The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for unspecified trauma and stressor-related disorder, finding that a nexus between his military service and his mental health condition was established based on evidence of a military sexual assault during service.
The deciding factor: The VA medical opinions found markers for evidence of military sexual trauma including the Veteran's request for an STD checkup and his drug use in service and subsequent discharge from service, which corroborated a military sexual assault occurred in 1983.
- Claimed conditions
- unspecified trauma and stressor-related disorder
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 17, 2026
- Citation
- A26013998
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 A26013998.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for unspecified trauma and stressor-related disorder and unspecified depressive disorder with an effective date of September 23, 2011. The decision is based on newly received service medical records that were not available when the original claim was decided in January 2013.
- Granted
The Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder, unspecified trauma and stressor-related disorder, is granted as service connected due to in-service exposure.
- Denied
The Veteran's appeal for an increased rating and earlier effective dates was denied. The Veteran is currently rated at 70 percent for his service-connected unspecified trauma and stressor-related disorder (acquired psychiatric disorder) with no higher ratings granted.
- Granted
The Veteran's unspecified trauma and stressor-related disorder is rated at 50 percent for the entire period on appeal, with symptoms resulting in occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity.
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