BVA Case 230316-331429: PTSD
BVAReal Board of Veterans' Appeals decision · July 17, 2025 · MICHELLE L. KANE
Conditions Claimed
PTSDDepressionPsychiatricBackEye
Official 2026 VA monthly compensation, including the 2.8% COLA increase.
Dependent add-ons start at a 30% rating. Child-only and dependent-parent rates: see the full 2026 pay chart.
2026 base rates, all ratings (veteran alone)
| Rating | Monthly (2026, incl. 2.8% COLA) |
|---|---|
| 10% | $180.42 |
| 20% | $356.66 |
| 30% | $552.47 |
| 40% | $795.84 |
| 50% | $1,132.90 |
| 60% | $1,435.02 |
| 70% | $1,808.45 |
| 80% | $2,102.15 |
| 90% | $2,362.30 |
| 100% | $3,938.58 |
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Issues on Appeal
PTSDDepressionPsychiatricBackEye
Why It Was Decided This Way
The May 2000 notification that her pension claim was granted also noted that the Veteran's death was not related to a service-connected disease or injury.
While it is true that the Board concluded that "there is no showing of exposure to more than an ordinary stressful environment, even given the fact that service in a combat zone is stressful in some degree to all who are there, whatever their duties and experiences," this statement must be read in the context of the Board's explicit acknowledgement of the Veteran's actual combat experience.
249, 260 (2020) (holding that "when the record includes the veteran's lay reports, which the Board did not find to be not credible, we may ordinarily conclude that it made an implicit credibility determination.
If something as fundamental as the veteran's credibility were an issue, we would expect the Board to say something.
Likewise, the Board made no finding that the appellant's 1992 testimony which also discussed specific combat stressors was not credible, which logically and under controlling legal authority, means the 1992 Board found it credible.
The dispositive issue was the etiology of the Veteran's psychiatric problems and the Board determined that the evidence supported finding that his PTSD, depression, and adjustment disorder were due to specific post-service events largely arising from a work-related injury in the 1980s rather than due to his participation in combat in Vietnam.
But the issue is not whether, in hindsight, the March 1992 Board decision came to the right result, the issue is whether the March 1992 Board found the Veteran did not participate in combat or did not have an in-service stressor and, if so, whether the later grant of benefits in the July 2021 Board decision was based at least in part on the additional military records received in May 2015.
And the answer to that question is that the March 1992 Board specifically found that the Veteran had participated in combat, but that those experiences were not related to his PTSD.
Authorities Cited
Regulations Cited (38 CFR / 38 USC)
Denial Type
Credibility|No Nexus
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