RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 

AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS 

 

 

IN THE MATTER OF: DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2011-03132 


 COUNSEL: NONE 

 HEARING DESIRED: NO 

 

 

________________________________________________________________ 

 

APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: 

 

His DD Form 214 Armed Forces of the United States Report of 
Transfer or Discharge be corrected as follows: 

 

1. Show his pay grade as E-5 versus E-4 in item 5b. 

 

2. He be awarded the Vietnam Service Medal with 1 Bronze 
Service Star (VSM W/1BSS). ADMINISTRATIVELY CORRECTED 

 

3. He be awarded the Presidential Unit Citation (PUC) 

 

4. His DD Form 214 be corrected to show 11 months of Foreign 

and/or Sea Service. ADMINISTRATIVELY CORRECTED 

 

________________________________________________________________ 

 

APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: 

 

His DD Form 214 does not reflect the correct awards or length of 
overseas service and lists an erroneous pay grade. 

 

In support of his request, the applicant provides a personal 
statement with two excerpts of the history of 509th Bombardment 
Wing, his DD Form 214, copies of DD Form 1352-2 Travel Voucher, 
and documents extracted from his military personnel records. 

 

The applicant’s complete submission, with attachments, is at 
exhibit A. 

 

_________________ ______________________________________________ 

 

STATEMENT OF FACTS: 

 

The applicant is a former member of the Regular Air Force who 
served from 20 April 1966 to 19 February 1970. He was trained 
and served as an Aircraft Mechanic Journeyman and was 
progressively promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant (SSgt) with 
a pay grade of (E-4) effective 1 January 1970. 

 


The applicant was released from active duty with an honorable 
characterization of service. He served 3 years, and 10 months on 
active duty. 

 

The applicant’s DD Form 214 does not reflect that he was awarded 
a VSM W/1BSS or PUC. 

 

By letter dated 14 September 2011, AFPC/DPAPP advised the 
applicant they were able to verify and confirm his Foreign 
and/or Sea Service at Anderson AFB, Guam, as well as temporary 
duty (TDY) to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa and Chin Chuan Kang Air 
Base, Taiwan for a combined total foreign service of 0 years, 11 
months, and 28 days. 

 

By letter dated 11 October 2011, AFPC/DPSIDRA advised the 
applicant they had verified his entitlement to the VSM w/BSS, 
the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Valor (AFOUA w/V), and 
the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm (RVNGC w/P). 
The applicant’s record will be updated to reflect these awards 
and decorations. Unfortunately, after a thorough review of Air 
Force Pamphlet 900-2, they were unable to verify that any of the 
applicant’s assigned units overseas received the PUC during his 
period of assignment. Therefore he is ineligible for award of 
the PUC. 

 

_______________________________________________________________ 

 

AIR FORCE EVALUATION: 

 

AFPC/DPSOE recommends the applicant’s request to reflect his 
grade as SSgt be time barred. A review of the applicant’s record 
reveals no orders promoting him to the grade of SSgt. His Air 
Force Form 7 reflects no entry in the grade data section 
promoting him to the grade of SSgt. They were unable to verify 
whether the applicant was considered for promotion to SSgt under 
the Weighted Airman Performance System (WAPS) as promotion 
history files are only maintained for a period of 10 years as 
outlined in, then, Air Force Regulation (AFR) 4-20, Records 
Disposition Schedule, Table 35-12, Rule 29. Ten years is 
generally considered an adequate period to resolve any promotion 
inquiries or concerns. However, based on his Date of Rank (DOR) 
to the rank of Sergeant (Sgt), as well as other minimum 
criteria, the applicant was eligible for consideration. 

 

The complete DPSOE evaluation is at exhibit C. 

 

 

 

APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION: 

 

A copy of the Air Force evaluation was forwarded to the 
applicant on 23 November 2011 for review and comment within 30 


days. 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. Insufficient relevant evidence has been presented to 
demonstrate the existence of error or injustice with regard to the 
applicant’s request for award of the PUC. We took notice of the 
applicant's complete submission in judging the merits of the case; 
however, we agree with the opinion and recommendation of the Air 
Force office of primary responsibility and adopt its rationale as 
the basis for our conclusion the applicant has not been the victim 
of an error or injustice. Therefore, in the absence of evidence 
to the contrary, we find no basis to recommend granting a portion 
of the relief sought in this application. 

 

4. Notwithstanding our determination above, sufficient relevant 
evidence has been presented to demonstrate the existence of error 
or injustice regarding his request to show his pay grade as E-5 
versus E-4 on his DD Form 214. The applicant contends that his DD 
Form 214 reflects a DOR of 1 January 1970, a rank of Staff 
Sergeant (SSgt) but reflects an incorrect pay grade of E-4. After 
a review of the evidence of record and the applicant’s complete 
submission we believe that relief is warranted. The Board notes 
that the Air Force office of primary responsibility states that 
based on the applicant’s DOR to the rank of Sgt as well as other 
minimum eligibility criteria; it appears the applicant was 
eligible for consideration for promotion to the next higher grade. 
We also note that his AF Form 7 reflects his DOR to the rank of 
Sgt with pay grade of E-4 as 1 January 1968. Therefore, we 
believe it is reasonable that he might have attained a promotion 
to SSgt. As such, we find the evidence sufficient to resolve any 
doubt in his favor. We note the applicant’s record will be 
administratively corrected to reflect the correct foreign service 
and his award of the VSM W/1BSS. Therefore, we recommend his 
record be corrected to the extent indicated below. 

 

________________________________________________________________ 

 

THE BOARD DETERMINES THAT: 

 

The pertinent military records of the Department of the Air 
Force relating to APPLICANT be corrected to 
show that he was discharged on 19 February 1970, with a pay 
grade of E-5, rather than E-4. 

 


________________________________________________________________ 

 

The following members of the Board considered this application 
BC-2011-03132 in Executive Session on 24 January 2012, under the 
provisions of AFI 36-2603: 

 

 Panel Chair 

 Member 

 Member 

 

The following documentary evidence was considered: 

 

 Exhibit A. DD Form 149, dated 13 August 2011, w/atchs. 

 Exhibit B. Applicant's Master Personnel Records. 

 Exhibit C. Letter, AFPC/DPSOE, dated 14 November 2011. 

 Exhibit D. Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 23 November 2011. 

 
 

 Panel Chair