Thai air base veterans and diabetes: a claim map from service to secondary conditions

The claim map

A claim map follows one veteran's route: where they served, the condition VA presumes for that service, and the conditions that follow from it. Each box shows how the Board ruled at that step.

Where they served

Thai air base

Qualifying service, January 1962 to June 1976 (PACT Act)

6,999 Board decisions name a Thai air base

presumed by law38 CFR 3.309(e)

Step 1 · presumed by law

Diabetes

64.7% granted

1,329 of 2,054 veterans · all diabetes claims 20.0%

Also presumed on its own

Hypertension

45.4% granted · 470 of 1,035

38 U.S.C. 1116(a)(2), PACT Act

secondary38 CFR 3.310(a)

Step 2 · claimed secondary to diabetes

66.2%granted when the same decision granted the diabetes

3.7%granted when it did not

Step 2 depends on step 1: a secondary claim needs a service-connected condition to attach to.

• Nerve damage, legs DC 8520

  59.7% · 247 of 414

  all veterans 36.7%Presumed on its own only if early-onset

• Nerve damage, arms DC 8513

  48.0% · 123 of 256

  all veterans 29.5%

• Erectile dysfunction DC 7522

  42.8% · 65 of 152

  all veterans 28.6%→ may open special monthly compensation

• Hypertension DC 7101

  33.3% · 45 of 135

  all veterans 17.8%Also presumed on its own

• Kidney disease DC 7502

  70.2% · 40 of 57

  all veterans 46.2%

• Retina disease DC 6042

  64.0% · 32 of 50

  all veterans 43.2%

• Peripheral artery disease DC 7114

  75.0% · 21 of 28

  all veterans 43.0%

• Cataract DC 6027

  36.0% · 9 of 25

  all veterans 23.0%

• Retinopathy DC 6006

  45.8% · 11 of 24

  all veterans 31.5%

Bar: share granted in Board decisions that name a Thai air base (one count per veteran; a remand counts as not granted). Red mark: all veterans with the same claim. Step 2 counts claims decided in the same decision; conditions with at least 20 veterans.

First step: the presumption

Type II diabetes is on the herbicide list in 38 CFR 3.309(e). Since the PACT Act, VA presumes herbicide exposure for qualifying service in Thailand between January 1962 and June 1976, so the veteran does not need a medical opinion linking the diabetes to service. Across 6,999 Board decisions that name a Thai air base, the Board granted 1,329 of 2,054 diabetes claims, 44.7 percentage points above the share for diabetes claims overall.

The presumption covers the link between the exposure and the disease. The claim still has to show the veteran served at a qualifying base during that period.

Second step: what follows from diabetes

Under 38 CFR 3.310(a), a disability caused by a service-connected condition is service connected too. The rating schedule makes this matter for diabetes: under DC 7913, compensable complications are rated separately, while noncompensable ones are part of the diabetes rating. Each complication can add its own rating.

In the same decisions, 784 veterans also had a claim secondary to diabetes. Nerve damage in the legs was the most common, granted for 247 of 414 veterans (59.7%, against 36.7% for all veterans who claimed it secondary to diabetes). Kidney disease was granted for 40 of 57, and peripheral artery disease for 21 of 28.

Why the second step depends on the first

A secondary claim needs a service-connected condition to attach to. When the Board granted the diabetes in the same decision, it granted 66.2% of the claims secondary to it (902 claims). When it did not grant the diabetes, only 3.7% (328 claims). Where the diabetes was not on appeal, usually because it was already service connected, the share was 31.9%.

That is also why these veterans do better than veterans overall on the same secondary conditions: for most of them, the presumption had already settled the diabetes.

Two routes for hypertension and nerve damage

• Hypertension can be claimed secondary to diabetes (45 of 135 granted here) or, since the PACT Act, on its own under 38 U.S.C. 1116(a)(2), which does not need the diabetes at all (45.4% granted).
• Peripheral neuropathy is on the herbicide list only as early-onset neuropathy, which must reach a compensable degree within a year of the last exposure (38 CFR 3.307(a)(6)(ii)). For most veterans, the route is secondary to diabetes.
• Erectile dysfunction secondary to diabetes was granted for 65 of 152. Loss of use of a creative organ can also support special monthly compensation under 38 CFR 3.350(a).

Read the decisions

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

• A25110824, December 2025: diabetes presumed for service at Thai air bases; neuropathy of both arms and both legs granted as secondary after a VA examination linked it to the diabetes.
• A25097997, November 2025: U-Tapao; diabetes with erectile dysfunction, hypertension and leg neuropathy granted, with the veteran's testimony found credible.
• A25064637, July 2025: Takhli; the Board applied the PACT Act presumption and addressed the effective dates of the diabetes and the nerve conditions secondary to it.
• 25001079, January 2025: U-Tapao; chronic kidney disease and neuropathy of all four limbs, secondary to diabetes.

What the data cannot tell you

The Thai group comes from the bases each decision names. A mention is not proof of service there, and the same veteran may also have served in Vietnam. The second step counts only claims decided in the same decision as the base mention; a secondary claim decided years later is not linked here. These are historical outcomes, not predictions.

For representatives

• Settle the first step first: the base and the dates of service. The rest of the map hangs on it.
• Once diabetes is service connected, screen for each complication with its own rating: nerves in the legs and arms, kidneys, eyes, circulation and erectile dysfunction.
• Claim hypertension under the PACT Act presumption as well as secondary to diabetes.
• For erectile dysfunction, check special monthly compensation for loss of use of a creative organ.