APPLICANT REQUESTS: That her DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge, be corrected by removing the statement that her disability existed prior to service (EPTS) and that she be compensated for her grief.
APPLICANT STATES: That her medical discharge was unjust. She was unable to pass her physical training test due to the altitude in Colorado not because of a physical disability. She contends that she should have been reassigned to a lower altitude. She claims to have had no medical problems that she was aware of prior to her service.
EVIDENCE OF RECORD: The applicant's military records show:
She initially enlisted in the Regular Army on 10 December 1982 and was honorably discharged under secretarial authority after completing 1 year, 2 months and 28 days of service. She reenlisted on 3 February 1987 and was released on 19 June 1987 for hardship reasons. Her separation at that time was uncharacterized. She reenlisted once again on 21 April 1993 and was honorably discharged for an EPTS disability on 5 August 1994.
On 1 June 1994 she appeared before a medical evaluation board (MEB) which determined that she had the following medical conditions: Respiratory bronchiolitis, mild DLCO abnormality and mild centriacinar emphysema, mostly upper lobes, secondary to cigarette smoking; seasonal allergic rhinitis, mild, controlled by medication; resolving maxillary and ethmoid sinusitis; antral gastritis and pyloric channel ulcers, resolved, symptoms controlled on medication; and superficial venous varicosities, mild, lower extremities. With the exception of the respiratory condition, the date of origin of which was unknown, all the other conditions were considered to have been incurred while entitled to base pay. The MEB recommended her case be referred to a Physical Evaluation Board (PEB).
Prior to the aforementioned MEB, the applicant requested, in a written statement to that board, that her medical discharge be approved so that she could get on with her life.
The PEB found that all of her conditions (listed above), with the exception of the respiratory condition, were neither unfitting nor ratable. The respiratory condition was determined to be unfitting but not service incurred or aggravated and the impairment was determined to have existed before she entered the service. The board also found that the respiratory disability had increased only to the extent of its accepted normal and natural progression and, therefore, there was no permanent service aggravation. Because the condition was not service incurred or permanently aggravated, the applicant was ineligible for disability compensation.
On 16 June 1994 the applicant signed an election form indicating that she concurred with the findings of the PEB and waived a formal hearing in her case. She was subsequently discharged on 5 August 1994 under the authority of Army Regulation 635-40, paragraph 4-24b(4). The narrative reason for separation shown in item 28 of her DD Form 214 was disability, existed prior to service, PEB.
Paragraph 4-24b(4) of Army Regulation 635-40, Physical Evaluation for Retention or Separation, provides for the separation of service personnel for physical disability without severance pay.
Army Regulation 635-5-1, Separation Program Designators, the regulation prescribing authorities and reasons for separations, provides that the following remark disability, existed prior to service, PEB will be entered in item 28 of the DD Form 214 for those individuals separated for disability without entitlement to severance pay.
DISCUSSION: Considering all the evidence, allegations, and information presented by the applicant, together with the evidence of record, applicable law and regulations, it is concluded:
1. The applicant was properly processed and separated for physical disability. The determination that her respiratory condition had existed prior to service was apparently based on the conclusion that the disability was the natural progression of a preexisting condition.
2. Therefore, the entry in item 28 of her DD Form 214 which contains the words existed prior to service is correct and in accordance with the applicable regulatory authority. The DD Form 214 was properly prepared and there is no basis to change it or to grant compensation for alleged grief.
3. Furthermore, the time for her to have contested her disability discharge, in favor of a reassignment to a lower altitude, was during the PEB. However, the evidence indicates that she chose instead to waive her rights to a hearing of her case and accept the disability discharge determination of the board.
4. In view of the foregoing, there appears to be no basis for granting the applicants requests.
DETERMINATION: The applicant has failed to submit sufficient relevant evidence to demonstrate the existence of probable error or injustice.
BOARD VOTE:
GRANT
GRANT FORMAL HEARING
DENY APPLICATION
Karl F. Schneider
Acting Director
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