ADDENDUM TO
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS


IN THE MATTER OF:			DOCKET NUMBER:  BC-2010-03750
		
				COUNSEL:  NONE

						HEARING DESIRED:  NO



APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT:

He be paid in full for the 32 days of Post-Deployment/ 
Mobilization Respite Absence (PDMRA) that he should have earned 
during his mobilization in 2009.


APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT:

He has not been fully compensated for the previous correction 
the AFBCMR made to his records.  The Board previously decided to 
grant relief in his case and directed that his records be 
corrected to reflect that he was awarded 32 days of PDMRA; 
however, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) only 
paid him for ten days of duty because he had performed other 
duty that conflicted with the period of the adjustment to his 
records.  The AFBCMR should have considered inactive and active 
duty periods performed before crafting a directive that could 
not be executed.

The applicant’s complete submission, with attachments, is at 
Exhibit D.


STATEMENT OF FACTS:

The applicant was one of over 60 members of the West Virginia 
Air National Guard who petitioned the BCMR to correct their 
records to reflect they were credited with various amounts of 
PDMRA at the end of their mobilization tours during 2009.  The 
applicants contended that because their unit was unaware of the 
PDMRA program, as promulgated by Secretary of Defense 
Memorandum, Utilization of the Total Force, dated 19 Jan 07, 
they were the victims of an injustice because they were unable 
to partake in this important entitlement program.

On 24 May 11, after a thoroughly considering the facts and 
circumstances of the applicant’s case, the Board determined the 
evidence he had provided was sufficient to conclude that he 
should have been credited with 32 days of PDMRA credit at the 
end of his mobilization tour and recommended correcting the 
applicant’s records to reflect that he was not released from 
active duty on 6 Apr 09, but continued to serve on active duty 
for 32 additional days for the purpose of utilizing his PDMRA 
credit. 

On 6 Jun 11, the Secretary’s designee issued a directive to the 
Chief of Staff of the Air Force to correct the applicant’s 
records accordingly.

On 3 Jan 13, ARPC/DPTS notified the applicant that his records 
had been corrected in accordance with the aforementioned 
directive.  Specifically, his DD Form 214, Certificate of 
Release or Discharge from Active Duty, was corrected to reflect 
that he was not released from active duty on 6 Apr 09, but 
served on active duty until 8 May 09, when he was released from 
active duty.  Additionally, his point credit accounting report 
summary was corrected to reflect that he earned an additional 
32 points toward his reserve retirement for the period in 
question.

However, subsequent to these corrections being made to the 
applicant’s military personnel records, DFAS advised the BCMR 
staff that payment could not be made to the applicant because 
doing so would result in dual compensation.  In this respect, 
DFAS noted that many of the applicants performed other military 
duty (and had been paid) during the period for which the BCMR 
directed the records be corrected.  

According to documentation provided by the applicant, he was 
credited with performing the following military duty during the 
period for which the Board directed he be credited with 32 
additional active duty days (7 Apr 09 through 8 May 09):

      
      7 Apr 09 through 9 Apr 09 – Unit Training Assembly (UTA)

      13 Apr 09 – Additional Flying Training Period (AFTP)

      14 Apr 09 – UTA

      18 Apr 09 through 2 May 09 – Annual Training

      3 May 09 – UTA

      5 May 09 – AFTP

      6 May 09 – Annual Training

      7 May 09 – AFTP

Section 605 of the Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) National Defense 
Authorization Act (NDAA) provides for the payment of $200 per 
day for the nonparticipation of eligible members in the PDMRA 
program due to government error.  Members may submit an 
application to the Board for Correction of Military Records 
(BCMR) or use another process created by the Secretary 
concerned.  As a result, any relief granted by the AFBCMR on 
this issue subsequent to Jan 13 must take the form of a cash 
payment of $200 per day of PDMRA credit that the Board 
determines an applicant would have received were it not for 
government error.

The remaining relevant facts pertaining to this application are 
described in the memoranda prepared by DFAS and the Air Force 
offices of primary responsibility (OPR), which are included at 
Exhibits E and F.


AIR FORCE EVALUATION:

DFAS recommends denial indicating that reconsideration of the 
applicant’s request would not be appropriate.  According to 
their records, the applicant was paid for “admin absence” on 11 
Jun 13 for the period 6 Apr 09 through 8 May 09 as a result of 
the original decision of the AFBCMR.  
 
A complete copy of the DFAS evaluation is at Exhibit E.

NGB/A1PR recommends relief be granted, indicting the applicant 
continues to be the victim of an error or injustice as he has 
not received the compensation due to him as a result of his 
records being corrected.  NGB/A1PR and the AFBCMR declared that 
there should be a correction of the applicant’s military records 
and compensation of military pay, points, and applicable 
benefits for the loss of 32 days of PDMRA by the applicant.  The 
applicant’s DFAS-DC Military Pay and Allowance Voucher reflects 
the member performed 24 days of federal duty during 7 Apr 09 
through 8 May 09; therefore, DFAS only paid the member for eight 
days of qualifying PDMRA credit.

A complete copy of the NGB/A1PR evaluation is at Exhibit F.


APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION:

The applicant disagrees with the DFAS opinion that 
reconsideration is not applicable in his case, but agrees with 
the NGB position.  The rationale is fairly simple; he and the 
other members of his unit were not afforded the opportunity for 
PDMRA as it was intended to be (an authorized paid absence) 
during the high operations tempo years of the Global War on 
Terrorism.  As a result, they were deprived of the opportunity 
to exercise paid time off with their families and friends to 
decompress and ultimately help eliminate some of the combat 
stressors of ongoing operations.  He agreed in good faith to 
accept a corrected DD Form 215 [sic], Certificate of Release or 
Discharge from Active Duty, and compensation in-lieu of this 
time off.  DFAS submitted an attempt at payment while he was 
away from his residence attending military training for over two 
weeks.  By the time he was finally able to review the mailed 
documents, he was unable to contact DFAS to dispute the payment 
of $1,896.41 instead of the $8,808.76 that he was owed.  After 
numerous attempts to contact DFAS, he was eventually told by an 
administrator that there was no way to pay him twice for the 
same day of duty, so he would have to go through the AFBCMR 
process to receive full payment.  Based upon the summary opinion 
of NGB/A1, he is willing to accept the payment of $200.00 per 
day and agree to the 28 days that were not paid due to 
conflicting duty during the previous attempt at payment, even 
though there is a delta of over $1,300.00, not to mention the 
tax penalty.  In support of his response, the applicant provides 
copies of correspondence from DFAS related to the payment of his 
instant claim, correspondence from ARPC related to the 
correction of his military personnel records, and a copy of the 
directive issued as a result of the Board’s previous 
consideration of his case (Exhibit H).


THE BOARD CONCLUDES THAT:

After again reviewing the facts and circumstances of this case, 
our earlier determination that the applicant was the victim of 
an error or injustice, and the relief crafted by virtue of the 
directive issued as a result of our previous decision, we are 
convinced by the evidence presented that the applicant continues 
to be the victim of an error or injustice.  This Board 
previously determined that the applicant’s records should be 
corrected to reflect that he was credited with 32 days of Post-
Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence (PDMRA) and that he was 
not released from active duty on 6 Apr 09, but on that date 
continued to serve on active duty until 8 May 09 for the purpose 
of taking his accrued PDMRA benefit.  As a result of our 
finding, corrections were made to his DD Form 214, Certificate 
of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, and point credit 
accounting reporting summary (PCARS) to reflect that he 
performed this additional constructed active service.  However, 
because the applicant had already performed other military duty 
during said period, DFAS could not process full payment for the 
constructed duty as doing so would result in dual compensation 
to the applicant for many of the days in question.  However, 
while we believe this situation causes the applicant to continue 
to be the victim of an error or injustice, we are not convinced 
that his records should be corrected in the manner he requests—
payment for a certain number of days that, according to his 
calculations, he has not been paid.  In this respect, we note 
that had this Board been aware that the applicant had performed 
duty that conflicted with the recommended correction to his 
records when his case was originally considered, it would have 
instead corrected the applicant’s records to reflect that he was 
entitled to Assignment Incentive Pay (AIP) of $200.00 per day of 
PDMRA credit as it has previously done in other cases where 
conflicting duty was appropriately raised.  Therefore, in view 
of this, we believe it would be appropriate to recommend 
correcting the applicant’s record to reflect that the original 
directive issued in this case on 6 Jun 11 be declared void and 
removed from the applicant’s records and that his records 
instead be corrected to reflect that he is entitled to payment 
of $200.00 per day for the 32 days of PDMRA credit he should 
have received at the conclusion of his mobilization tour in 
2009.  While this is not the relief specified by the applicant, 
we believe it is proper and fitting as it is consistent with 
past practice and the provisions of the Fiscal Year 2013 
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that require us to 
recommend payment of $200.00 per day in lieu of PDMRA credit in 
similar circumstances.  Therefore, we recommend the applicant’s 
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 the APPLICANT be corrected to show that:

	a.  The directives issued to the Chief of Staff on 6 June 
2011 and 11 June 2013 be declared void and removed from his 
records.

      b.  He accrued 32 days of Post-Deployment/Mobilization 
Respite Absence (PDMRA) when he was released from active duty on 
6 April 2009, and [should be] paid $200.00 for each day of his 
PDMRA credit in accordance with the provisions of Section 605 of 
the Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).


The following members of the Board considered AFBCMR Docket 
Number BC-2010-03750 in Executive Session on 11 Jun 15 under the 
provisions of AFI 36-2603:

	


All members voted to correct the records as recommended.  The 
following documentary evidence pertaining to AFBCMR Docket 
Number BC-2010-03750 was considered:

	Exhibit D.  Record of Proceedings, dated 6 Jun 11, w/atchs.
	Exhibit E.  DD Form 149, 3 Jan 14, w/atchs.
	Exhibit F.  E-mail, DFAS, dated 11 May 15.
	Exhibit G.  Memorandum, NGB/A1PR, dated 14 May 15.
	Exhibit H.  Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 15 May 15.
	Exhibit I.  E-mail, Applicant, w/atchs, dated 27 May 15.