The Board denied the veteran's claims for earlier effective dates and initial ratings, finding that the evidence did not support an earlier date of entitlement or a higher rating.
The deciding factor: The evidence showed no written intent to file claims prior to March 31, 2018, and thus the earliest possible effective date was assigned.
- Claimed conditions
- migraine headaches, ulcerative proctitis, right knee strain, left knee strain, back disability (thoracolumbar degenerative disc disease and lumbosacral strain), neck disability (cervical intervertebral disc syndrome with degenerative arthritis), right upper extremity radiculopathy, left upper extremity radiculopathy, right lower extremity radiculopathy, left lower extremity radiculopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 24, 2025
- Citation
- A25037828
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
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 left knee strain, right knee strain, right wrist strain, and TBI. The Veteran's PTSD rating was remanded for further development.
- Granted
The Veteran's migraine headaches were granted a 50 percent disability rating, effective August 8, 2023, due to very frequent completely prostrating and prolonged attacks that are productive of severe economic inadaptability.
- Granted
The Board granted a 50 percent rating for the Veteran's migraine headaches based on prostrating attacks occurring more than once a month and severe economic inadaptability.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for migraine headaches as proximately due to the Veteran's service-connected tinnitus.
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