Citation Nr: 0001580 Decision Date: 01/19/00 Archive Date: 01/28/00 DOCKET NO. 98-15 246 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Detroit, Michigan THE ISSUE Entitlement to service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: Vietnam Veterans of America WITNESSES AT HEARING ON APPEAL Appellant and fiancée ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Robert E. P. Jones, Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran served on active duty from June 1970 to March 1973. This matter is before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a June 1998 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Detroit, Michigan. The veteran failed to appear at a requested and scheduled hearing before a member of the Board at the RO. Accordingly the veteran's claim will be considered on the evidence currently of record. The veteran's claim is the subject of a remand section of this decision. FINDING OF FACT The veteran's claim for entitlement to service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder is plausible. CONCLUSION OF LAW The claim for entitlement to service connection for post- traumatic stress disorder is well grounded 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107 (1999). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION The veteran contends that he is entitled to service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder due to his active service. Service records reveal that the veteran served in Vietnam. The record contains a VA hospitalization report containing a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. The report indicates that the veteran has post- traumatic stress disorder due to the stress of his Vietnam experiences. Also of record is an examination report from a private psychologist who also found that the veteran had post-traumatic stress disorder due to his Vietnam service. Since there is medical evidence that the veteran has post- traumatic stress disorder due to his service in Vietnam, his claim for service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder is well grounded. ORDER The claim of entitlement to service connection for post- traumatic stress disorder is well grounded. REMAND The veteran's DD Form 214 certifies that he served in Vietnam from August 13, 1971 to May 30, 1972, and that his occupational specialty was heavy truck driver. In October 1998, the veteran testified before a RO hearing officer that he had been a heavy truck driver when he was in Vietnam, and had had to transport large guns from Rock Pile to Contoom in September 1971. The veteran testified that when he arrived at Rock Pile the installation was bombarded with rockets and mortars. The veteran said that he was scared out of his wits and that he had hid in a foxhole. The veteran reported that he saw people killed. The veteran testified that a nearby base was shelled at the same time, and the next day he found out that his best friend, Norman Norbert, had been killed. The veteran further stated that he was at Contoom in December 1971 when that base came under fire. The record does not reflect that the RO has made a finding that the veteran engaged in combat activity with the enemy, and that a claimed stressor is related to that combat. (See 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f) (1999)). Moreover, no attempt has been made to obtain verification of the veteran's claimed Vietnam stressors. The Board acknowledges that two letters sent to the veteran requesting that he provide more detailed information concerning his claimed stressors went unanswered. However, at the October 1998 hearing the veteran specified the month, year, and location of two episodes in which he claimed to have been exposed to mortar and rocket fire. He also named a friend who was killed in September 1971. Since the veteran's claim for service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder is well grounded there is a duty to assist the veteran and an attempt must be made, or a finding made relative to combat activity, to verify the veteran's claimed stressors prior to review of the veteran's claim. In light of the foregoing, this case is hereby REMANDED to the RO for the following actions: 1. The RO should write to the veteran and ask whether he has any more evidence that he wishes to submit in support of his claim. He should also be requested to provide more specific details of his claimed stressors. 2. The RO must make a specific finding as to whether or not the veteran engaged in combat activity with the enemy and whether or not a claimed stressor is related to such combat. If the RO finds that the veteran did not have combat service or a claimed stressor related to such combat, the RO should attempt to verify the veteran's alleged stressors through the U.S. Army and Joint Services Environmental Support Group (USASCRUR). 3. The RO should take the appropriate steps to secure copies of all VA and non-VA outpatient and hospital treatment records, if any, which relate to treatment of the veteran's claimed post-traumatic stress disorder, and which are not already of record. 4. Then, the RO should undertake any other indicated development, to include ordering another VA examination if needed to determine whether the veteran has post- traumatic stress disorder due to a verified stressor. 5. Then, the RO should readjudicate the veteran's claim. 6. If the benefit sought on appeal is not granted to the veteran's satisfaction, or if a timely notice of disagreement is received with respect to any other matter, the RO should issue a Supplemental Statement of the Case for all issues in appellate status and inform the veteran of any issue with respect to which further action is required to perfect an appeal. The veteran should then be provided an appropriate opportunity to respond. Thereafter, the case should be returned to the Board, if otherwise in order. By this remand, the Board intimates no opinion as to any ultimate outcome warranted. The veteran need take no action until he is otherwise notified by the RO. The appellant has the right to submit additional evidence and argument on the matter the Board has remanded to the regional office. Kutscherousky v. West, 12 Vet. App. 369 (1999). U. R. POWELL Member, Board of Veterans' Appeals