The Board denied an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for PTSD, finding that a timely substantive appeal was not received and thus the March 2009 SOC became final.

The deciding factor: The presumption of regularity in VA's execution of its official duties was not rebutted, and the Veteran did not provide clear evidence that he timely filed his substantive appeal within the one-year period following the mailing of the SOC.

Claimed conditions

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

How they argued it

Direct service connection

Exposure basis

None

Rating assigned

None in this decision

Decision date

October 1, 2025

Citation

A25084915

Want to see how appeals like this one tend to go? Appeals like mine