Tinnitus, Acquired psychiatric disability, to include major depressive disorder (MDD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Cirrhosis of the liver, Diabetes mellitus type II (DM II), Cause of the Veteran's death, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1318
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 29, 2025
- Citation
- 25007285
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 105 · Granted: 19% (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 25007285.
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 service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's current conditions are not related to his military service.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for a low back disorder was reopened, and his claims for increased ratings of bilateral knee instability were granted. His hearing loss claim was denied.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for a higher rating for PTSD and dismissed his appeals regarding increased ratings for tinnitus and a right hand disability due to lack of timely filing of Notice of Disagreement.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions, including GAD, MDD, bruxism, migraines/headaches, tinnitus, hip pain, iliotibial band syndrome, and leg stress fractures. The evidence does not support current diagnoses of these conditions during the appeal period.
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