The Board remands the claims for an earlier effective date for service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia as well as the claim for entitlement to an earlier effective date for the grant of eligibility for Dependents' Educational Assistance under 38 USC Chapter 35, so that the RO may first consider the Veteran's contentions related to clear and unmistakable error in the July 12, 1982, rating decision on appeal.
The deciding factor: The Board finds that remand is necessary due to a pre-decisional duty-to-assist error when it failed to consider the Veteran's motion for reconsideration based on clear and unmistakable error in its April 2023 decision.
- Claimed conditions
- Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Schizophrenia
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 31, 2025
- Citation
- A25029193
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.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for PTSD, resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor and finding that his PTSD is related to an in-service military sexual trauma (MST) during a period of ACDUTRA.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an effective date of May 17, 2019, for a 70 percent disability rating for PTSD but denied earlier effective dates for service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus.
- Partly granted
The Board granted readjudication of previously denied claims for service connection for PTSD and COPD, while remanding other issues including entitlement to service connection for an eye disorder, hypertension, tinnitus, a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss, TDIU, and an initial rating for PTSD.
- Denied
The appeal for service connection for PTSD was dismissed, and the claims for a compensable rating for the lower back scar, service connection for COPD, and peripheral artery disease were denied.
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