Here’s one of those classic examples of Johnny Vet subtly driving his own claimboat with the DAV as his titular head honcho. I’m sure they think they drove a hard bargain but it mostly reflects the fact that Regional Offices have been forbidden to grant these claims. Not a one since before WGM’s “accidental” CUE  deep in the heart of Texas in Houston, waaay back in 2011.

You all remember the day they declared STDs as proof of willful misconduct? Solly Chahlie. No dollars for Hepatitis C. WGM had built the World’s finest library of all the reasons why it was a jetgun and not from prostitutes. It’s a good read on what could possibly go wrong-and did- at Fort Fumble.

Look back to the tar and feather job on Leigh in 2010. She had Pelvic Inflammatory Disease and VA was so desperate to blow a hole in her three jetgun nexus letters, they opted to go with PID due to sexual promiscuity-and thus HCV. Or it was the India ink tattoo she put on her wrist when she was 12?  You’d need a vindictive Voodoo Woman chasing down a Hoodoo Lane to come up with some of this claptrap to avoid a RO decision. They don’t get this out of a Cliff Notes© Excuse Book for M21 1MR.

So it is with  Missouri Johnny here from back east. He was a lifer and it left little time to go out and catch it while temporarily out of the service. Alternatively, he was complaining of it the day he was discharged so what’s the deal? If it happens within a year, it’s SC and even more especially so if a liver problem. How could any RVSR or DRO dance around that presumption? Watch.

In February 2008, the Veteran was afforded a VA examination for to determine the etiology of his hepatitis C. The examiner’s report reflects that the majority of hepatitis C infections can be accounted for by known modes of transmission, primarily transfusion of blood products prior to 1992, and injection drug use. The examiner explained that despite the lack of any scientific evidence to document transmission of hepatitis C with air gun injectors, it was biologically plausible. Upon examination, the Veteran denied a history of risk factors associated with contracting hepatitis C to include having had a blood transfusion, intravenous drug use, sexual relationships with others known to have contracted hepatitis C, and any tattoos or body piercings prior to, during, or after active military service. The Veteran did however admit to having given himself a tattoo using his mother’s sewing needle and indian ink, prior to service enlistment. The examiner concluded that hepatitis C “[was] less likely than not (less than 50/50 probability) caused by or events while in service,” finding that there was “no valid objective data” to support the Veteran’s claim.

Must have been the self-administered tattoo before he joined in 1970. Them sewing needles of Mom’s were, and still are, a beehive of Hepatitis C activity as only VA Examiners know. Or… how about that big window of opportunity to willfully misconduct oneself from August 1974 to October 1976 when he reenlisted? That’s a lot of  free time in the Devil’s workshop with idle hands. Two perfectly good opportunities for an alternate theory that just so happens to inadvertently rule out service connection. You can see the “no evidence for is definitely evidence against” valid objective data test fermenting here.

Someone had to tell him to go get a nexus letter and he had that base covered very well. I’m thinking asknod or Hadit.com because we’ve had that knowledge out on the street since 2008. Pandora turned seven this fall.

So you see, this is an anomaly that it should have to be appealed in the first place. If he had it or something akin to it in service, and indeed, actively at separation, any argument about the pros and cons of whether he had it in service is a moot argument on its face. He was having it in service as he was in the process of departing service.  Why would that be so hard to comprehend at St. Louis’ Puzzle Palace? Perhaps it was willful misconduct to come down with it in service? Did anyone check  his STRs to see if he had Pelvic Inflammatory Disease? All these queshuns. And only the M21 to consult for guidance.

A great decision by VLJ Mark F. Halsey and not a typical cut-and-paste assassination.

P.S. Another from Louisville http://www.va.gov/vetapp15/Files1/1505087.txt

P.P. S. And another beauty from St. Paul Minnesota : http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/view.jsp?FV=http://www.va.gov/vetapp15/Files4/1534813.txt

The Board further observes that, although Dr. Smith provided an opinion that in-service air gun injections are the only risk factor for hepatitis C identified in the Veteran’s history, he did not expressly relate the Veteran’s current hepatitis C to the in-service injections. However, given the content of the letter and the context in which it was provided, the Board accepts the letter as an indication that vaccinations delivered via air gun injectors are a risk factor for developing hepatitis C, and that the Veteran’s hepatitis C likely developed as a result of his in-service air gun injections given the lack of other risk factors. In this regard, the Board reiterates that VA has acknowledged that transmission of hepatitis C through air gun injections is biologically possible. See VBA Fast Letter 04-13.