Fort McClellan VA claims: what the Board grants without a presumption

No presumption for Fort McClellan

VA's location presumptions name specific places: Vietnam, Thailand and the other herbicide locations, Camp Lejeune, and the PACT Act locations. Fort McClellan, Alabama, is not among them.

VA's adjudication manual does list Fort McClellan among World War II test sites for mustard gas and lewisite. Those agents have their own rule, 38 CFR 3.316, for veterans with full-body exposure. Outside that narrow case, a Fort McClellan claim is a direct service connection claim: proof of the exposure, a current diagnosis and a medical opinion linking the two.

How the Board ruled, condition by condition

1,180 Board decisions name Fort McClellan. The chart compares each condition with all veterans who claimed it.

Bar: share granted for Fort McClellan veterans

Red mark: all veterans with the same condition

Conditions on the Agent Orange list

VA presumes these for herbicide exposure in Vietnam, Thailand and other listed places, not for Fort McClellan.

• Diabetes DC 7913

  14.8% · 50 of 338

  all veterans 20.0%On the Agent Orange list

• Hypertension DC 7101

  13.9% · 30 of 216

  all veterans 20.2%On the Agent Orange list

• Prostate, bladder or kidney cancer DC 7528

  22.0% · 22 of 100

  all veterans 32.7%On the Agent Orange list

• Coronary artery disease DC 7005

  26.2% · 22 of 84

  all veterans 30.0%On the Agent Orange list

• Hypothyroidism DC 7903

  10.6% · 5 of 47

  all veterans 26.0%On the Agent Orange list

• Parkinson's disease DC 8004

  17.6% · 6 of 34

  all veterans 35.3%On the Agent Orange list

Other conditions Fort McClellan veterans claimed

• Nerve damage, legs DC 8520

  12.0% · 22 of 184

  all veterans 27.1%

• Nerve damage, arms DC 8513

  9.6% · 12 of 125

  all veterans 19.9%

• Sleep apnea DC 6847

  11.5% · 12 of 104

  all veterans 24.6%

• Hearing loss DC 6100

  12.1% · 11 of 91

  all veterans 18.7%

• Knee DC 5257

  7.4% · 5 of 68

  all veterans 20.3%

• Erectile dysfunction DC 7522

  12.7% · 8 of 63

  all veterans 17.7%

• Migraine DC 8100

  11.3% · 7 of 62

  all veterans 30.8%

• Back (degenerative arthritis) DC 5242

  11.7% · 7 of 60

  all veterans 23.1%

• Tinnitus DC 6260

  30.0% · 18 of 60

  all veterans 46.6%

• COPD DC 6604

  12.1% · 7 of 58

  all veterans 13.2%

• PTSD DC 9411

  24.6% · 14 of 57

  all veterans 31.4%

• Dermatitis or eczema DC 7806

  5.7% · 3 of 53

  all veterans 18.6%

• Acid reflux (GERD) DC 7206

  7.5% · 4 of 53

  all veterans 20.0%

• Fibromyalgia DC 5025

  2.1% · 1 of 47

  all veterans 16.3%

• Back or neck strain DC 5237

  2.3% · 1 of 44

  all veterans 15.1%

• Skin cancer DC 7818

  7.1% · 3 of 42

  all veterans 19.2%

• Back (disc disease) DC 5243

  10.3% · 4 of 39

  all veterans 20.7%

• Asthma DC 6602

  10.5% · 4 of 38

  all veterans 24.8%

• Digestive cancers DC 7343

  10.8% · 4 of 37

  all veterans 23.5%

• Degenerative arthritis (other joints) DC 5003

  14.7% · 5 of 34

  all veterans 22.9%

• Shoulder DC 5201

  3.2% · 1 of 31

  all veterans 16.3%

• Hypertensive heart disease DC 7007

  9.7% · 3 of 31

  all veterans 15.3%

One count per veteran per condition; a remand counts as not granted. Conditions with at least 30 veterans.

Every condition with at least 30 veterans was granted less often for Fort McClellan veterans. Diabetes, the most common claim, was granted for 50 of 338 (14.8%, against 20.0% overall), and hypertension for 30 of 216. The gaps were wider for conditions not on any exposure list: migraine 11.3% against 30.8%, a knee condition 7.4%, fibromyalgia 1 of 47.

The Agent Orange question

Herbicide exposure is recorded in 553 of the decisions (46.9%), including 236 of the 338 with a diabetes claim. The Board's recent decisions found no evidence of herbicide use at Fort McClellan, and the base is not a presumptive location, so those claims rarely succeeded.

The grants that did come through rested on specific evidence. In some recent decisions VA conceded a toxic exposure risk activity at Fort McClellan, such as exposure to PCBs, and a medical opinion then linked the condition to it. In others, a credible account of a specific incident carried the claim.

Read the decisions

Recent decisions, with the Board's reasoning as summarized by AI:

• A25109738, December 2025: asthma granted; the Board found credible the veteran's account of toxic gas exposure at Fort McClellan when a gas mask malfunctioned, with respiratory symptoms since.
• 25015109, December 2025: hiatal hernia granted; a toxic exposure risk activity at Fort McClellan was conceded and a VA opinion linked the condition.
• A25101814, November 2025: a peritoneal mass denied; VA conceded exposure to PCBs, but the Board found no evidence of herbicide use at Fort McClellan.
• A25109501, December 2025: diabetes denied; no qualifying herbicide exposure was shown, including at Fort McClellan.

What the data cannot tell you

The Fort McClellan group comes from the places each decision names; a mention is not proof of service there or of exposure. The herbicide flag and denial notes are AI-extracted. These are historical outcomes, not predictions.

For representatives

• Do not rely on a presumption. Document the specific exposure: dates at Fort McClellan, duties, chemical or radiological training, any incident.
• Ask whether VA will concede a toxic exposure risk activity for the veteran's duties, then get an opinion that links the condition to that exposure.
• For World War II-era veterans with full-body mustard gas or lewisite exposure, check 38 CFR 3.316.