RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 

AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS 

 
DOCKET NUMBER:  BC-2011-05022 
COUNSEL:  NONE  
HEARING DESIRED:  NO 

IN THE MATTER OF: 
   
   
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: 
 
His general (under other than honorable conditions) discharge be 
upgraded to general (under honorable conditions). 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: 
 
There  is  a  preponderance  of  evidence  in  his  favor  and  he 
requests the Board review his records for consideration. 
 
In support of his request, the applicant provides a copy of his 
Military Service Records. 
 
The  applicant's  complete  submission,  with  attachments,  is  at 
Exhibit A. 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
STATEMENT OF FACTS: 
 
The  applicant  was  separated  from  the  Air  Force  on  29  May 
1968 under  the  provisions  of  AFM  39-12,  Separation  for 
Unsuitability,  Unfitness,  Misconduct,  Resignation,  or  Request 
for Discharge for the Good of the Service and Procedures for the 
Rehabilitation  Program,  (Homosexuality),  with  a  general  (under 
other than honorable conditions) discharge.  He served on active 
duty for a period of 6 years, 9 months and 13 days. 
 
On  3  Apr  2012,  a  request  for  post-service  information  was 
forwarded to the applicant for review and comment within 30 days 
(Exhibit C).   
 
In  an  undated  letter,  the  applicant  responded  and  provided  a 
personal 
service 
activities, and copies of numerous character references (Exhibit 
D). 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
AIR FORCE EVALUATION: 
 
HQ AFPC/DPSOA recommends approval of the applicant's request to 
change his character of service to Honorable and also recommends 

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changing  the  narrative  reason  for  separation  to  "Secretarial 
Authority" and SPD code to "JFF." 
 
DPSOA  states  on  20  Sep  2011,  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)."  Although the 
discharge  was  properly  processed  according  to  the  applicable 
regulation, the applicant's discharge record indicates discharge 
was based solely on DADT or a similar policy and did not involve 
aggravating factors. 
 
The complete DPSOS evaluation is at Exhibit E. 
 
HQ  AFPC/DPSOA  recommends  the  Board  direct  the  applicant's  RE 
code be changed to a 1 which is a favorable RE code. 
 
DPSOA  states  the  Under  Secretary  of  Defense  issued  guidance  to 
repeal  DADT  on  10  Sep  2011.    The  guidance  stated  requests  to 
change the RE code to 1J should be granted for members separated 
under  DADT  unless  there  was  misconduct  present.    However,  RE 
codes  at  the  time  the  applicant  separated  were  only  one  digit; 
the 1J RE code equivalent from that time frame was “Reenlistment 
Eligible.”  DPSOA  found  no  misconduct  in  the  applicant's  record 
and although he was only asking for his character of service to 
be  changed,  this  office  believes  his  RE  code  should  also  be 
changed  to  the  more  favorable  RE  code  of  1  in  light  of  the 
20 Sep 2011 guidance. 
 
The complete DPSOA evaluation is at Exhibit F. 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF THE AIR FORCE EVALUATION: 
 
On  26  Jul  2012,  copies  of  the  Air  Force  evaluations  were 
forwarded  to  the  applicant  for  review  and  comment  within 
30 days.  As of this date, no response has been received by this 
office (Exhibit G). 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
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  injustice.    After  a  review  of 

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the applicant’s records, we have surmised he was discharged for 
homosexual  conduct.    Based  on  the  presumption  of  regularity  in 
the  conduct  of  government  affairs,  and  in  the  absence  of 
evidence to the contrary, we must assume that the actions taken 
to  effect  the  applicant’s  discharge  were  proper  and  in 
accordance with applicable policy and statute in effect at that 
time.  Although the applicant requests his discharge be upgraded 
to  general,  based  on  the  repeal  of  DADT,  the  Department  of 
Defense  issued  policy  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  requests  to  change  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.  
His discharge was based solely on DADT or a similar policy and 
did  not  involve  aggravating  factors.    Therefore,  we  recommend 
his records be corrected as indicated below. 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
THE BOARD RECOMMENDS THAT: 
 
The  pertinent  military  records  of  the  Department  of  the  Air 
Force  relating  to  APPLICANT,  be  corrected  to  reflect  that  on 
29 May 1968 he was honorably discharged under the provisions of 
AFI  36-3208,  paragraph  1.2,  “Secretarial  Authority”  with  a 
separation code of JFF and a reenlistment eligibility (RE) code 
of  1  and  that  he  be  furnished  an  Honorable  Discharge 
certificate. 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 

 
 

 

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, Panel Chair 
, Member 
, Member 

 
The  following  members  of  the  Board  considered  this  application 
in Executive Session on 5 Sep 2012, under the provisions of AFI 
36-2603: 
 
 
 
 
All  members  voted  to  correct  the  records,  as  recommended.    The 
following  documentary  evidence  pertaining  to  BC-2011-05022  was 
considered: 
 
    Exhibit A.  DD Form 149, dated 15 Dec 2011, w/atchs. 
    Exhibit B.  FBI Report, dated 19 Jan 2012. 
    Exhibit C.  Letter, AFBCMR, dated 3 Apr 2012. 
    Exhibit D.  Letter, Applicant, undated, w/atchs. 
    Exhibit E.  Letter, AFPC/DPSOS, dated 31 May 2012. 
    Exhibit F.  Letter, AFPC/DPSOA, dated 11 Jun 2012. 
    Exhibit G.  Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 26 Jul 2011. 
 
 
 
 
                                    
                                   Panel Chair 
 
 
 
 

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