RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS


IN THE MATTER OF: 		DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2014-01290

 				COUNSEL:  NONE

				HEARING DESIRED:  NO 



APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT:

His date of rank to major be corrected to reflect 21 December 
2010 for qualifying constructive service credit (CSC).


APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT:

Upon being commissioned into the Medical Corps, he should have 
received two and one half years of service credit for post-
bachelors-degree coursework that was completed in preparation 
for medical school.  Additionally, he should have received two 
years of service credit for advanced Masters in Business 
Administration degree.  He has submitted a memo which supported 
other officer’s request for service credit which was granted.  

Medical Corps officers receive one year of service credit for 
each year of commissioned service on active duty, or in an 
active status while participating in an educational program 
leading to appointment into the Medical Corps.  The Air Force 
Personnel Center’s (AFPC’s) clear policy on this rule has been 
to award service credit to officers for medical school prep 
courses completed during periods of prior active commissioned 
service.  He completed 33 credit hours of medical preparation 
coursework while serving as an active duty line officer – thus 
he satisfied the commissioned service on active duty elements.  

These 33 hours also constitute an educational program.  The AFI 
does not define the term, but the example provided adopts the 
program definition of education from the statute of veterans 
educational benefits as “any curriculum or any combination of 
unit courses or subjects pursued at an educational institution 
which is generally accepted as necessary to fulfill requirements 
for the attainment of a predetermined and identified 
educational, professional or vocational objective.”  Rule 10, on 
its face, supports his request for service credit.  He should 
receive two years’ service credit for completing his Masters of 
Business Administration and two and one half years’ service 
credit for his medical school preparation courses. 

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


STATEMENT OF FACTS:

The applicant is active duty Air Force serving in the grade of 
major.  Data extracted from the Air Force advisory reflect that 
in May 2000, the applicant was commissioned as second lieutenant 
through the USAF Academy as a Line of the Air Force officer and 
served on active duty until he separated as a captain in August 
2006. 

He was then commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air 
Force Reserves to attend the Armed Forces Health Professions 
Scholarship Program (AFHPSP) in August 2006.  Upon 
completion of AFHPSP, in April 2010, he was reappointed to 
the grade of captain in the Reserves and accessed to extended 
active duty (EAD) in June 2010.  He was awarded his Master's in 
Business Administration in June 2004.

The remaining relevant facts pertaining to this application are 
contained in the memoranda prepared by the Air Force offices of 
primary responsibility (OPRs), which are attached at Exhibits B 
and C. 


AIR FORCE EVALUATION:

AFPC/DPAN recommends denial.  Constructive Service Credit is 
computed in accordance with Air Force Instruction (AFI) 36-2005, 
Appointment in Commissioned Grades and Designation  and 
Assignment in Professional Categories – Reserve of the 
Air Force and United States Air Force, implemented by DODI 
6000.13, Medical Manpower and Personnel, and prescribed by 10 
USC 12207.  CSC is used to determine the commissioning/entry to 
active duty grade based on successful completion of education, 
training and professional experience.  Entry grade credit (not 
CSC) is also earned as stated in AFI 36-2008.  Officers are 
commissioned in the Reserve of the Air Force under AFI 36-2005, 
and then accessed to active duty (regular) under AFI 36-2008, 
Service Dates and Dates of Rank.  DoDI 6000.13 continues by 
stating a period of time shall be counted only once when 
computing entry grade credit and qualifying periods of less 
than one full year shall be proportionately credited to the 
nearest day.

DoDI 6000.13, paragraph  6.1.2.2. and AFI 36-2005, Table 2.4., 
authorizes 4 years CSC to be granted for completion of first 
professional degree and credit for master's and doctorate 
degrees in health professions other than medicine and 
dentistry, whether it is the primary or an additional advanced 
degree.  However, these policies do not authorize service 
credit to be granted for baccalaureate, lower degrees or 
undergraduate coursework, in accordance with DoDI 6000.13, 
paragraph 6.1.2.2. and AFI 36-2005, Table 2.4., Rule 5 and 
Table 2.7., Rule 26 states applicants are authorized up to 
24 months credit for masters degrees; however, the degree must 
add adjunctive skills to the primary specialty and contribute 
directly to performance in the specialty in which being 
appointed.

The applicant’s master’s degree was previously reviewed and 
disapproved by the AFPC Chief of the Physician Education Branch 
on 4 January 2010 and 17 March 2014 and again by the Chief of 
Air Force Physician Education on 16 September 2014.  The 
justification for denial was that the degree did not add 
adjunctive skills to his primary specialty nor did it 
contribute directly to the performance of his specialty.

The applicant requests service credit for time spent in an 
educational program as a line officer before joining the 
Medical Corps.  He states he should have received two and one 
half years of service credit for post-bachelors-degree 
coursework that he completed in preparation for medical school 
(med school prep courses).  However, he is not entitled to 
receive service credit for this period of time in accordance 
with DoDI 6000.13, AFI 36-2005 and legal analysis from the AFPC 
Legal office.

The applicant also requests 43 days credit for his medical 
school summer service time under AFI 36-2005, Table 
2.4, Rule 9.  The period of time the applicant requests credit 
for was during time he spent as a commissioned Reserve officer 
while attending AFHPSP.  Credit for time spent in AFHPSP is 
awarded under the 4-years of credit received for his MD degree.  
Dual credit for same periods of time is not authorized as 
mentioned in paragraph 4a.

DoDI 6000. l 3 and AFI36-2005 does not authorize awarding credit 
for undergraduate education.  Therefore, the applicant is not 
entitled to service credit for the time spent completing 
undergraduate (pre-medical) coursework.

The complete AFPC/DPAN evaluation, with attachments, is at 
Exhibit B.

AFPC/JA recommends denial.  In analyzing what is the proper 
award of credit for previous active duty service for an officer 
being commissioned into the Medical Corps (MC) under 
circumstances like those of the applicant, we begin with the 
governing statute.  Section 12207 of Title 10, USCA, sets the 
rules for the award of actual service credit and constructive 
service credit for the commissioning of officers into a 
specialty (like MC) where advanced education is required. For 
actual service credit [Section 12207(a)], the statute leaves it 
up to DoD to set the rules on limiting that credit.

DoDI 6000.13 is the implementing directive for Section 12207 for 
all the services.  Paragraph 6.1.1 sets out the rules for 
awarding prior commissioned service credit.  Subparagraph 
6.1.1.1 provides for a year-for-year credit for any prior active 
commissioned service in the corps or professional specialty in 
which the officer is being appointed; paragraph 6.1.1.2. 
provides for ½ day credit for prior active commissioned service 
not in the corps or specialty in which being appointed.  
Paragraph 6.1.1.3. is the subparagraph that this case brings 
into play. 

The first sentence addresses actual prior commissioned service; 
the rest of the paragraph refers to constructive service credit 
awarded under paragraph 6.1.2 and reads [Credit shall be awarded 
as follows:] "Commissioned service on active duty or in an 
active status while participating in an educational program 
leading to appointment in a specialty in which constructive 
service credit is awarded (emphasis added), shall be awarded 
day-for-day credit for service performed."  This rule has in 
turn been incorporated in Rule 10, Table 2.4, AFI 36-2005: [If 
the individual has successfully completed:] "Commissioned 
service on active duty or in an active status while 
participating in an educational program leading to appointment 
in the MC/DC corps." (emphasis added). 

The applicant took various undergraduate courses which he claims 
to be "med school prep" at Rose State College and the University 
of Central Oklahoma.  However, these courses were taken as part 
of a program leading to an undergraduate degree in Engineering 
and Science, not a medical degree followed by appointment in the 
MC.  While some of these courses (biology, genetics, etc) might 
well be helpful--if not required--as part of the education 
necessary to gain entry into/or become successful at, medical 
school, they are at most part of a program leading to admission 
to medical school, not part of a program "leading to appointment 
in the MC/DC corps."  Only courses taken as part of an actual 
medical school program, the completion of which can result in 
appointment in the MC, would qualify.

In short, undergraduate courses that are part of a program 
leading to a bachelor's degree will never qualify under Rule 10. 
To determine otherwise would mean that any undergraduate courses 
leading to an undergraduate degree--which could be viewed as an 
indirect part of the overall process leading to any advanced 
degree (because an undergraduate degree is required for entry 
into medical school [or dental or law school]), or might be 
helpful to a person contemplating medical school--would be given 
full day-for-day credit.  This broad interpretation is clearly 
not what we believe the statute and DoD Instruction contemplate.

The complete AFPC/JA evaluation is at Exhibit C.


APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION:

The applicant states the advisories fail to address the argument 
that AFPC has granted identical service requests for officers 
who were similarly situated.  

In 2014, other medical officers told him that they obtained 
service credit in 2013 from AFPC for med school prep courses. 
AFPC has neither denied this nor asserted that it later reversed 
those 2013 decisions.  Acting through counsel, he requested 
further details about these kinds of decisions.  AFPC, citing 
confidentiality concerns, declined to respond.  

He provided an example memo with the reasoning and while it may 
not offer the best interpretations of the service credit rules, 
it offers plausible interpretations of those rules, and AFPC 
adopted those interpretations in 2013.  AFPC should apply the 
same interpretations to all similarly-situated service members.

The JA analysis does not mention the example memo, but clearly 
contradicts the example memo’s interpretation of the service 
credit rules in two crucial ways.  First, the JA analysis 
presumes that med school prep courses are always “undergraduate” 
even if the person taking those courses has previously completed 
their undergraduate education. 

Second, the JA analysis interprets “educational program”, for 
purposes of DoDI 6000.13, paragraph 6.1.1.3, as referring only 
to degree plans identified on school transcripts.  The JA 
analysis further asserts, without citation, that only "courses 
taken as part of an actual medical school program…would 
qualify".  The JA analysis’s interpretations are certainly 
plausible, but they are not the interpretations that AFPC 
adopted in 2013.  If AFPC had adopted the JA analysis in 2013, 
AFPC would never have granted this kind of service credit to 
anyone.

Unlike the JA analysis, the example memo poses an interpretation 
of the rules that would characterize med school prep courses as 
part of an “advanced” program under particular circumstances. 
The author points out that he already had a baccalaureate degree 
at the time he undertook prerequisites, such that his subsequent 
education was beyond the baccalaureate degree level.  The memo 
characterizes med school prep courses taken under these 
circumstances as “post-baccalaureate education” and therefore 
“advanced education”. Similarly, the applicant had already 
earned his bachelors in engineering when he took his med school 
prep courses.

The applicant’s complete response, with attachments, is at 
Exhibit E.




THE BOARD CONCLUDES THAT:

1.  The applicant has exhausted all remedies provided by 
existing law or regulations.

2.  The application was timely filed.

3.  Insufficient relevant evidence has been presented to 
demonstrate the existence of error or injustice.  After 
thoroughly reviewing the evidence of record and the applicant’s 
complete submission, we are not persuaded that a change in the 
record is warranted.  The applicant’s contentions are duly 
noted; however, he has not provided persuasive evidence to 
override the rationale provided by the Air Force offices of 
primary responsibility (OPRs).  Therefore, we agree with the 
opinion and recommendation of the OPRs and adopt their rationale 
as the basis for our conclusion that the applicant’s records 
were appropriately considered for constructive service credit 
for his master’s degree in accordance with the applicable DoD 
and Air Force instructions.  We also do not find the applicant 
is entitled to additional constructive service credit for 
“medical school preparation courses.”  As noted by AFPC/JA, 
these courses were not taken as part of a medical school 
program, and therefore, do not qualify for constructive service 
credit.  While the applicant has submitted memoranda from other 
officers he contends are similarly situated, the evidence is 
insufficient to substantiate his entitlement to constructive 
service credit.  Therefore, in the absence of evidence to the 
contrary, we find no basis to grant the relief sought in this 
application.

4.  The applicant’s case is adequately documented and it has not 
been shown that a personal appearance with or without counsel 
will materially add to our understanding of the issues involved.  
Therefore, the request for a hearing is not favorably 
considered.


THE BOARD DETERMINES THAT:

The applicant be notified the evidence presented did not 
demonstrate the existence of material error or injustice; the 
application was denied without a personal appearance; and the 
application will only be reconsidered upon the submission of 
newly discovered relevant evidence not considered with this 
application.


The following members of the Board considered AFBCMR Docket 
Number BC-2014-01290 in Executive Session on 22 July 2015 under 
the provisions of AFI 36-2603:

	

The following documentary evidence was considered:

	Exhibit A.  DD Form 149, dated 12 Mar 14, w/atchs.
	Exhibit B.  Memorandum, AFPC/DPAN, dated 20 Feb 15, 
                 w/atchs.
	Exhibit C.  Memorandum, AFPC/JA, dated 24 Feb 15.
	Exhibit D.  Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 1 May 15.
	Exhibit E.  Letter, Applicant’s Response, dated 22 Jun 15, 
        w/atchs.