RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS
IN THE MATTER OF: DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2013-03520
COUNSEL: NONE
HEARING DESIRED: NO
________________________________________________________________
_
APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT:
His undesirable discharge be upgraded to honorable.
________________________________________________________________
_
APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT:
He honorably served his country. He was given an undesirable
discharge for homosexuality. He had no discipline or
performance problems prior to the charges of homosexuality. The
Government has determined that homosexuals can serve in the
military today. If todays standards were in effect during his
term of service - he would not have received an undesirable
discharge.
In support of the applicants appeal, he provides documents
extracted from his military personnel records.
The applicant's complete submission, with attachments, is at
Exhibit A.
________________________________________________________________
_
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
The applicant entered active duty in the Regular Air Force on
25 October 1951.
The applicant was notified by his commander of his intent to
recommend his discharge from the Air Force under the provisions
of AFR 35-66 (Homosexuality). The record indicates that the
applicant had been a regular participant in homosexual acts
since the age of fourteen.
In an interview with personnel at the 38th Medical Group the
applicant admitted to being a homosexual. He stated that he had
committed frequent acts of a homosexual nature both as a passive
and an aggressive nature since being in the Air Force. He also
stated that he was discharged from the Navy prior to service in
the Air Force because of homosexuality.
He was advised of his rights in this matter and after consulting
with counsel the applicant waived his right to a hearing before
a board of officers and requested discharge without benefit of
board proceedings. In a legal review of the case file, the
staff judge advocate found the case legally sufficient.
The discharge authority concurred with the recommendation for
discharge and directed an undesirable discharge. The applicant
was discharged on 24 April 1954. He served 2 years and 6 months
on active duty.
On 20 September 2011, the law commonly known as Don't Ask,
Don't Tell (DADT), 10 USC 654, was repealed. The Department of
Defense subsequently issued guidance indicating that Service
Discharge Review Boards (ORB) should normally grant requests to
change the narrative reason for a discharge, requests to re-
characterize the discharge to honorable, and/or requests to
change the reentry code when both of the following conditions
were 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 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. In light of
the repeal of DADT and the applicant's record of performance, it
would be appropriate to change the characterization of service,
narrative reason for separation and corresponding separation
program designator(SPD) code. In a memorandum, dated
20 September 2001, the Under Secretary of Defense published
guidance that Service Discharge Review Boards should normally
grant requests to change the narrative reason for separation,
corresponding SPD code, and upgrade the service
characterization, 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. 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 APPLICANT be corrected to show that on 24
April 1954, he was honorably discharged with a narrative reason
for separation of Secretarial Authority, a separation program
designator code of JFF, and furnished an Honorable Discharge
certificate.
________________________________________________________________
_
The following members of the Board considered AFBCMR Docket
Number BC-2013-03520 in Executive Session on 12 June 2014, under
the provisions of AFI 36-2603:
The following documentary evidence was considered:
Exhibit A. DD Form 149, dated 15 July 2013, w/atchs.
Exhibit B. DD Form 214 and Discharge Package.
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