The veteran sought review of a Board decision denying an increased PTSD rating and argued that the Court’s single-judge memorandum decision failed to address 38 C.F.R. § 4.131. The Court denied panel review. In the accompanying concurrence, Judge Steinberg explained that although the Secretary conceded remand might be appropriate because the Board had not expressly discussed § 4.131, the regulation did not actually aid the veteran on these facts. Section 4.131 provides a minimum 50% rating at discharge and a follow-up examination within six months when a mental disorder severe enough to justify discharge is shown, but only where service connection is otherwise established in connection with that discharge. Because the veteran’s PTSD service connection was not established until many years after his 1978 separation, the regulation did not govern the current evaluation. The Court therefore treated the rating question as one of present severity under the ordinary rating framework, and the Board’s failure to discuss § 4.131 was not prejudicial.

Section 4.131 applies only in the discharge-connected context it describes; when service connection for the mental disorder is established years after discharge, the veteran’s rating is based on current severity, not the retroactive minimum-rating provisions of § 4.131.

A veteran cannot use § 4.131 to force a current PTSD increase when service connection was granted long after separation. The case is a reminder to match the requested rating theory to the timing and scope of the governing regulation.

The decision is useful for distinguishing discharge-based rating provisions from ordinary increased-rating claims. It helps practitioners avoid relying on a regulation that can look helpful on its face but does not apply once service connection is established well after separation.

Inadequate Reasons or Bases [Procedural Error]

A veteran was discharged with a mental health-related separation, but service connection for PTSD was not awarded until a decade later. In seeking an increased rating, the veteran argues that § 4.131 requires at least a 50% rating from discharge. Under Dodge, that argument fails because the current rating must reflect present disability severity.

Use this case to oppose arguments that discharge-era minimum ratings control a later-awarded PTSD evaluation, and to frame the issue as one of present disability severity under the ordinary rating schedule.

38 C.F.R. § 4.131, 38 C.F.R. § 3.327(a), 38 C.F.R. § 4.1