PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:           11 February 2003
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2002076966

	I certify that hereinafter is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in the case of the above-named individual.  

	Mr. Carl W. S. Chun		Director	
	Ms. Nancy L. Amos		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Samuel A. Crumpler		Chairperson	
	Ms. Regan K. Smith		Member	
	Mr. Antonio Uribe		Member	

	The applicant and counsel if any, did not appear before the Board.

	The Board considered the following evidence:

	Exhibit A - Application for correction of military 
records
	Exhibit B - Military Personnel Records (including
advisory opinion, if any)

FINDINGS:

1.  The applicant has exhausted or the Board has waived the requirement for exhaustion of all administrative remedies afforded by existing law or regulations.

2.  The applicant requests in effect, that her Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) debt be waived.

3.  The applicant states, in effect, that her ROTC contract stated that she must  complete one year of active duty for each year the scholarship was given.  She had a 3-year scholarship; she has enlisted in the Regular Army for 4 years.  

4.  The applicant enlisted in the U. S. Army Reserve (ROTC Control Group) on 21 August 1997.  Her complete DA Form 597-3 (Army Senior ROTC Scholarship Cadet Contract) is not available.  (However, a copy of the DA Form 597-3, version dated June 1995, same as she signed, was obtained from the U. S. Army Publishing Agency Internet site).  Paragraph 1i of the applicant’s DA Form 597-3 would have stated that she must meet the same requirements of the Army Weight Control Program and the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) as are required of active duty soldiers prior to the end of the last school year of her Military Science III year to maintain eligibility for ROTC enrollment.

5.  Paragraph 7d of the applicant’s DA Form 597-3 would have stated that if the cadet were disenrolled from the ROTC Program for any reason, the Secretary of the Army could order the cadet to reimburse the United States the dollar amount plus interest that bears the same ratio to the total cost of the scholarship financial assistance provided by the United States to the cadet as the unserved portion of active duty bears to the total period of active duty the cadet agreed to serve or was ordered to serve.  Or, the cadet could be ordered to active duty for not more than four years.

6.  By memorandum dated 27 October 2000, the First ROTC Region Instructor Group, Senior Division, North Carolina A & T State University, informed the applicant that she was placed on leave of absence pending administrative action.

7.  By memorandum dated 30 October 2000, the First ROTC Region Instructor Group, Senior Division, North Carolina A & T State University, informed the applicant that her disenrollment was being initiated due to her failure to achieve a passing score on the APFT at Advanced Camp 2000.  She requested a board of officers hear her case.

8.  On 10 January 2001, a board of officers convened to hear the applicant’s case.  The applicant elected not to testify at the hearing.  The board found that the applicant did enter into a valid Army Senior ROTC contract, that she received monies in the amount of $24,529 from the Government while enrolled in ROTC, and that there were grounds for disenrollment.  The board found she breached her contract by failing to successfully complete the Advanced Camp and failed to complete the APFT in accordance with the terms of her contract.  She demonstrated an indifferent attitude and a lack of interest in the successful completion of military training, specifically physical fitness training.  Her medical records indicated no physical limitations that would have prevented her from successfully completing the APFT.  She missed several physical training sessions without valid excuses and was repeatedly counseled on the requirement to attend scheduled physical training sessions and the alternate physical training program.  She had been having difficult making progress toward her degree and had been placed on academic probation her last two semesters.  

9.  On 15 September 2001, the applicant elected to make repayment of the total ROTC amount owed.  

10.  By memorandum dated 11 October 2001, the U. S. Army Cadet Command informed the applicant that she was disenrolled from the ROTC Program on      19 July 2001 based on her failure to achieve a passing score on the APFT at Advanced Camp 2000.

11.  On 23 May 2002, the applicant enlisted in the Regular Army for 4 years, in pay grade E-4, for enlistment incentives Station of Choice and the Loan Repayment Program.

12.  Army Regulation 135-210 prescribes policies and procedures for ordering individual soldiers of the Army National Guard of the United States and the U. S. Army Reserve to active duty during peacetime.  In pertinent part, it states that former ROTC cadets, when ordered to active duty, will be ordered to report to the U. S. Army Reception Battalion and will be ordered to active duty in pay grade  E-1.

13.  In the processing of the case, an advisory opinion was obtained from the    U. S. Army Cadet Command.  The advisory opinion noted that the applicant elected to monetarily repay her scholarship debt.  However, there was no objection to her active duty service as long as the active duty equaled the same number of years as her scholarship obligation and that all bonuses received be forfeited in any part equal to her scholarship debt.

14.  A copy of the advisory opinion was provided to the applicant for comment or rebuttal.  She did not respond within the given time frame.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The Board notes that had the applicant chosen active duty or been involuntarily ordered to active duty as a result of her disenrollment or for failing to repay the original debt she promised to pay in lieu of being ordered to active duty, she would have been assigned against the needs of the Army and not allowed any enlistment options.  In accordance with Army Regulation 135-210, she would have been ordered to report to the U. S. Army Reception Battalion, bypassing the recruiting function where enlistment options are offered and negotiated, and would have been ordered to active duty in pay grade E-1.

2.  However, the applicant’s 23 May 2000 enlistment in the Regular Army serves the same purpose as would have been served had she been ordered to active duty in the U. S. Army.  She enlisted for the same amount of service as the maximum that could have been required by her ROTC contract, although in a higher pay grade.  It would be equitable to consider her enlistment in the Regular Army to have met the active duty obligation required by her ROTC scholarship contract.   

3.  If the applicant fails to complete the period of enlisted service obligated as a result of her ROTC scholarship either voluntarily or because of misconduct, her ROTC debt will be required to be recouped on a pro-rated basis.

4.  In view of the foregoing, the applicant’s records should be corrected as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by amending the applicant’s ROTC scholarship contract to show that she would satisfy the service obligation under the original terms of the ROTC contract as a Regular Army enlisted soldier.

2.  If the applicant fails to complete the period of enlisted service obligated as a result of her amended ROTC scholarship contract either voluntarily or because of misconduct, her ROTC debt will be required to be recouped on a pro-rated basis.

BOARD VOTE:  

__SAC__  __RKS  _  __ AU  __  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		_   _Samuel A. Crumpler_  __
		      CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2002076966	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	2003/02/11	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	128.10	
2.	104.03	
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.