AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS 

RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 

  

DOCKET NUMBER:  BC-2012-00134 
COUNSEL:  NONE 
HEARING DESIRED:  NO 

 
 
IN THE MATTER OF: 
 
 
 
   
 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: 
 
His  Under  Other  Than  Honorable  Conditions  (UOTHC)  discharge  be 
upgraded to General. 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: 
 
He  was  discharged  for  an  act  that  never  took  place.    Another 
Airman,  who  was  trying  to  get  out  of  the  military  any  way  he 
could,  claimed  the  applicant  was  involved  in  a  homosexual  act.  
When the captain told him to either sign the discharge paperwork 
or  go  to  prison,  he  signed  the  paperwork.    Two  dormitory 
representatives  tried  to  explain  this  never  happened,  but  the 
captain would not listen.   
 
In  support  of  his  appeal,  the  applicant  provides  an  expanded 
statement.    
 
The  applicant’s  complete  submission,  with  attachment,  is  at 
Exhibit A. 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
STATEMENT OF FACTS: 
 
The applicant entered the Air Force on 30 Apr 71. 
 
On  16  July  71,  the  applicant’s  commander  notified  him  that  he 
was recommending him for discharge based upon his involvement in 
homosexual  activity.    The  reason  for  this  action  was  that  he 
admitted to homosexual acts prior to entering service and to two 
homosexual acts while in the Air Force.  The applicant consulted 
with counsel, waived his rights to a discharge hearing before a 
board of officers, and declined to submit statements in his own 
behalf. 
 
On  19  Jul  71,  the  applicant’s  commander  recommended  he  be 
discharged and furnished an undesirable discharge certificate.   
 

On 21 Jul 71, the case was reviewed and determined to be legally 
sufficient.   
 
On 23 Jul 71, the discharge authority directed the applicant be 
discharged, and receive an Undesirable Discharge Certificate.   
 
On  27  Jul  71,  the  applicant  was  furnished  an  Under  Other  Than 
Honorable  Conditions  (UOTHC)  discharge,  and  credited  with  two 
months and twenty eight days of service.  
 
On  10  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 Investigative Report, 
which is at Exhibit C. 
 
On 14 Jun 12, a copy of the FBI Report and a request for post-
service  information  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 D).  
 
 
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.    The 
applicant is requesting his UOTHC discharge be upgraded based on 
the repeal of DADT.  No evidence has been presented which would 
lead us to believe his discharge was improper or contrary to the 
directive  under  which  it  was  affected  at  the  time  of  his 
separation.    In  light  of  the  repeal  of  Don’t  Ask,  Don’t  Tell 
(DADT)  and  the  applicant’s  record  of  performance,  it  would  be 

2 

 

appropriate  to  change  the  narrative  reason  for  separation  to 
“Secretarial  Authority”  and  correct  his  separation  program 
designator  (SPD)  and  reentry  (RE)  codes  accordingly.    In 
accordance  with  Under  Secretary  of  Defense  (Personnel  and 
Readiness)  guidance  memorandum,  Correction  of  Military  Records 
Following Repeal of Section 654 of Title 10, United States Code, 
dated 20 September 2011, Service Discharge Review Boards should 
normally  grant  requests  to  change  the  narrative  reason  for  a 
discharge  (the  change  should  be  to  “Secretarial  Authority”  and 
SPD  code  KFF)),  requests  to  recharacterize  the  discharge  to 
honorable,  and/or  requests  to  change  the  RE  code  to  an 
immediately-eligible-to-reenter category (the new RE code should 
be  RE  code  1J)  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.    The 
award  of  an  honorable  or  general  discharge  should  normally  be 
considered  to  indicate  the  absence  of  aggravating  factors.  
Based  on  our  review  of  the  evidence  of  record,  the  applicant’s 
discharge meets these requirements.  Therefore, we recommend the 
applicant’s record be corrected as 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 
27 Jul 71, he received an Honorable discharge with a narrative 
reason  for  separation  of  “Secretarial  Authority”  rather  than 
“Homosexual  Admission,”  a  separation  program  designator  (SPD) 
code  of  “KFF”  rather  than  “HRB,”  and  a  reentry  (RE)  code  of 
“1J” rather than “2C.” 
 
________________________________________________________________ 
 
The  following  members  of  the  Board  considered  AFBCMR  Docket 
Number  BC-2012-00134  in  Executive  Session  on  16  Aug  12,  under 
the provisions of AFI 36-2603: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

   Panel Chair 
   Member 
   Member 

3 

 

All  members  voted  to  correct  the  records  as  recommended.    The 
following  documentary  evidence  pertaining  to  AFBCMR  Docket 
Number BC-2012-00134 was considered: 
 
     Exhibit A.  DD Form 149, dated 14 Jan 12, w/atch. 
     Exhibit B.  Applicant's Master Personnel Records. 
     Exhibit C.  FBI Report, undated.  
     Exhibit D.  Letter, AFBCMR, dated 14 Jun 12. 
 
 
 
 
   
   
 
 

    
  Panel Chair  

4