RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS IN THE MATTER OF: DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2011-03936 COUNSEL: NONE HEARING DESIRED: NO ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: His date of separation (DOS) be adjusted to reflect he completed 20 years of total active service so he would qualify for the Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP) program. ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: He and his family faithfully served in the Air Force for 19 years and 7 months before he was retired due to circumstances beyond his control. At the time of his retirement he became ill, which required hospitalization. The hospitalization prevented him from completing the five months of service required to complete 20 years. He does not want his family penalized for the rest of his life due to his illness. The Board should recognize the injustice of this unique situation and correct it to allow him and his family to receive the retirement benefits they deserve for their honorable devotion and service to the Air Force. In support of his request, the applicant provides a copy of the Department of Veterans Affairs Rating Decision and his DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. The applicant's complete submission, with attachments, is at Exhibit A. ________________________________________________________________ STATEMENT OF FACTS: The applicant served on active duty in the Regular Air Force from 5 Nov 80 to 4 Jun 96. He retired in the grade of master sergeant after serving 19 years and 7 months of active service. His narrative reason for separation was “Disability, Temporary.” The remaining relevant facts pertaining to this application, extracted from the applicant’s military records, are contained in the letters prepared by the appropriate offices of the Air Force at Exhibits C and D. ________________________________________________________________ AIR FORCE EVALUATION: HQ AFPC/DPSD recommends denial. DPSD states to qualify for CRDP, members must have a minimum of 20 years active service. The applicant does not have the required 20 years of active service time and does not meet the eligibility requirements for CRDP. The complete DPSD evaluation is at Exhibit C. HQ AFPC/JA recommends denial. JA states that after reviewing the applicant's claim and the evidence available in this case, it is their opinion that there is no legal basis for the AFBCMR to alter the applicant’s service dates to allow him to receive CRDP. Qualification for CRDP requires at least 20 years of creditable service. Creditable retirement service for the purpose of CRDP eligibility is based upon the so-called “1405 service date" which is calculated by adding years of active service and years of reserve time. At the time of the applicant's disability retirement, he had 19 years and 7 months of active service and his military records do not reflect any period of active reserve time. The applicant does not contest in his application that he had any additional active military service time other than his 19 years and 7 months of recorded active military service. Accordingly, in order to benefit from the CRDP legislation, he would need to be credited with an additional five months of active military service. During the initial processing of his disability case file in Mar 96, he concurred with the Informal Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) findings and recommendation that he be temporarily retired and placed on the Temporary Disability Retirement List (TDRL). By accepting the IPEB's Mar 96 findings, the applicant waived his entitlement to a Formal PEB. This waiver served as a voluntary and intentional relinquishment of his rights and privileges to contest the IPEB's findings, and there is no reason to doubt its legal efficacy in the applicant's case. Once a PEB determines a member is unfit, separation from the Air Force occurs quite quickly. There is no provision that permits a member to remain on active duty for the purpose of obtaining the requisite 20 years of service for a typical military retirement. In this case, the time frame between the IPEB's unfit determination and the applicant's established retirement date on 4 Jun 96 was approximately two and a half months. The applicant has failed to demonstrate that there is any statutory or regulatory authority which exists that would have allowed him to remain on active duty beyond that date. The complete JA evaluation is at Exhibit D. ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF THE AIR FORCE EVALUATION: The applicant states that he finds his ineligibility for CRDP to be unjust because he was medically retired five months before completing 20 years. If even one Air Force member has been credited additional service to reach 20 years of credible service and meet the requirements for CRDP, then it would be unjust for the Board to deny him the same benefit. The applicant's complete response is at Exhibit F. ________________________________________________________________ THE BOARD CONCLUDES THAT: 1. The applicant has exhausted all remedies provided by existing law or regulations. 2. The application was not timely filed; however, it is in the interest of justice to excuse the failure to timely file. 3. Insufficient relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the existence of error or injustice. We took notice of the applicant's complete submission in judging the merits of the case, to include his response to the Air Force evaluation; however, we agree with the opinions and recommendations of the Air Force offices of primary responsibility and adopt their rationale as the basis for our conclusion that the applicant has not been the victim of an error or injustice. Absent persuasive evidence that he was denied rights to which he was entitled or treated differently from others similarly situated, we find no basis to recommend granting the relief sought in this application. ________________________________________________________________ THE BOARD DETERMINES THAT: The applicant be notified that the evidence presented did not demonstrate the existence of material error or injustice; that the application was denied without a personal appearance; and that the application will only be reconsidered upon the submission of newly discovered relevant evidence not considered with this application. ________________________________________________________________ The following members of the Board considered this application in Executive Session on 10 Apr 12, under the provisions of AFI 36-2603: , Panel Chair , Member , Member The following documentary evidence was considered in AFBCMR BC- 2011-03936: Exhibit A. DD Form 149, dated 3 Oct 11, w/atchs. Exhibit B. Applicant’s Master Personnel Records. Exhibit C. Letter, AFPC/DPSD, dated 5 Dec 10. Exhibit D. Letter, AFPC/JA dated 16 Dec 11. Exhibit E. Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 3 Jan 12. Exhibit F. Rebuttal, Applicant, dated 18 Jan 12. Panel Chair