The Board remands the claim for service connection of a lower back disability to obtain the Veteran's official military personnel file, which may provide evidence relevant to his claims.
The deciding factor: The records are necessary to corroborate the Veteran's reports and may help substantiate his claim. The error in not obtaining these records prior to the decision on appeal must be corrected.
- Claimed conditions
- lower back disability
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 14, 2025
- Citation
- A25043505
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 a lower back disability, finding that the Veteran's current condition had its onset during his service and has progressively worsened since separation.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 70 percent disability rating for PTSD, effective March 8, 2023, but no earlier. Other claims were denied or remanded.
- Dismissed
The appeal for service connection for lower back disability, right shoulder disability, and traumatic brain injury (TBI) was denied due to the untimely filing of the Board Appeal request.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for tinnitus, a lower back disability, residuals of inguinal hernia repair, residuals of umbilical hernia repair, and sinusitis. Service connection was denied for an ulcer, bilateral hearing loss, hypertension, diabetes mellitus type II, and acne.
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