ADDENDUM TO RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS IN THE MATTER OF: DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2010-03750 COUNSEL: NONE HEARING DESIRED: NO APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: He be paid in full for the 32 days of Post-Deployment/ Mobilization Respite Absence (PDMRA) that he should have earned during his mobilization in 2009. APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: He has not been fully compensated for the previous correction the AFBCMR made to his records. The Board previously decided to grant relief in his case and directed that his records be corrected to reflect that he was awarded 32 days of PDMRA; however, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) only paid him for ten days of duty because he had performed other duty that conflicted with the period of the adjustment to his records. The AFBCMR should have considered inactive and active duty periods performed before crafting a directive that could not be executed. The applicant’s complete submission, with attachments, is at Exhibit D. STATEMENT OF FACTS: The applicant was one of over 60 members of the West Virginia Air National Guard who petitioned the BCMR to correct their records to reflect they were credited with various amounts of PDMRA at the end of their mobilization tours during 2009. The applicants contended that because their unit was unaware of the PDMRA program, as promulgated by Secretary of Defense Memorandum, Utilization of the Total Force, dated 19 Jan 07, they were the victims of an injustice because they were unable to partake in this important entitlement program. On 24 May 11, after a thoroughly considering the facts and circumstances of the applicant’s case, the Board determined the evidence he had provided was sufficient to conclude that he should have been credited with 32 days of PDMRA credit at the end of his mobilization tour and recommended correcting the applicant’s records to reflect that he was not released from active duty on 6 Apr 09, but continued to serve on active duty for 32 additional days for the purpose of utilizing his PDMRA credit. On 6 Jun 11, the Secretary’s designee issued a directive to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force to correct the applicant’s records accordingly. On 3 Jan 13, ARPC/DPTS notified the applicant that his records had been corrected in accordance with the aforementioned directive. Specifically, his DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, was corrected to reflect that he was not released from active duty on 6 Apr 09, but served on active duty until 8 May 09, when he was released from active duty. Additionally, his point credit accounting report summary was corrected to reflect that he earned an additional 32 points toward his reserve retirement for the period in question. However, subsequent to these corrections being made to the applicant’s military personnel records, DFAS advised the BCMR staff that payment could not be made to the applicant because doing so would result in dual compensation. In this respect, DFAS noted that many of the applicants performed other military duty (and had been paid) during the period for which the BCMR directed the records be corrected. According to documentation provided by the applicant, he was credited with performing the following military duty during the period for which the Board directed he be credited with 32 additional active duty days (7 Apr 09 through 8 May 09): 7 Apr 09 through 9 Apr 09 – Unit Training Assembly (UTA) 13 Apr 09 – Additional Flying Training Period (AFTP) 14 Apr 09 – UTA 18 Apr 09 through 2 May 09 – Annual Training 3 May 09 – UTA 5 May 09 – AFTP 6 May 09 – Annual Training 7 May 09 – AFTP Section 605 of the Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) provides for the payment of $200 per day for the nonparticipation of eligible members in the PDMRA program due to government error. Members may submit an application to the Board for Correction of Military Records (BCMR) or use another process created by the Secretary concerned. As a result, any relief granted by the AFBCMR on this issue subsequent to Jan 13 must take the form of a cash payment of $200 per day of PDMRA credit that the Board determines an applicant would have received were it not for government error. The remaining relevant facts pertaining to this application are described in the memoranda prepared by DFAS and the Air Force offices of primary responsibility (OPR), which are included at Exhibits E and F. AIR FORCE EVALUATION: DFAS recommends denial indicating that reconsideration of the applicant’s request would not be appropriate. According to their records, the applicant was paid for “admin absence” on 11 Jun 13 for the period 6 Apr 09 through 8 May 09 as a result of the original decision of the AFBCMR. A complete copy of the DFAS evaluation is at Exhibit E. NGB/A1PR recommends relief be granted, indicting the applicant continues to be the victim of an error or injustice as he has not received the compensation due to him as a result of his records being corrected. NGB/A1PR and the AFBCMR declared that there should be a correction of the applicant’s military records and compensation of military pay, points, and applicable benefits for the loss of 32 days of PDMRA by the applicant. The applicant’s DFAS-DC Military Pay and Allowance Voucher reflects the member performed 24 days of federal duty during 7 Apr 09 through 8 May 09; therefore, DFAS only paid the member for eight days of qualifying PDMRA credit. A complete copy of the NGB/A1PR evaluation is at Exhibit F. APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION: The applicant disagrees with the DFAS opinion that reconsideration is not applicable in his case, but agrees with the NGB position. The rationale is fairly simple; he and the other members of his unit were not afforded the opportunity for PDMRA as it was intended to be (an authorized paid absence) during the high operations tempo years of the Global War on Terrorism. As a result, they were deprived of the opportunity to exercise paid time off with their families and friends to decompress and ultimately help eliminate some of the combat stressors of ongoing operations. He agreed in good faith to accept a corrected DD Form 215 [sic], Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, and compensation in-lieu of this time off. DFAS submitted an attempt at payment while he was away from his residence attending military training for over two weeks. By the time he was finally able to review the mailed documents, he was unable to contact DFAS to dispute the payment of $1,896.41 instead of the $8,808.76 that he was owed. After numerous attempts to contact DFAS, he was eventually told by an administrator that there was no way to pay him twice for the same day of duty, so he would have to go through the AFBCMR process to receive full payment. Based upon the summary opinion of NGB/A1, he is willing to accept the payment of $200.00 per day and agree to the 28 days that were not paid due to conflicting duty during the previous attempt at payment, even though there is a delta of over $1,300.00, not to mention the tax penalty. In support of his response, the applicant provides copies of correspondence from DFAS related to the payment of his instant claim, correspondence from ARPC related to the correction of his military personnel records, and a copy of the directive issued as a result of the Board’s previous consideration of his case (Exhibit H). THE BOARD CONCLUDES THAT: After again reviewing the facts and circumstances of this case, our earlier determination that the applicant was the victim of an error or injustice, and the relief crafted by virtue of the directive issued as a result of our previous decision, we are convinced by the evidence presented that the applicant continues to be the victim of an error or injustice. This Board previously determined that the applicant’s records should be corrected to reflect that he was credited with 32 days of Post- Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence (PDMRA) and that he was not released from active duty on 6 Apr 09, but on that date continued to serve on active duty until 8 May 09 for the purpose of taking his accrued PDMRA benefit. As a result of our finding, corrections were made to his DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, and point credit accounting reporting summary (PCARS) to reflect that he performed this additional constructed active service. However, because the applicant had already performed other military duty during said period, DFAS could not process full payment for the constructed duty as doing so would result in dual compensation to the applicant for many of the days in question. However, while we believe this situation causes the applicant to continue to be the victim of an error or injustice, we are not convinced that his records should be corrected in the manner he requests— payment for a certain number of days that, according to his calculations, he has not been paid. In this respect, we note that had this Board been aware that the applicant had performed duty that conflicted with the recommended correction to his records when his case was originally considered, it would have instead corrected the applicant’s records to reflect that he was entitled to Assignment Incentive Pay (AIP) of $200.00 per day of PDMRA credit as it has previously done in other cases where conflicting duty was appropriately raised. Therefore, in view of this, we believe it would be appropriate to recommend correcting the applicant’s record to reflect that the original directive issued in this case on 6 Jun 11 be declared void and removed from the applicant’s records and that his records instead be corrected to reflect that he is entitled to payment of $200.00 per day for the 32 days of PDMRA credit he should have received at the conclusion of his mobilization tour in 2009. While this is not the relief specified by the applicant, we believe it is proper and fitting as it is consistent with past practice and the provisions of the Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that require us to recommend payment of $200.00 per day in lieu of PDMRA credit in similar circumstances. Therefore, we recommend the applicant’s records be corrected to the extent indicated below. THE BOARD RECOMMENDS THAT: The pertinent military records of the Department of the Air Force relating to the APPLICANT be corrected to show that: a. The directives issued to the Chief of Staff on 6 June 2011 and 11 June 2013 be declared void and removed from his records. b. He accrued 32 days of Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence (PDMRA) when he was released from active duty on 6 April 2009, and [should be] paid $200.00 for each day of his PDMRA credit in accordance with the provisions of Section 605 of the Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The following members of the Board considered AFBCMR Docket Number BC-2010-03750 in Executive Session on 11 Jun 15 under the provisions of AFI 36-2603: All members voted to correct the records as recommended. The following documentary evidence pertaining to AFBCMR Docket Number BC-2010-03750 was considered: Exhibit D. Record of Proceedings, dated 6 Jun 11, w/atchs. Exhibit E. DD Form 149, 3 Jan 14, w/atchs. Exhibit F. E-mail, DFAS, dated 11 May 15. Exhibit G. Memorandum, NGB/A1PR, dated 14 May 15. Exhibit H. Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 15 May 15. Exhibit I. E-mail, Applicant, w/atchs, dated 27 May 15.