The Board has remanded the claims for service connection due to the need for a VA examination to determine if the Veteran has recurrent head injury residuals, including TBI residuals and a headache disability. The examination must consider the Veteran's subjective history of injuries during basic training.
The deciding factor: The Court directed that a contemporaneous VA examination is needed to determine whether the Veteran has recurrent head injury residuals, including TBI residuals and a headache disability.
- Claimed conditions
- recurrent head injury residuals, TBI residuals, recurrent headache disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 7, 2026
- Citation
- A26001518
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 A26001518.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for hypertension, recurrent kidney disability, and recurrent headache disability due to a pre-decisional error in failing to provide VA examinations.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the ratings for PTSD and TBI residuals should be separated, but remanded to allow for appropriate re-rating. The SMC benefits at the housebound level are also being remanded due to its inextricability with the rating issues.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's attorney has withdrawn the appeal for direct payment of attorney fees based on past-due benefits awarded in a December 2018 Rating Decision.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's claim for service connection for a kidney condition (claimed as kidney disease and kidney stones) has been dismissed. The claims for TBI residuals, stroke residuals, vertigo, and headache conditions are remanded.
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