PROCEEDINGS


         IN THE CASE OF:
        

         BOARD DATE: 17 July 2003
         DOCKET NUMBER: AR2002081070


         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.

Mr. Carl W. S. Chun		Director
Mr. Edmund P. Mercanti		Analyst

The following members, a quorum, were present:

Ms. Joann H. Langston		Chairperson
Ms. Regan K. Smith		Member
Mr. John T. Meixell		Member

         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.

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2. The applicant requests, in effect, that he be granted clemency in the form of an honorable discharge.

3. The applicant states, in effect, that his state of mind was not given any consideration when he was sentenced to a BCD. He was having difficulties adjusting from combat in Korea to duty in the United States.

4. In support of his request, the applicant submits a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) rating decision. In that decision the applicant was awarded a 30 percent rating for post traumatic stress disorder. The VA stated that “Your personnel records show you were awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge for combat incurred from June 1953 through July 1954. During the Korean War, you were assigned to a heavy weapons company. Records from the Vet Center provide a diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). VA examination shows you were depressed, have problems with personal relationships as well as controlling your anger.”

5. The applicant also submits the narrative summary of a mental health counselor employed by the Vet Center. In that summary the counselor stated that he spent time with both the applicant and his (second) wife. The counselor learned that the applicant had experimented with alcohol prior to volunteering for the draft, but did not drink excessively at that time. He left school after the 8^th grade. The applicant served in combat during the Korean War, as evidenced by his Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB). He was a forward observer and radio operator for a 81mm mortar section. The applicant stated that he saw wounded and dead bodies of combatants from both friendly and enemy forces, some of which he carried himself to load on trucks. In one instance he was carrying a wounded comrade to an aid station, but he died while he was carrying him. He also described witnessing a soldier standing around 4 feet from him being hit in the face with machine gun fire, and how he witnessed the North Koreans killing American medics working on wounded soldiers, and his retaliation on the North Koreans for that butchery by directing artillery fire on the enemy’s aid station. Subsequent to his combat assignment, the applicant began to drink alcoholic beverages heavily, felt depressed and empty inside, felt like nothing satisfied him, and felt like nothing meant anything to him. He also struggled with irritability and anger, and had a short fuse when he interacted with others. The applicant divorced his wife and remarried in 1965. His second wife, in a separate interview, confirmed that the applicant exhibited PTSD symptoms. The counselor concludes that while the length of time which has passed since the Korean War makes any effort to diagnose PTSD while the applicant was on active duty nearly impossible, “the possibility that his symptoms following combat may have been PTSD related appears to be quite plausible.”

6. Counsel reiterates selected portions of the counselor’s statement and asks that all reasonable doubt be resolved in favor of the applicant.
7. The applicant’s military records could not be located and are presumed to have been destroyed in the fire at the records repository at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1973. The following information was derived from the applicant’s record of trial.

8. He volunteered for the draft and entered on active duty in an enlisted status on 2 December 1952. He went to artillery school, and reenlisted for 6 years on 11 March 1953.

9. He was assigned to a heavy weapons company in the 17^th Infantry Regiment, 7^th Infantry Division, in Korea. He was in combat from May to July 1953, serving as a radio operator and forward observer for an 81mm mortar section. After the cease fire, he remained in Korea with the same unit for twelve months. He was then (July 1954) rotated back to the United Stated.

10. While assigned as a squad leader in an armored infantry school, the applicant was Absent Without Leave (AWOL) from 15 September to 13 October 1954. He was found guilty by a Special Court-Martial for that offense and was sentenced to confinement at hard labor for one month, and a forfeiture of $28.00 a month for two months. The applicant was AWOL again from 3 December 1954 to 15 January 1955. He was found guilty by a Special Court-Martial for that offense and was sentenced to confinement at hard labor for six months, and a forfeiture of $52.00 a month for six months.

11. He was apprehended by civil authorities on 2 May 1955 and turned over to military control the same day. On 16 May 1955, he was released from confinement and ordered to report directly to his unit. He did not comply with those orders and was reported AWOL on 18 May 1955. He was apprehended by civil authorities once again on 27 May 1955 and was released to military authorities on 1 June 1955.

12. On 12 July 1955, the applicant was found guilty by a General Court-Martial for being AWOL from 23 April to 2 May 1955, and for being AWOL from 18 May to 1 June 1955. He was sentenced to a BCD, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement at hard labor for 9 months.

13. On 18 February 1956, the applicant was given a BCD.

14. On 18 August 1955, the applicant’s General Court-Martial sentence was affirmed by the Board of Review, Office of The Judge Advocate General.

15. While the applicant’s separation document shows no awards or decorations, the legal summary by the Staff Judge Advocate of the General Court-Martial Convening Authority stated that he was entitled to wear the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB), the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal with two bronze service stars, and the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation for Excellence.

16. PTSD, an anxiety disorder, was not recognized as a psychiatric disorder until 1980 with the publishing of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) III. While PTSD has only been categorized by psychiatrists as a distinct diagnosis since 1980, it has, as early as the Civil War, been described in psychological literature, variously labeled as shell shock, soldier’s heart, effect syndrome, combat fatigue and traumatic neurosis. Although the current label of PTSD is of rather recent acceptance, the idea that catastrophes and tragedies can result in persistent emotional and psychological symptoms is common even among the lay public. Army Regulation 40-501 does not specifically categorize PTSD; however, it does address anxiety or neurotic disorders, which include PTSD, and provides that such disorders are unfitting only if persistence or recurrence of symptoms is sufficient to require extended or recurrent hospitalization, creates a necessity for limitations of duty or duty in a protected environment or resulting in interference with effective performance of military duty.

CONCLUSIONS:

1. The applicant served honorably for 20 months before he had any disciplinary problems. During that time the applicant was actively involved in combat in the Korean War.

2. The applicant obviously liked the military if his reenlistment is any indicator. He obviously did well in the military based on his assignment to positions of trust (a squad leader after his tour in Korea). These factors are clearly indicative that the applicant’s mental status changed after his combat tour in Korea, based on his two periods of AWOL.

3. It could be argued that alcohol abuse was the cause of the applicant’s behavior change since the applicant admits that he started drinking heavily after his tour in Korea. However, the assessment from the Vet Center counselor leads the Board to believe that the applicant suffered from PTSD as a result of his combat experience. The proximity of his alcohol abuse to his combat tour could be indicative of a person who was self medicating his PTSD.

4. Notwithstanding the preceding conclusion, there is no evidence to show definitively that the applicant suffered from PTSD while he was on active duty, or that the applicant’s PTSD was physically unfitting. Therefore, there is no basis for correcting the applicant’s records to show that he was separated due to physical unfitness.

5. While trial by court-martial was warranted by the gravity of the offenses charged, and his conviction and discharge were effected in accordance with applicable law and regulations, the possibility that the applicant suffered from PTSD, his 20 months of honorable service, and his combat service must also be considered in the characterization of his service.

6. In this regard, the applicant’s two periods of AWOL, one of which was committed while he was trusted to report to his unit after having gone AWOL the first time, clearly demonstrates that his service was not fully honorable. Therefore, granting the applicant clemency to upgrade his BCD to an honorable discharge would clearly be inappropriate. A general discharge would be more in keeping with his overall record of service.

7. In view of the foregoing, the applicant’s records should be corrected as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

1. That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing that the individual concerned was issued a General Discharge Certificate on 18 February 1956.

2. That so much of the application as is in excess of the foregoing be denied.

BOARD VOTE:

___rks___ ___jtm__ ___jhl____ GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION




                  __________Joann H. Langston______
                  CHAIRPERSON

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INDEX

CASE ID	AR2002081070
SUFFIX
RECON	YYYYMMDD
DATE BOARDED	20030717
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR . . . . .
DISCHARGE REASON
BOARD DECISION	GRANT
REVIEW AUTHORITY
ISSUES 1.	105.01
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.