BVA Case 16-2080: Ptsd

In April 2009, the RO denied reopening the schizophrenia claim,indicating that evidence reviewed included October 1976 to April 2008 treatment records,which were not new and material.

The veteran appealed and in January 2012 the Board denied reopening the schizophrenia claim.

In October 2012,the RO issued decisions finding no new and material evidence sufficient to reopen the schizophrenia claim,R.

The RO issued a May 2014 Statement of the Case (SOC)continuing to deny service connection for PTSD and schizophrenia,finding no new and material evidence sufficient to reopen the claims.

The representative also 2 asserted that a letter from the Army indicated that the veteran was discharged in 1979 and thus it was unclear why his psychiatric disorder was not service connected.

The May 2016 Board decision on appeal found no new and material evidence to reopen the claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder,to include schizophrenia and PTSD.

The Board found most of the personnel records not new and the remainder not material,stating that an Article 15 punishment noting failures to report for duty in April 1974 did not support the veteran's contentions of an in-service psychiatric disorder.

The Board concluded that new VA and private medical records and SSA records were cumulative because they showed current treatment for a psychiatric disability, an element of service connection already established,without showing linkage between the disability and service, the element of service connection not yet established.