APPLICANT REQUESTS:  In effect, that he be informed why he was sent overseas to Okinawa before he was 18 years old, and that his DD Form 214, Report of Transfer or Discharge, be corrected by removing the entries that say he had 30 days of lost time and 4 days excess leave.

APPLICANT STATES:  That he believes that a soldier must be 18 years of age before he can be sent oversees and that he never incurred any lost time or excess leave during his service.

EVIDENCE OF RECORD:  The applicant's military records show:

He enlisted in the Regular Army with parental consent for 3 years on 29 December 1967 at 17 years of age (DOB: 13 October 1950).  He completed 8 weeks of basic combat training (BCT) at Fort Dix, New Jersey on 8 March 1968 and 7 weeks of advanced individual training (AIT) at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri on 3 May 1968.

Following AIT, he was assigned to Okinawa on 20 September 1968.  Approximately 5 months into that assignment, he volunteered for duty in Vietnam where he served from 21 March 1969 to 20 March 1970.

During his assignment in Vietnam , he accepted nonjudicial punishment (NJP) under the provisions of Article 15, UCMJ on 20 July 1969 for 12 days AWOL and on 14 October 1969 he was convicted by a summary court-martial of 18 days AWOL.  His commander recommended that he be separated from the service for unsuitability and after legal and psychiatric consultation the appropriate commander approved his separation.

Thereafter, he returned to the States and was separated in pay grade E-2 on 14 November 1969 for unsuitability under the provisions of Army Regulation 635-212 and issued a General Discharge Certificate.

In 1968, title 10 of the US Code, section 671 provided that no member of an armed force would be assigned to active duty on land outside the US, its territories and possessions, until the member had 12 weeks initial training or its equivalent.  Equivalent training was defined as basic training plus initial skill training in the member’s military occupational specialty (MOS).

DISCUSSION:  Considering all the evidence, allegations, and information presented by the applicant, together with the evidence of record, applicable law and regulations, it is concluded:

1.  At the time of his service, the US Code provided that soldiers would not be assigned outside of the US until they had the requisite training or its equivalent (12 weeks).  His assignment to Okinawa did not violate this policy.  Further, there is no mention either in the statute or Army regulations that prohibits overseas assignments based on age.

2.  The applicant accumulated 30 days of lost time as a result of two AWOl periods.  Evidence of a summary court-martial conviction and an NJP authenticating the AWOL periods is contained in his record.  Therefore, the 30 days lost time reflected on his DD Form 214 is correct.

3.  In view of the foregoing, there appears to be no basis for granting the applicant’s request.

DETERMINATION:  The applicant has failed to submit sufficient relevant evidence to demonstrate the existence of probable error or injustice.

NOTE:  There is no evidence in his military personnel records to verify the entry on his DD Form 214 of 4 days excess leave.  Accordingly, the Commander, US Army Reserve Personnel Center will be requested to issue a correction to his DD Form 214 to have this entry removed.

BOARD VOTE:

                       GRANT          

                       GRANT FORMAL HEARING

                       DENY APPLICATION




						Karl F. Schneider
						Acting Director