The Veteran's appeals for increased ratings and SMC were dismissed as the requests were made concurrently, violating the rules on concurrent elections.
The deciding factor: The Veteran filed both a request for Higher-Level Review (HLR) and a Board Appeal (Notice of Disagreement) within one year of the April 2025 rating decision, which violated the rules allowing only one review option per issue at that time.
- Claimed conditions
- persistent depressive disorder with anxious distress, unspecified trauma and stressor related disorder, alcohol use disorder, unspecified insomnia disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 29, 2026
- Citation
- A26008826
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 A26008826.
What this means for you
A dismissal means the Board did not decide the issue on its merits — usually because it was withdrawn or had become moot. It says more about procedure than about whether a claim like this can win.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected PTSD, major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, insomnia and alcohol use disorder caused his sleep apnea.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood, along with alcohol use disorder, has been granted a 100% evaluation effective from April 8, 2021. The disability causes total occupational and social impairment.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for an initial evaluation in excess of 30 percent for persistent depressive disorder with anxious distress and service connection for ulcerative colitis are being remanded due to the failure to obtain relevant medical records.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD and alcohol use disorder, finding that there is no current diagnosis of PTSD and that the Veteran's only diagnosed condition is alcohol use disorder. The Board also found that service connection cannot be granted due to willful misconduct.
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