Opinion ID: 217934
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Roberts’s Award of Disability Benefits

Text: In August 1993, Roberts submitted a claim for disability compensation for an acute personality disorder, which he amended in February 1994 to include service connection for PTSD. In support of his claim, he submitted a letter to the RO in which he detailed the events of the death of his “very good friend” Gary Holland in 1969. JA 1185-86. In the letter, Roberts reported that Holland was working on a plane when Holland’s coat became entangled on a safety pin on the plane, releasing the safety pin and causing a piece of the plane to fall on and crush Holland. Roberts went on to write the following: I proceeded to sound the alarm, ran over to the plane to assess the situation at which time I found 5 ROBERTS v. DVA Gary still conscious and coherent. I informed him I would get him out and then proceeded to run next door to the Ground Support Unit, informed a chief petty officer of the situation and ordered him to bring a cherry picker to the front of the hanger [sic] to lift the plane. As I was returning to the hanger [sic] I confronted my 1st class superior and informed him to place a ladder at the rear hatch of the plane and load men into the tail section to relieve the front[.] I then proceeded to the front of the plane and instructed the [ground support engineering] chief to punc- ture the radome of the plane to lift it up[.] [A]t this time a [lieutenant commander] who informed me he was the safety officer ordered me to stop [and] when I refused, he had me placed on arrest by a Marine guard[.] The [lieutenant commander] then proceeded to have air bags placed under the plane to lift it (this took approx 10-12 minutes, my method would have taken only a few minutes). The [lieutenant commander] stated that it was more important to save the plane than it was to save the man. When the plane had risen enough [. . .], I broke away from the guard and I and an- other shipmate proceeded under the plane and ex- tradited [sic] Gary to an awaiting corpsman who gave Gary a shot of Adren[a]lin[e] in the heart and revived him. He was then transported by chopper to the NATO Hospital where he passed away the next day (brain dead). I have always believed Gary would have lived had I not be[en] thwarted in my rescue attempts. JA 1185-86. In March 1998, Roberts underwent a VA ROBERTS v. DVA 6 PTSD examination and again reported the death of Gary Holland as a traumatic stressor. The examiner diagnosed Roberts with, among other things, chronic PTSD. A few months later, in May 1998, the RO awarded Roberts a 50% disability rating for service-connected PTSD, effective August 4, 1993. The Rating Decision cited only one stressor to support its determination that Roberts’s PTSD was directly related to military service – Roberts’s presence at and role in the accident that caused Gary Holland’s death. JA 1285-91. Roberts disagreed with the disability rating, and, in May 1999, the VA awarded him a 100% disability rating for PTSD with dysthymia and depression, effective August 4, 1993. The Rating Decision noted that “[t]he veteran reported that he thinks about the traumatic event of his friend’s death three to four times each month at the minimum and when he is reminded of the event he can think of the events weekly or more.” JA 1308. Roberts also stated that “he is preoccupied with the trauma for six to seven days at a time,” and he reported “increased problems with anger control and that he has nightmares of the death of his friend.” Id. In 2002, Roberts requested reconsideration of his effective date. Ultimately, the RO changed his effective date to July 16, 1992, a date with which Roberts again disagreed. 2