RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 

AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS 

 

IN THE MATTER OF: DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2011-04273 

 COUNSEL: NONE 

 HEARING DESIRED: NO 

 

_________________________________________________________________ 

 

APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: 

 

His character of discharge be upgraded to honorable. 

 

_________________________________________________________________ 

 

APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: 

 

1. He served honorably while in the Air Force. There were no 
issues other than his requested job was not available. He was 
given the option to go into another career field or be 
discharged. 

 

2. He is applying for federal and state education benefits, 
which requires an honorable discharge. 

 

In support of his request, the applicant provides a copy of his 
DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active 
Duty. 

 

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

 

_________________________________________________________________ 

 

STATEMENT OF FACTS: 

 

On 13 Jul 04, the applicant entered the Regular Air Force. 

 

On 19 Oct 04, the applicant was eliminated from the Electronic 
Principals portion of the Communications Cable Systems 
Apprentice course for academic deficiency. 

 

On 28 Oct 04, the applicant was notified by his commander that 
he was recommending his discharge from the Air Force under the 
provisions of AFPD 36-32, Air Force Military Training and AFI 
36-3208, Administrative Separation of Airmen, paragraph 
5.22.2.3., Unsatisfactory Entry Level Performance or Conduct for 
failure to make satisfactory progress in a required training 
program. The reason for the proposed action was the applicant 
failed block IV tests, on two occasions, with scores of 55 and 
45 percent respectively. The commander indicated the applicant 
was unable to comprehend complex electronic concepts at the 
current rate of presentation. Also, he did not put forth the 
effort required to successfully complete the course. The 


applicant acknowledged receipt of the notification of discharge, 
waived his right to seek counsel and to submit a statement in 
his own behalf. 

 

On 1 Nov 04, the discharge authority approved the separation. 
The applicant received an uncharacterized entry-level 
separation, by reason of entry-level performance or conduct, and 
was issued a reentry (RE) code of 2C. He served on active duty 
for a period of 3 months and 22 days. 

 

The remaining relevant facts pertaining to this application are 
contained in the letter prepared by the appropriate office of 
the Air Force which is attached at Exhibit C. 

 

_________________________________________________________________ 

 

AIR FORCE EVALUATION: 

 

AFPC/DPSOS recommends denial. DPSOS states Airmen are given 
entry-level separation/uncharacterized service characterization 
when separation is initiated in the first 180 days of continuous 
active service. The Department of Defense (DoD) determined if a 
member served less than 180 days continuous active service, it 
would be unfair to the member and the service to characterize 
their limited service. Therefore, his uncharacterized service 
is correct and in accordance with DoD and Air Force 
instructions. 

 

DPSOS states that based on the documentation on file in the 
master personnel records, the discharge, was consistent with the 
procedural and substantive requirements of the discharge 
regulation and was within the discretion of the discharge 
authority. The applicant did not provide any evidence of an 
error or injustice in the processing of his discharge warranting 
a change to his type of separation or RE code. 

 

The complete DPSOS 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 13 Jan 12 for review and comment within 30 days 
(Exhibit D). As of this date, this office has not received a 
response. 

 

_________________________________________________________________ 

 

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 regarding the 
applicant’s request to change his character of service. The Air 
Force office of primary responsibility has provided an adequate 
assessment of the applicant’s case and we are in agreement with 
their opinion and recommendation. In addition, only on a case 
by case basis, if a member is within 180 days of service, and it 
is clearly warranted by unusual circumstances of personal 
conduct and performance of military duty, can a member be given 
an honorable characterization of service. Therefore, we find no 
basis to favorably consider this portion of his application. 

 

4. Notwithstanding the above, sufficient relevant evidence has 
been presented to demonstrate the existence of an injustice 
warranting corrective action to the applicant’s narrative reason 
for separation and separation code. In this respect, no 
evidence has been presented that would lead us to believe his 
discharge was improper or contrary to the directive under which 
it was effected. Nor does the applicant allege any error 
occurred. Nevertheless, it appears his narrative reason for 
separation and separation codes were assigned based primarily on 
his lack of performance at the time and not conduct. In view of 
this, we believe it would be appropriate to change the 
applicant’s separation to Secretarial Authority and the 
separation code to “KFF.” Therefore, in order to preclude a 
possible injustice to the applicant, we recommend his 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 on 4 
November 2004 he was separated under the provisions of AFI 36-
3208, (Secretarial Authority), with a separation code of KFF. 

 

_________________________________________________________________ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following members of the Board considered Docket Number BC-
2011-04273 in Executive Session on 10 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 27 Oct 11. 

 Exhibit B. Applicant's Master Personnel Records. 

 Exhibit C. AFPC/DPSOS, Letter, dated 5 Jan 12. 

 Exhibit D. SAF/MRBC, Letter, dated 13 Jan 12. 

 

 

 

 Panel Chair