AIR FORCE DISCHARGE REVIEW BOARD DECISIONAL RATIONALE |
CASE NUMBER FD-2013-00335 |
GENERAL: The applicant appeals for upgrade of discharge to honorable.
The applicant was offered a personal appearance before the Discharge Review Board (DRB) but declined and requests that the review be completed based on the available service record. The attached brief contains available pertinent data on the applicant and the factors leading to the discharge. FINDING: The Board denies the upgrade of the discharge.
The Board finds the applicant submitted no issues contesting the equity or propriety of the discharge, and after a thorough review of the record, the Board was unable to identify any that would justify a change of discharge.
ISSUE: The record indicates that the applicant was discharged for Misconduct-Drug Abuse. Applicant contends that at the time of her discharge she was told that her character of service would be upgraded from Under Honorable conditions (General) to Honorable after six months. She also states that she was a very good soldier and that was not taken into consideration at the time of her discharge. The records indicated the applicant received an Article 15 between 23 May 2008 and on or about 24 May 2008 for wrongful use of Lortab, a scheduled III controlled substance. According to AFI 36-3208, paragraph 5.54, Misconduct: Drug Abuse, drug use is incompatible with military service and Airman who abuse drugs one or more times are subject to discharge. Drug abuse for the purpose of this regulation is the illegal, wrongful, or improper use, possession, sale, transfer, or introduction onto a military installation of any drug. This includes improper use of prescription medication. The term drug includes any controlled substance in schedules I, II, III, IV, and V of Title 21 U.S.C., Section 812. After review of the record, the Board found no evidence to indicate that the applicant did not know right from wrong or that in her one year and two months of service was unaware of the Air Force policy of zero tolerance to drug use. The Board found the negative aspects of the willful misconduct outweighed the positive aspects of the applicant's performance and concluded that the discharge was appropriate.
Applicant states that her discharge did not take into account the good things she did while in the service. The DRB took note of the applicant's duty performance as documented by her performance reports, letters of recommendation and other accomplishments. They found the seriousness of the willful misconduct offset any positive aspects of the applicant's duty performance. The Board concluded the discharge was
appropriate for the reasons which were the basis for this case.
The applicant stated she was told her discharge would automatically be upgraded. The Board noted the issue was common result of miscommunication, at the time of discharge, when the applicant is briefed that their discharge will automatically be upgraded after six months. While a discharge may be upgraded after six months, the upgrade is by no means automatic. A discharge is upgraded only if the applicant and the Board can establish that an inequity or impropriety took place at the time of discharge. After a thorough review of the record, the Board found no evidence to justify an upgrade of the discharge characterization, reason for
the discharge or the reenlistment code.
CONCLUSION: The Discharge Review Board concludes that the discharge was consistent with the procedural and substantive requirements of the discharge regulation and was within the discretion of the discharge authority and the applicant was provided full administrative due process. |
In view of the foregoing findings, the Board further concludes that there exists no legal or equitable basis for upgrade of discharge and determines the discharge should remain unchanged.
Attachment: Examiner's Brief
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* Change Reason and Authority + Change Reenlistment Code a ais : oo SAF/MRBR SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE PERSONNEL COUNCIL a AIR FORCE DISCHARGE REVIEW BOARD 550 C STREET WEST, SUITE 40 1535 COMMAND DR, EE WING, 32RD FLOOR RANDOLPH AFB, TX 78150-4742 ANDREWS AFR, MD 20762-7001 AFHQ FORM 0-2077, JAN 00 (EF-V2) Previous CASE NUMBER AIR FORCE DISCHARGE REVIEW BOARD DECISIONAL RATIONALE FD-2008-00576 GENERAL: The applicant appeals for upgrade of discharge to honorable, to change the reason...
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