RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
             AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS

IN THE MATTER OF:                       DOCKET NUMBER:  BC-2007-00627
                                             INDEX CODE:  131.01
      XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX                COUNSEL:  NONE

                                        HEARING DESIRED:  NOT INDICATED


MANDATORY CASE COMPLETION DATE:  26 August 2008


________________________________________________________________

APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT:

His record be corrected to show that he was directly promoted to  the  grade
of lieutenant colonel with a  date  of  rank  (DOR)  commensurate  to  those
selected by  the  CY99B  (30  November  1999)  (P0599B)  Lieutenant  Colonel
Central Selection Board (CSB), and consideration be  given  to  the  overall
impact of his situation  over  his  career  regarding  subsequent  promotion
boards, professional military education, etc.

His records be corrected to include the Air Force Commendation Medal,  First
Oak Leaf Cluster (AFCM)(1OLC)  citation  in  his  Officer  Selection  Record
(OSR) for  his  above-the-promotion-zone  (APZ)  CY00A  (28  November  2000)
(P0500A) Lieutenant Colonel CSB, that he was directly promoted to the  grade
of lieutenant colonel with a DOR  commensurate  to  those  selected  by  the
P0500A Lieutenant Colonel CSB, and consideration be  given  to  the  overall
impact of his situation  over  his  career  regarding  subsequent  promotion
boards, professional military education, etc.

________________________________________________________________

APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT:

The promotion system made a mistake during his  in-the-promotion-zone  (IPZ)
consideration by the P0599B Lieutenant Colonel CSB.  He was advised that  he
was passed over because he had spent a lot of time  at  Fairchild  AFB,  WA,
which was interpreted as a lack of “breadth of experience”, and as a  result
of poorly written Officer Performance Reports (OPRs) from the United  States
Air Force Academy (USAFA) – both situations  beyond  his  control.   At  the
time he was preparing to PCS from Fairchild AFB, a PCS freeze was  initiated
by HQ Strategic Air Command due to the budget situation at  that  time.   He
was subsequently chosen for an elite, special duty assignment at the  USAFA,
but it was held against him because of the quality  of  the  OPRs,  not  the
quality of his performance.

The absence of the AFCM (1OLC) in his OSR negatively  affected  the  results
of the P0500A Lieutenant Colonel CSB and, if it  had  been  considered,  may
have affected the outcome of this board since he was  subsequently  promoted
above-the-primary-zone (APZ) to the grade of lieutenant colonel.

In support of his appeal, he has submitted two DD Form 149s, both  dated  26
February 2007, two personal statements, both dated  26  February  2007,  and
copies of his “As Met” records considered by the CSBs in question.

Applicant’s complete submissions, with attachments,  are  at  Exhibit A  and
A1.

________________________________________________________________

STATEMENT OF FACTS:

At the time of his application,  applicant  was  serving  as  the  18th  Air
Support Operations Group Deputy Commander, Pope AFB, NC,  in  the  grade  of
lieutenant colonel, with a DOR and effective date of 1 April 2003.   He  was
awarded the AFCM (1OLC) with a close date of 1 June 1999.

________________________________________________________________

AIR FORCE EVALUATION:

AFPC/DPASB recommends denial of the request for direct promotion.   However,
they believe the  most  fair  and  practical  remedy  is  to  grant  Special
Selection  Board  (SSB)  consideration  by  the  CY00A  (28  November  2000)
(P0500A) Lieutenant Colonel CSB to allow him  to  include  his  AFCM  (1OLC)
citation in his OSR.

Applicant has three nonselections for promotion to the grade  of  lieutenant
colonel by  the  P0599B,  P0500A,  and  CY01B  (5  November  2001)  (P0501B)
Lieutenant Colonel CSBs.  He was selected for  promotion  to  the  grade  of
lieutenant colonel APZ by the CY02B (12 November  2002)  (P0502B)  CSB,  and
promoted with an  effective  date/DOR  of  1  April  2003.   He  received  a
“Promote” recommendation on his Promotion Recommendation Form (PRF) for  his
IPZ consideration, and for his first two APZ considerations.  He received  a
“Definitely Promote” recommendation on his PRF for the P0502B CSB,  and  was
selected for promotion APZ.

No relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the  existence  of  a
probable error or injustice.  The results of the P0599B board were based  on
a complete review of  his  entire  selection  record,  assessing  the  whole
person factors such as job performance, professional  qualities,  depth  and
breadth of experience, leadership, and education.  Although an  officer  may
be qualified for promotion, he may  not  be  the  best  qualified  of  other
eligible officers competing for the limited number  of  promotion  vacancies
in the judgment of a  selection  board.   Furthermore,  to  grant  a  direct
promotion  would  be  unfair  to  all  other  officers  who  have  extremely
competitive records but did not get promoted.  Additionally,  both  Congress
and DoD have made  clear  their  intent  that  errors  ultimately  affecting
promotion should be resolved through  the  use  of  SSBs.   When  many  good
officers are competing for a limited number of promotions, it  is  extremely
competitive.  Without access to all the competing records and  a  review  of
their content, they believe sending approved cases to  SSBs  for  remedy  is
the fairest and best practice.

Applicant has not provided any documentation showing what action he took  to
ensure the AFCM (1OLC) was not missing from his P0500A OSR.  To  ensure  the
contents of the actual OSR were correct, he would  have  had  to  request  a
copy of his record from Officer Records at  HQ  AFPC,  as  directed  in  the
instructions attached  to  the  Officer  Preselection  Brief  each  eligible
officer receives prior to CSBs.  Since it is  the  officer’s  responsibility
to ensure the accuracy of his record, they believe that had he  checked  his
OSR prior to the P0500A Board, he would have noticed  the  missing  citation
and taken corrective action at that time.

Although the AFCM (1OLC) citation was not  on  file  in  his  OSR  when  the
P0500A Board convened, the board members knew of its existence as  evidenced
by the entry in his Officer Selection Brief, and were  therefore  aware  the
decoration was awarded to the applicant and factored it into  the  promotion
selection process.  As such, they are  not  convinced  the  absence  of  the
citation contributed to his non-selection for promotion.  He was  considered
and selected for promotion to lieutenant colonel by the P0502B  CSB  without
the citation in his OSR, as the citation was not filed in his OSR  until  13
April 2006.

The AFPC/DPASB evaluation is at Exhibit C.

________________________________________________________________

APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION:

Applicant responded to the AFPC/DPASB advisory on 9 May 2007.   Although  he
cannot offer specific evidentiary proof that an error was made, he  believes
that  since  the  feedback  he  was  provided  cited  lack  of  breadth   of
experience, his record was misinterpreted to  his  detriment,  there  was  a
technical error in the processing  of  his  record,  and  it  is  worthy  of
reconsideration.  He asserts that he achieved  and  excelled  in  the  whole
person factors such as job performance, professional  qualities,  depth  and
breadth of  experience,  leadership  and  education,  and  that  his  record
clearly shows extensive depth and breadth of experience  as  he  held  every
job in a  squadron,  served  as  a  primary  crew  member,  instructor,  and
evaluator, and served at the Wing level, MAJCOM, IG, and at the USAFA as  an
AOC and deputy IG (special duty assignment).  He understands  he  was  given
the same opportunity as all others to  have  his  records  compared  to  his
peers, but believes there appears to be an obvious  misinterpretation  based
on his length of service in an assignment, and this was beyond his  control.
 He also believes his OPRs from the USAFA  were  poorly  written,  and  this
could not have helped but hurt his overall perception in  the  eyes  of  the
promotion board.

He also feels the lack of the AFCM (1OLC) citation was possibly  significant
in the P/DP consideration by the senior rater, as well as giving  the  board
a chance to review what  the  decoration  was  actually  awarded  for.   The
advisory statement that the citation  was  missing  from  his  OSR  for  the
P0502B board which subsequently promoted him  misses  several  points.   For
that board, he  was  given  a  DP  and  also  had  received  several  combat
decorations on  top  of  the  missing  citation,  and  asserts  the  missing
citation that accompanied the award would have  made  a  difference  to  the
board and that’s the reason they are included in the OSR.  He  also  asserts
he did several reviews prior to the P0500A  board,  identified  the  missing
citation, and took appropriate steps to correct his record.  He took a  copy
of the citation to his servicing MPF, watched as they made copies and  typed
the addition to his record, and, having witnessed the  action,  assumed  the
technician had successfully updated his record.  He discovered this was  not
the case after reviewing his “as met” records.

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 to warrant  his  consideration  for
promotion to the grade of lieutenant colonel by an  SSB.   After  thoroughly
reviewing the complete case file, the Board noted  the  CY00A  (28  November
2000) (P0500A) Lieutenant Colonel CSB considered him for  promotion  without
his AFCM (1OLC) citation closing 1 June 1999  being  included  in  his  OSR.
While the Board cannot determine what impact this citation  would  have  had
on the outcome of the CY00A Lieutenant Colonel CSB, the  Board  majority  is
persuaded he may have been deprived of  full  and  fair  consideration.   In
view of the above, and in order  to  keep  the  record  whole,  resolve  any
injustice, and allow the SSB to perform a complete and accurate  assessment,
the Board, by  majority  vote,  voted  to  recommend  that  his  records  be
corrected to the extent indicated below.

4.  Insufficient relevant evidence has been  presented  to  demonstrate  the
existence of either an error or injustice  warranting  favorable  action  on
the applicant’s request for a direct promotion to the  grade  of  lieutenant
colonel, as if selected by the CY99B Lieutenant  Colonel  Central  Selection
Board.  In this respect, we note that officers compete for  promotion  under
the whole person concept  whereby  a  multitude  of  factors  are  carefully
assessed by the selection board members prior to  scoring  the  record.   In
addition, they may be qualified but – in the  judgment  of  selection  board
members vested with discretionary authority to score  their  records  –  may
not be the best qualified of those  available  for  the  limited  number  of
promotion vacancies.  Consequently, a direct  promotion  should  be  granted
only under extraordinary circumstances; i.e., a showing that  the  officer’s
record cannot be reconstructed in such a manner so as to permit  him/her  to
compete for promotion on a fair and equitable  basis;  a  showing  that  the
officer exercised due diligence in pursuing  timely  and  effective  relief;
and lastly, that had the original errors not occurred,  the  probability  of
him/her being selected for promotion would have been extremely high.  We  do
not find these factors in this case.  In view of the foregoing, and  in  the
absence of evidence  to  the  contrary,  we  find  no  compelling  basis  to
recommend granting the requested relief.

________________________________________________________________

THE BOARD RECOMMENDS THAT:

The pertinent military records of the Department of the Air  Force  relating
to APPLICANT, to include the AFCM (1OLC) closing 1 June 1999, be  considered
for promotion to the grade of lieutenant  colonel  by  a  Special  Selection
Board for the Calendar  Year  2000A  (P0500A),  Lieutenant  Colonel  Central
Selection Board and any subsequent boards for which the above award was  not
a matter of record.

________________________________________________________________

The following members of the Board considered  Docket  Number  BC-2007-00627
in Executive Session on 13 June 2007, under the provisions of AFI 36-2603:

                       Mr. Michael V. Barbino, Panel Chair
                       Ms. Renee M. Collier, Member
                       Ms. Barbara R. Murray, Member

By majority vote, the Board voted to correct  the  records  as  recommended.
Ms. Barbara R. Murray voted to deny the applicant’s request,  but  does  not
wish to submit a minority report.  The following  documentary  evidence  was
considered:





    Exhibit A.  DD Form 149, dated 26 Feb 07, w/atchs.
    Exhibit A1. DD Form 149, dated 26 Feb 07, w/atchs.
    Exhibit B.  Applicant's Master Personnel Records.
    Exhibit C.  Letter, AFPC/DPASB, dated 29 Mar 07.
    Exhibit D.  Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 13 Apr 07.
    Exhibit E.  Letter, Applicant, dated 9 May 07.




                                   MICHAEL V. BARBINO
                                   Panel Chair
AFBCMR 2007-00627




MEMORANDUM FOR THE CHIEF OF STAFF

      Having received and considered the recommendation  of  the  Air  Force
Board for Correction of Military Records and under the authority of  Section
1552, Title 10, United States Code (70A Stat 116), it is directed that:

      The pertinent military records of the  Department  of  the  Air  Force
relating to XXXXXXXXXXXXXX, to include  the  Air  Force  Commendation  Medal
(First Oak Leaf Cluster), closing 1 June 1999, be considered  for  promotion
to the grade of lieutenant colonel by a  Special  Selection  Board  for  the
Calendar Year 2000A Lieutenant  Colonel  Central  Selection  Board  and  any
subsequent boards for which the above award was not a matter of record.












  JOE G. LINEBERGER

  Director

  Air Force Review Boards Agency