RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
         AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS

IN THE MATTER OF:      DOCKET NUMBER:  00-02474
            INDEX NUMBER:  111.01, 131.01

            COUNSEL:  NONE

            HEARING DESIRED: NO

_________________________________________________________________

APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT:

His original Officer Performance Report (OPR) closing 30 April 1998 be
replaced with the corrected OPR including the command  recommendation,
and that he be considered for promotion to  the  grade  of  lieutenant
colonel by Special Selection Board (SSB) for the CY99A (15  April  99)
Lieutenant Colonel Board with the corrected OPR in his promotion file.

_________________________________________________________________

APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT:

His OPR closing 30 April 1998 did not properly reflect his performance
during the covered rating period,  in  that,  it  did  not  contain  a
recommendation for a command position.  The rater and additional rater
for this OPR erroneously believed that personnel policy did not  allow
for inclusion of a command recommendation.

He  received  his  non-selection  counseling  from  HQ  AFPC  and  the
counselor identified a lack of consistent command  recommendations  on
field grade OPRs  as  a  “significant  deficiency”  in  his  promotion
record.

In support of his appeal, the applicant provided a personal letter, an
Evaluation Reports Appeal Board (ERAB)  decision  letter,  letters  of
support  from  the  rater,  additional  rater,  and  reviewer  on  his
contested report and from his  former  commander;  he  also  submitted
copies of his OPRs from 19 Jun 95 thru 01 Sep 99.

Applicant’s complete submission is attached at Exhibit A.

_________________________________________________________________

STATEMENT OF FACTS:

Information extracted from the Personnel Data  System  (PDS)  revealed
that the applicant entered on  active  duty  on  10  Mar  83.   He  is
currently serving on active duty in the grade of  major,  having  been
promoted to that grade on 06 Feb 95.




Applicant’s OPR profile for the last 10 reporting periods follows:

                   Period Ending                   Evaluation

                     18  Jun  92                      Meets  Standards
(MS)
                     18 Jun 93                           MS
                     18 Jun 94                           MS
                     18 Jun 95                           MS
                     18 Jun 96                           MS
                     18 Jun 97                           MS
*                    30 Apr 98                           MS
#                    10 Mar 99                           MS
##               01 Sep 99                         MS
                     01 Sep 00                           MS

* Denotes contested report

# Top report in file when considered and nonselected for promotion  by
the CY99A Central Lieutenant Colonel Selection Board

## Top report in file when considered and nonselected for promotion by
the CY99B Central Lieutenant Colonel Selection Board

Applicant appealed the contested report under AFI 36-2401,  Correcting
Officer and Enlisted Evaluation Reports, 06 Jun 00, which  was  denied
by the ERAB.

_________________________________________________________________

AIR FORCE EVALUATION:

The Promotion, Evaluation and Recog Division, noted that the applicant
has two nonselections to the grade of lieutenant colonel by the P0599A
and the P0599B central boards and that his  appeal  submitted  to  the
ERAB, was denied.

They state that there is no clear evidence that the  omission  of  the
recommendation for a command position negatively impacted  applicant’s
promotion opportunity.  They further state central boards evaluate the
entire officer selection record (OSR), assessing whole person  factors
such as job performance, professional qualities, depth and breadth  of
experience,  leadership,  and  academic  and   professional   military
education.

They noted that a review of a sampling of selection records  from  the
P0599A board revealed that not all officers  selected  had  consistent
recommendations for command position.  Likewise, records they reviewed
on officers not selected for promotion contained  recommendations  for
command positions.  They further noted that  a  professional  military
education  (PME)  recommendation  is  not  a  determining  factor   or
guarantee of promotion selection by the promotion board.

A review of the AFPC counselor’s notes did not  reveal  anything  that
would imply  the  lack  of  command  position  recommendations  was  a
significant deficiency.  The counselor merely noted,  “command  pushes
are inconsistent.”  They state the counselor also noted other  factors
could have contributed to the applicant’s nonselection for  promotion.
Based  on  the  evidence  provided,  they  strongly  opposed  an   SSB
consideration based on the lack of  command  position  recommendations
and recommended denial of the applicant’s request.

A complete copy of the evaluation is at Exhibit C.

_________________________________________________________________

APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION:

On 21 Oct 00, the applicant  submitted  a  rebuttal  to  the  advisory
opinion, noting that they did not offer any  additional  justification
for rejection of his request to  update  his  OPR  beyond  the  ERAB’s
findings and he disagreed with the general impression of the  advisory
opinion that the promotion board, when evaluating an officer’s record,
does not consider a command recommendation in OPRs.

The applicant also  cited  additional  justification  to  support  his
original contentions and stated that  the  only  way  to  rectify  the
injustice is to have an SSB consider his corrected military record.

Applicant’s complete response is at Exhibit E.

_________________________________________________________________

THE BOARD CONCLUDES THAT:

1.  The applicant has exhausted all remedies provided by existing  law
or regulations.

2.  The application was timely filed.

3.  Sufficient relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the
existence of probable error or injustice warranting  a  correction  to
the record and consideration for promotion to the grade of  lieutenant
colonel by Special Selection Board.  After  careful  consideration  of
the  applicant’s  complete  submission,   including   the   supporting
statements provided by the members of his  rating  chain,  it  appears
that the lack of a command recommendation in the contested report  was
the result of incorrect policy interpretation by the  evaluators  that
command recommendations  were  reserved  for  high  command  potential
officers who were in the primary zone for lieutenant colonel.  Because
the applicant was not in  the  primary  zone,  he  did  not  meet  the
criteria for a  command  endorsement.   In  view  of  the  evaluators’
statements, we believe that the  contested  report  is  an  inaccurate
assessment  of  the  applicant’s  performance  during  the  period  in
question  and  that  it  should  be  removed  from  his  records   and
substituted  with  the  reaccomplished  report.    While   we   cannot
conclusively determine that the absence of the command  recommendation
on the contested OPR caused the applicant’s nonselection for promotion
to lieutenant colonel, we do know that it deprived  him  of  fair  and
equitable  consideration.   We  therefore  recommend  the  records  be
corrected to the extent indicated below.

_________________________________________________________________

THE BOARD RECOMMENDS THAT:

The pertinent military records of the  Department  of  the  Air  Force
relating to APPLICANT, be corrected to show that:

      a.  The Field Grade Officer Performance Report,  AF  Form  707A,
rendered for the period  19  June  1997  through  30  April  1998,  be
declared void and removed from his records.

       b.  The  attached  Field  Grade  Officer  Performance   Report,
rendered  for  the  period,  19  June  1997  through  30  April  1998,
reflecting in Section  VI,  Rater  Overall  Assessment,  in  the  last
sentence, “ready for program director now, a must  for  DSMC  and  in-
residence SSS,” be accepted for file and placed in his record  in  its
proper sequence.


It is further recommended that he be considered for promotion  to  the
grade of  lieutenant  colonel  by  Special  Selection  Board  for  the
Calendar Year  1999A  Lieutenant  Colonel  Selection  Board,  and  any
subsequent boards for which the  now  reaccomplished  OPR  was  not  a
matter of record.

_________________________________________________________________

The following members of the  Board  considered  this  application  in
Executive Session on 30 November 2000, under the provisions of AFI 36-
2603:

      Mr. Vaughn E. Schlunz, Panel Chair
      Mr. William E. Edwards, Member
      Ms. Brenda L. Romine, Member


All members  voted  to  correct  the  records,  as  recommended.   The
following documentary evidence was considered:

     Exhibit A.  DD Form 149, dated 8 Sep 00, w/atchs.
     Exhibit B.  Applicant's Master Personnel Records.
     Exhibit C.  Letter, HQ AFPC/DPPP, dated 29 Sep 00.
     Exhibit D.  Letter, SAF/MIBR, dated 13 Oct 00.
     Exhibit E.  Letter, Applicant’s Response, dated 21 Oct 00.




                                   VAUGHN E. SCHLUNZ
                                   Panel Chair