BVA9505269 DOCKET NO. 92-07 396 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Providence, Rhode Island THE ISSUE Entitlement to service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: Disabled American Veterans WITNESSES AT HEARING ON APPEAL The appellant and his wife ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD James A. Frost, Associate Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran served on active duty from September 1966 to September 1969. This appeal arose from a rating decision in October 1990 by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Providence, Rhode Island. In March 1994, the Board of Veterans' Appeals (the Board) remanded this case to the RO for further development of the evidence. The case was returned to the Board in January 1995. CONTENTIONS OF APPELLANT ON APPEAL The veteran contends that he has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He states that he feared for his life when he was in the Republic of Vietnam and experienced several stressful incidents while there. DECISION OF THE BOARD The Board, in accordance with the provisions of 38 U.S.C.A. § 7104 (West 1991), has reviewed and considered all of the evidence and material of record in the veteran's claims file. Based on its review of the relevant evidence in this matter, and for the following reasons and bases, it is the decision of the Board that the preponderance of the evidence is against the veteran's claim. FINDING OF FACT The record does not corroborate that the veteran has post- traumatic stress disorder. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder are not met. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1110, 5107 (West 1991); 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f) (1994). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION Initially, the Board notes that the veteran's claim is "well grounded" within the meaning of 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107(a). That is, he has presented a claim which is plausible. The Board is also satisfied that all relevant facts have been properly developed. No further assistance to the veteran is required to comply with the duty to assist the veteran mandated by 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107(a). The veteran's service medical records are negative for any complaint, diagnosis or treatment of psychiatric illness. His Form DD-214 shows that his military occupational specialties were general vehicle repairman and automobile mechanic. His service personnel file shows that his duty assignment in the Republic of Vietnam was vehicle repairman. In February 1990 the veteran asserted claim of entitlement to service connection for PTSD. In October 1989, he had seen Robert Nadol, M.D., a private physician, for complaints of back pain. At that time the veteran stated that he had served in Vietnam for 20 months and had been in constant fear of being killed. His primary assignment was not combat-related, but he claimed to have gone on search and destroy missions and to have had guard duty on the perimeter of the base, where some of his friends were killed. In the statement received at the RO in April 1990, the veteran stated that he had experienced a stressful incident in Vietnam in January 1968. He was on guard duty in the mountains above the base where he worked as a mechanic. He and another soldier were then transferred to a coastal base. During the Tet Offensive, their replacements were killed by the enemy. He also mentioned that places that he served had come under enemy attack. He said, "I could tell you a lot more traumatic experiences." At a VA psychiatric examination in July 1990, the veteran gave a history of 20 months of service in Vietnam, where his job was to repair motor vehicles. After service he saw a psychiatrist when he became depressed over physical problems. He had taken antidepressant medication for a while but stopped because of side effects. He indicated that he could not work due to a back problem and that he had feelings of hopelessness and thoughts of suicide. He stated that serving on guard duty in the mountains of Vietnam bothered him because a friend had been killed there. He had dreams of bullets ripping through his chest, but that had never actually happened. He gave a history of prior dependence on alcohol and pain medication but denied current substance abuse. On mental status examination, his mood was slightly depressed. He had no cognitive impairments. Insight was fairly good and judgment was intact. Recent and remote memory were intact. The diagnoses were dysthymia and opiate abuse, in remission. The examiner remarked that the veteran did not have enough PTSD symptomatology to meet the criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD. He did not have the entire syndrome of PTSD. At a personal hearing in April 1991 the veteran reiterated the particulars of his April 1990 statement and elaborated on the feelings of fear which he had had in Vietnam when he thought he was in danger. In August 1991 a VA clinical psychologist, who was the coordinator of a PTSD project at a VA medical center, reported that psychological testing of the veteran, including the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and PTSD subscales, was consistent with a diagnosis of PTSD. In the psychologist's opinion, the veteran's symptoms met the criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD. A provisional diagnosis of PTSD was made. Additional diagnoses included alcohol abuse, opiate abuse and rule out major depression. Service connection may be granted for disability resulting from injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by service. 38 U.S.C.A. § 1110. Applicable regulations provide that service connection for PTSD requires medical evidence establishing a clear diagnosis of the condition, credible supporting evidence that the claimed inservice stressor actually occurred and a link, established by medical evidence, between current symptomatology and the claimed inservice stressor. If the claimed stressor is related to combat, service department evidence that the veteran engaged in combat or that he was awarded the Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge or a similar combat citation will be accepted, the absence of evidence to the contrary, as conclusive evidence of the claimed inservice stressor. 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f). In the veteran's case, the Board finds that he did not engage in combat with the enemy in Vietnam. The United States Court of Veterans Appeals (the Court) has held that, where VA determines that a veteran did not engage in combat with the enemy, the veteran's lay testimony, by itself, will not be enough to establish the occurrence of the alleged stressor(s). Instead, the record must contain service records which corroborate the veteran's testimony as to the occurrence of the claimed stressor(s). West v. Brown, 7 Vet.App. 70, 79 (1994). The record in this case does not contain any official confirmation of the veteran's assertions and testimony concerning his alleged stressors in Vietnam. Consequently, by decision in March 1994, the Board remanded this case to the RO and requested that the RO ask the veteran to provide a complete detailed description of the specific traumatic incidents which he claims produced the stress resulting in PTSD, including the dates and places the incidents occurred and the unit (division, regiment, battalion, company) to which he was assigned at the time of each incident and, if the incidents involved the death of one or more of his friends, the names of those individuals. Any such information provided by the veteran was to be submitted to the United States Army and Joint Services Environmental Support Group with a request that official records be searched in an attempt to verify the claimed incidents. On June 1, 1994, the RO wrote to the veteran at his address of record and requested the specific information about his claimed stressors needed for an attempt to verify his allegations. The RO's letter was not returned by the United States Postal Service as undeliverable. The veteran did not respond to the request for information, and his case was returned to the Board in January 1995. VA's duty to assist a veteran in the development of facts pertinent to his claim, mandated by 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107(a), is not a "one-way street", particularly when it is the veteran who has the putative evidence which should be considered in the adjudication of his claim. Wood v. Derwinski, 1 Vet.App. 190 (1991). As there is at this time no "credible supporting evidence" of record that any of the alleged stressful incidents actually occurred, service connection for PTSD is not established. 38 U.S.C.A. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f). While the Board has considered the doctrine of affording the veteran the benefit of any existing doubt with regard to the issue on appeal, the record does not demonstrate an approximate balance of positive or negative evidence as to warrant resolution of this matter on that basis. 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107(b). ORDER Service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder is denied. ALBERT D. TUTERA Member, Board of Veterans' Appeals The Board of Veterans' Appeals Administrative Procedures Improvement Act, Pub. L. No. 103-271, § 6, 108 Stat. 740, ___ (1994), permits a proceeding instituted before the Board to be assigned to an individual member of the Board for a determination. This proceeding has been assigned to an individual member of the Board. NOTICE OF APPELLATE RIGHTS: Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7266 (West 1991), a decision of the Board of Veterans' Appeals granting less than the complete benefit, or benefits, sought on appeal is appealable to the United States Court of Veterans Appeals within 120 days from the date of mailing of notice of the decision, provided that a Notice of Disagreement concerning an issue which was before the Board was filed with the agency of original jurisdiction on or after November 18, 1988. Veterans' Judicial Review Act, Pub. L. No. 100-687, § 402 (1988). The date which appears on the face of this decision constitutes the date of mailing and the copy of this decision which you have received is your notice of the action taken on your appeal by the Board of Veterans' Appeals.