BOARD DATE: 1 September 2015 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20140021149 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 that he be retired in the pay grade of E-6. 2. The applicant states, in effect, that he was promoted to the pay grade of E-6 while serving on active duty and took a voluntary reduction to accept a vacant full-time position closer to his home. However, at the time of his retirement he was retired in the pay grade of E-5 instead of the highest grade he had held on active duty. 3. The applicant provides copies of a letter from the Army Grade Determination Review Board (AGDRB), his letter to the AGDRB, promotion orders to E-6, transfer orders, voluntary reduction orders to E-5, and his DD Form 214 (Certificate of release or Discharge from Active Duty). CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE: 1. The applicant was serving on active duty in the Active Guard Reserve (AGR) Program in the pay grade of E-5 when he was promoted to the pay grade of E-6 on 19 September 2007. 2. On 1 June 2009, the applicant accepted a voluntary reduction to the pay grade of E-5 and a transfer from an E-6 AGR position in Watervliet, New York to an E-5 position in Glens Falls, New York. 3. On 30 September 2014, he was honorably retired in the pay grade of E-5 due to sufficient service for retirement. He had served 20 years and 15 days of active service. 4. Title 10, U.S. Code, section 3963, as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 1997, provides, in effect, that a full-time Reserve or National Guard member who is retired under section 3914 of this title shall be retired in the highest enlisted grade in which the member served on active duty satisfactorily, as determined by the Secretary of the Army upon completion of 30 years of service. This service may consist of combined active service and service in the USAR Control Group (Retired) and the Army Grade Determination Board is the agency that reviews the records and/or applications for advancement on the Retired list in behalf of the Secretary, for those who have attained 30 years of service. It also provides that Reserve or full-time National Guard members who at the time of retirement are serving on active duty in a grade lower than the highest grade held by the member on active duty and were previously administratively reduced in grade not as a result of the member’s own misconduct, will be retired in the highest grade served on active duty at the time of retirement, provided that they retired after 30 September 1996. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: 1. At the time the applicant was promoted to the pay grade of E-6, he was serving on active duty in the NYARNG. He subsequently accepted an administrative reduction to the pay grade of E-5 in order to accept a vacant position in the NYARNG and remained in the AGR Program until he retired. 2. Therefore, because he was on active duty in the AGR Program at the time he was promoted and when he accepted the administrative reduction, he was entitled to be placed on the Retired List in the pay grade of E-6. 3. Accordingly, his records should be corrected to show that he was placed on the Retired List in the pay grade of E-6 effective 1 October 2014, with entitlement to all back pay and allowances that flow from that change. BOARD VOTE: ____X____ ____X____ ___X__ GRANT FULL RELIEF ________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF ________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING ________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION: 1. The Board determined that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant a recommendation for relief. As a result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by showing that he was placed on the Retired List in the pay grade of E-6 effective 1 October 2014, with entitlement to all back pay and allowances that flow from that change 2. The Board wants the applicant and all others to know that the sacrifices he made in service to the United States are deeply appreciated. The applicant and all Americans should be justifiably proud of his service in arms. _______ _ 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) AR20140021149 3 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1 ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20140021149 3 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1