BVA9500854 
DOCKET NO.  93-06 840     )       DATE
          )
          )

On appeal from the decision of the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Indianapolis,
Indiana

THE ISSUE

Entitlement to service connection for post traumatic stress
disorder.

REPRESENTATION

Appellant represented by: Disabled American Veterans

ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

Lori R. Bucci, Associate Counsel

REMAND

The veteran served on active duty from August 1968 to July 1971.

This appeal arises from a rating decision in June 1992 by the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in
Indianapolis, Indiana.

The veteran is claiming entitlement to service connection for a
post traumatic stress disorder.  In support of this application,
he maintains that over a seven month period while in Vietnam he
served with a graves registration unit, or was assigned to graves
registration task responsibilities.  A review of the claims
folder, however, does not reveal that the veteran was ever
requested to provide the information necessary to verify this
assertion through the United States Army and Joint Services
Environmental Support Group.  Consequently, the April 1992 VA
compensation examination report upon which the June 1992 rating
decision was based was inadequate for rating purposes because the
examiner did not have access to all of the pertinent evidence
necessary for an informed diagnosis.  Green v. Derwinski, 1
Vet.App. 121, 124 (1991).   Therefore, further development is
required.

Further development is also required in view of the veteran’s
request for a hearing.  In this respect, the veteran requested a
hearing in his substantive appeal.  A hearing was scheduled for
October 26, 1992, however, the veteran requested that the
proceeding be rescheduled in order to allow him to gather new
medical evidence.  The file, however, does not reflect that the
RO ever rescheduled the requested hearing.

Therefore, in order to ensure full compliance with due process
requirements, the case is REMANDED to the RO for the following
development:

1.  The RO should reschedule the veteran
for a hearing before a hearing officer at
the RO.

2.  The RO should contact the veteran and
request that he provide specific details
concerning his service in a graves
registration unit.  In this regard, the
veteran should provide the dates, places,
and his unit of assignment at the time of
the purported service.  The veteran is
hereby informed that the duty to assist is
not a one way street, and that the United
States Court of Veterans Appeals has held
that requesting this information does not
place an impossible or onerous task upon a
claimant.  Wood v. Derwinski, 1 Vet.App.
190, 193 (1991).

3.  Following the receipt of the veteran’s
response the RO should contact the United
States Army and Joint Services
Environmental Support Group (ESG), and
request that they attempt to verify the
veteran’s "stressor statement."

4.  If the veteran’s "stressor statement"
is verified in part or in whole by the ESG,
he should be scheduled for a VA psychiatric
examination.  This examination must be
conducted in accordance with the VA
Physician’s Guide for Disability Evaluation
Examinations, and all indicated tests
should be conducted including post
traumatic stress disorder sub-scale
testing.  The claims file must be made
available to and reviewed by all examiners
prior to any examination.  The examiner
must provide a Global Assessment of
Functioning score, and explain what the
assigned score represents.  The examiner
further must set forth provide the
rationale upon which any opinion or
diagnosis is based in writing.

The RO should then review the claims file to ensure that all of
the foregoing instructions have been completed in full.
Thereafter, the RO should review the evidence and determine
whether the veteran's claim for post traumatic stress disorder
may now be granted.  If the decision on any issue remains adverse
to the veteran, he and his representative should be provided with
an appropriate Supplemental Statement of the Case and an
opportunity to respond thereto.  The case should then be returned
to the Board of Veterans' Appeals for further appellate
consideration.

The purposes of the REMAND are to afford the veteran with every
consideration of due process.  By this REMAND the Board intimates
no opinion, legal or factual, as to the ultimate disposition of
the appeal.  No action is required of the appellant until he
receives further notice.

          DEREK R. BROWN
          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.

Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7252 (West 1991), only a decision of the
Board of Veterans' Appeals is appealable to the United States
Court of Veterans Appeals.  This remand is in the nature of a
preliminary order and does not constitute a decision of the Board
on the merits of your appeal.  38 C.F.R. § 20.1100(b) (1994).