RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 

AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS 

 

IN THE MATTER OF: DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2011-02873 

 

 

 COUNSEL: NONE 

 

 HEARING DESIRED: NO 

 

_________________________________________________________________ 

 

APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: 

 

His under other than honorable conditions (UOTHC) discharge be 
upgraded to general (under honorable conditions). 

 

_________________________________________________________________ 

 

APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: 

 

He was told his discharge would be upgraded after six months. He 
would like to apply for health benefits. 

 

In support of his appeal, the applicant provides a copy of a DD 
Form 293, Application for the Review of Discharge from the Armed 
Forces of the United States. 

 

The applicant’s complete submission, with attachment, is at 
Exhibit A. 

 

_________________________________________________________________ 

 

STATEMENT OF FACTS: 

 

The applicant began his military service on 5 Aug 68. 

 

On 19 Oct 70, the applicant’s commander notified him that he had 
initiated administrative discharge action against him for 
Unsuitability in accordance with Air Force Manual (AFM) 39-12. 
His commander recommended he receive a general (under honorable 
conditions) discharge. The base commander and the discharge 
authority both provided endorsements to the administrative 
discharge recommendation where they concurred with the 
recommendation to discharge the applicant for unsuitability with 
a general (under honorable conditions) character of service. The 
reasons for the action were as follows: 

 

 1. On 16 Jul 70, his commander initiated an Office of 
Special Investigations (OSI) investigation as the applicant 
admitted he had engaged in homosexual relations. The OSI 
investigation was completed on 24 Sep 70 and resulted in findings 
the applicant had frequented homosexual bars and had engaged in 
numerous homosexual acts with other airmen and civilian males 


from Nov 69 until at least early Jul 70, when he admitted such 
behavior to his commander. On 6 Aug 70, the results of a 
psychiatric evaluation were that the applicant had a schizoid 
personality with homosexuality. 

 

2. On 12 Aug 70, the applicant received an Article 15 for 
failure to repair, which included punishment consisting of a 
suspended reduction to the grade of airman first class (A1C/E-3), 
forfeiture of $50 per month for one month, and restriction to 
base for 30 days. 

 

3. On 11 Sep 70, the applicant broke restriction leading 
his commander to vacate the aforementioned reduction in grade. 
On 19 Oct 70, he received an additional Article 15 for being 
Absent Without Leave (AWOL) from 10 to 22 Sep 70 and 23 Sep to 19 
Oct 70. His punishment consisted of a reduction in grade to 
airman basic (AB/E-1), restriction to base for 60 days, and 45 
days of extra duty. 

 

On 30 Oct 70, according to the applicant’s AF Form 100, Request 
and Authorization for Separation, the applicant was ordered to be 
furnished a general (under honorable conditions) discharge. 
However, according to the applicant’s DD Form 214, Armed Forces 
of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge, he was 
furnished an under other than honorable conditions (UOTHC) 
discharge and was credited with 2 years, 2 months, and 26 days of 
total active service. 

 

On 20 Sep 11, the Under Secretary of Defense issued guidance 
pertaining to correction of military records requests resulting 
from the repeal of Title 10, Section 654, commonly known as 
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT). In a memorandum, dated 20 Sep 11, 
the Under Secretary of Defense published guidance that Service 
Discharge Review Boards should normally grant requests to change 
the narrative reason for discharge (the change should be to 
“Secretarial Authority”), requests to re-characterize the 
discharge to honorable, and/or request a change to the reentry 
code to an immediately-eligible-to-reenter category when both of 
the following conditions are met: (1) the original discharge was 
based solely on DADT or a similar policy in place prior to 
enactment of DADT and (2) there were no aggravating factors in 
the record, such as misconduct. Although each request must be 
evaluated on a case-by-case basis, the award of an honorable or 
general (under honorable conditions) discharge should normally be 
considered to indicate the absence of aggravating factors. 

 

Pursuant to the Board’s request, the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation (FBI), provided a copy of an Investigation Report, 
which is at Exhibit C. On 24 Feb 12, a copy of the FBI report 
and a request for post-service information was forwarded to the 
applicant for review and comment within 30 days (Exhibit D). As 
of this date, no response has been received by this office. 

 

_________________________________________________________________ 


THE BOARD CONCLUDES THAT: 

 

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

 

2. The application was not timely filed; however, it is in the 
interest of justice to excuse the failure to timely file. 

 

3. Sufficient relevant evidence has been presented to 
demonstrate the existence of an error or injustice warranting 
corrective action. After a thorough review of the evidence of 
record and the applicant’s complete submission, we believe a 
preponderance of the evidence indicates the applicant’s service 
was erroneously characterized as under other than honorable 
conditions (UOTHC), instead of general (under honorable 
conditions). In this respect, we note the commander recommended 
the applicant be discharged with a general (under honorable 
conditions) character of service and the discharge authority 
concurred with his recommendation. In fact, the orders 
authorizing the applicant’s discharge, published the same day he 
was discharged, also indicate his service should have been so 
characterized. However, for whatever reason, his DD Form 214 
indicates his service was characterized as UOTHC. Therefore, in 
view of this obvious error, we believe the applicant’s 
DD Form 214 should be corrected to reflect his service was 
characterized as general (under honorable conditions). While the 
repeal of the law known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) 
provides a basis for us to upgrade the discharge of a service 
member separated under its provisions to honorable, the 
applicant’s homosexual conduct was not the sole basis of his 
discharge. In this respect, we note the applicant’s other 
misconduct, failure to repair and two instances of being absent 
without leave, are aggravating factors and could have formed the 
basis of his general (under honorable conditions) discharge. 
Therefore, we are not inclined to recommend his discharge be 
upgraded to honorable on the basis of the repeal of DADT. 
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 on 
30 October 1970, he was discharged with service characterized as 
general (under honorable conditions) and issued a general 
discharge certificate. 

 

_________________________________________________________________ 

 

 


The following members of the Board considered AFBCMR Docket 
Number BC-2011-02873 in Executive Session on 3 Apr 12, under the 
provisions of AFI 36-2603: 

 

 , Panel Chair 

 , Member 

 , Member 

 

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

 

 Exhibit A. DD Form 149, dated 20 Jul 11, w/atchs. 

 Exhibit B. Applicant's Master Military Personnel Records. 

 Exhibit C. FBI Report. 

 Exhibit D. Letter, AFBCMR, dated 24 Feb 12. 

 

 

 

 

 

 Panel Chair