IN THE CASE OF: BOARD DATE: 6 June 2013 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20120021017 THE BOARD CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING EVIDENCE: 1. Application for correction of military records (with supporting documents provided, if any). 2. Military Personnel Records and advisory opinions (if any). THE APPLICANT'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE: 1. The applicant requests award of the Combat Infantryman Badge. 2. The applicant states he served in Vietnam from November 1967 to September 1968 while assigned as a machine gunner in military occupational specialty (MOS) 11B (Light Weapons Infantryman). He was assigned to Company B, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, and he received the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with two bronze service stars, Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device (1960), one overseas service bar, and a Bronze Star Medal. 3. The applicant provides his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge). CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE: 1. Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1552(b), provides that applications for correction of military records must be filed within 3 years after discovery of the alleged error or injustice. This provision of law also allows the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to excuse an applicant's failure to timely file within the 3-year statute of limitations if the ABCMR determines it would be in the interest of justice to do so. While it appears the applicant did not file within the time frame provided in the statute of limitations, the ABCMR has elected to conduct a substantive review of this case and, only to the extent relief, if any, is granted, has determined it is in the interest of justice to excuse the applicant's failure to timely file. In all other respects, there are insufficient bases to waive the statute of limitations for timely filing. 2. The applicant's records show he enlisted in the Regular Army on 26 October 1966 and he held MOS 11B. He served in Vietnam from 20 November 1967 to 1 September 1968 while assigned to Company E, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment. 3. On 6 October 1968, he was reported as absent without leave from his assigned unit. On 1 February 1970, he was returned to military control at Fort Dix, NJ. 4. On 29 July 1970, his primary MOS (PMOS) of 11B was withdrawn and he was awarded PMOS 71T (Maintenance Data Specialist) and secondary MOS 11B. 5. He was honorably released from active duty on 3 March 1971 and he was transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve. He completed 3 years of net active service with 494 days of lost time. 6. The DD Form 214 he was issued does not show award of the Combat Infantryman Badge. His record is void of orders awarding him the Combat Infantryman Badge. 7. Item 41 (Awards and Decorations) of his DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) does not show award of the Combat Infantryman Badge. 8. A review of the Awards and Decorations Computer Assisted Retrieval System, an index of general or special orders issued during the Vietnam era between 1965 and 1973 maintained by the Awards and Decorations Branch of the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, failed to reveal any orders for the Combat Infantryman Badge pertaining to the applicant. 9. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides that the Combat Infantryman Badge is awarded to infantry officers and to enlisted and warrant officer persons who have an infantry MOS. They must have served in active ground combat while assigned or attached to an infantry unit of brigade, regimental, or smaller size. 10. U.S. Army Vietnam Regulation 672-1 specifically governed award of the Combat Infantryman Badge to Army forces operating in South Vietnam. This regulation specifically stated that criteria for award of the Combat Infantryman Badge identified the man who trained, lived, and fought as an infantryman and the Combat Infantryman Badge is the unique award established to recognize the infantryman and only the infantryman for his service. Further, "the Combat Infantryman Badge is not an award for being shot at or for undergoing the hazards of day-to-day combat." DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: 1. There are basically three requirements for award of the Combat Infantryman Badge. The Soldier must be an infantryman satisfactorily performing infantry duties, he must be assigned to an infantry unit during such time as the unit is engaged in active ground combat, and he must actively participate in such ground combat. 2. While the applicant's service in Vietnam in an infantry MOS is not in question, there is no evidence in his records and he did not provide any evidence that shows he was personally present and under hostile fire while his unit was actively engaged in ground combat with the enemy. 3. Regrettably, in the absence of evidence that conclusively shows he actively participated in ground combat, there is insufficient evidence upon which to base award of the Combat Infantryman Badge. BOARD VOTE: ________ ________ ________ GRANT FULL RELIEF ________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF ________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING ____X____ ___X_____ ___X_____ DENY APPLICATION BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION: The evidence presented does not demonstrate the existence of a probable error or injustice. Therefore, the Board determined that the overall merits of this case are insufficient as a basis for correction of the records of the individual concerned. _______ _ _X______ ___ CHAIRPERSON I certify that herein is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in this case. ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20120021017 3 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1 ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20120021017 2 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1