PROCEEDINGS
IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 10 December 1998
DOCKET NUMBER: AC97-09590A
AR1998012593
I certify that hereinafter is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in the case of the above-named individual.
The applicant and counsel if any, did not appear before the Board.
The Board considered the following evidence:
Exhibit A - Application for correction of military
records
Exhibit B - Military Personnel Records (including
advisory opinion, if any)
FINDINGS:
1. The applicant has exhausted or the Board has waived the requirement for exhaustion of all administrative remedies afforded by existing law or regulations.
2. In effect, the applicant requests that her military records be corrected to show that she was enlisted in the Army on 18 February 1997 in pay grade E-4.
3. The applicant states that she completed three years of study in the university; however, that has not been acknowledged, because her transcripts from Nigeria were submitted [to this Board] without being evaluated. She has now had these transcripts evaluated.
4. The applicants military records show that she enlisted in the Army on 18 February 1997 in pay grade E-1. She completed training and is currently assigned to a unit at Fort Hood, Texas.
On 20 August 1997 she submitted a similar application to this Board stating that she received the college transcripts from Nigeria in July; however, her request was returned without action because her transcripts from her foreign college had not been evaluated and accredited.
On 10 March 1998 the director of the Foreign Credentials Service of America, a private organization designed to provided timely and accurate assessments of the academic qualifications of persons who have completed their education outside the United States, stated that the applicant had attended the University of Uyo (in Nigeria) from 1991-1996 and received a bachelor of arts (BA) in French. The BA represented five years of full and part-time post-secondary education and is comparable to a bachelors degree in the United States.
Army Regualation 601-210 prescribes the eligibility criteria governing the enlistment into the Regular Army. Paragraph 2-20 states in pertinent part that an applicant who has successfully completed a degree producing college program of 4 years duration and the college or university is listed in the Accredited Institutions of Postsecondary Education book, and has been awarded a Bachelors degree or higher will be enlisted in pay grade E-4 (Foreign degrees and transcripts must be evaluated).
8. Paragraph 2-20 states, in effect, that an applicant who lacks documentation required for advanced promotion at the time of enlistment may submit supporting documents to her personnel officer within 6 months of enlistment.
9. In the processing of this case an advisory opinion was obtained from an official in the DA DCSPER, who is also the proponent of Army Regulation 601-210, the governing regulation in this case. That official stated that the applicant did have a four year degree; however, at the time of her enlistment the documentation was not available and she therefore entered the Army in the appropriate grade. He went on to say that the applicant did get the transcripts evaluated, and recommended an exception be granted to the requirement that a soldier must produce the transcripts within 6 months after enlistment in order to receive an advanced promotion.
CONCLUSIONS:
1. The applicant was eligible to enlist in the Army in pay grade E-4; however, she had not the transcripts at the time of her enlistment. She received those transcripts from the college in Nigeria in July, five months after her enlistment, and requested relief from this Board in August 1997. After her application was returned, she had those transcripts evaluated. It appears to this Board that the applicant made every good effort to obtain the necessary documents in order to have her enlistment grade changed to pay grade E-4. Therefore, an exception to Army Regulation 601-210, paragraph 2-20 is warranted.
The applicants record should be changed to show that she enlisted in the Army on 18 February 1997 in pay grade E-4, as an exception to policy.
The applicant should receive all due pay and allowances in pay grade E-4 from the date of her enlistment on 18 February 1997.
4. In view of the foregoing, the applicants records should be corrected as recommended below.
RECOMMENDATION:
That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing that the individual concerned enlisted in the Army on 18 February 1997 in pay grade E-4 and that she receive all pay and allowances due in pay grade E-4 from that date.
BOARD VOTE:
__jhl___ ___jma__ ___sk_____ GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION
______________________
CHAIRPERSON
INDEX
CASE ID
AC
SUFFIX
RECON
YYYYMMDD
DATE BOARDED
YYYYMMDD
TYPE OF DISCHARGE
(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD)
DATE OF DISCHARGE
YYYYMMDD
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY
AR . . . . .
DISCHARGE REASON
BOARD DECISION
(NC, GRANT , DENY, GRANT PLUS)
REVIEW AUTHORITY
ISSUES 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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