PROCEEDINGS


         IN THE CASE OF:


         BOARD DATE: 10 JULY 2003
         DOCKET NUMBER: AR2002081177


         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
Ms. Deborah L. Brantley		Senior Analyst

The following members, a quorum, were present:

Mr. Roger W. Able		Chairperson
Ms. Barbara J. Ellis		Member
Mr. Larry C. Bergquist		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 completion of several training courses be added to his separation document. He notes in particular, by submission of training completion certificates, that he completed Infantry Advanced Individual Training, Airborne Training, Air Assault School, the Jungle Warfare Training Course, and the Dragon Gunners Course. He notes that none of the training is recorded on his separation document and states that he has been trying for several years to have the corrections accomplished. In a separate statement, the applicant also asks that any awards and decorations that he may be entitled to be added to his separation document and requests an explanation regarding why he was denied reenlistment at the time he was released from active duty.

3. Records available to the Board indicate that the applicant entered active duty on 19 May 1977. Training certificates, provided by the applicant, and confirmed in entries on his Department of the Army Form 2-1 (Personnel Qualification Record), indicate that he successfully completed the 7 week Infantry Advanced Individual Training course at Fort Benning, Georgia in October 1977, a 2 week Airborne Course at Fort Benning in November 1977, and a 1 week Air Assault Course at Fort Campbell, Kentucky in June 1977.

4. Certificates provided by the applicant also indicate that he completed the Jungle Warfare Training Course, a 2 week course conducted in Panama, in October 1978 and a Dragon Gunners Course at Fort Campbell, Kentucky in March 1979. The “Dragon” is a line-of-sight, wire-guided missile system, which is man-portable or can be mounted on a personnel carrier. Like other military weapon training, the course is not a formal in service training course, but merely involves instruction and use of the weapon.

5. Army Regulation 635-5 establishes the policies and procedures for completion and distribution of the Department of Defense Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty). In pertinent part it states that item 14 (military education) will list formal in service training courses, successfully completed during the period of service covered, by title, length in weeks, and month and year completed. This information is to assist the soldier after separation in job placement and counseling; therefore, training courses for combat skills are not listed. None of the training courses are listed on the applicant’s separation document. Rather item 14 indicates “NA.”

6. In January 1979, after being punished once under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and being counseled several times by members of his chain of command, the applicant’s commander initiated action to bar him from reenlisting. The local bar was approved on 15 February 1979.

7. In April and June 1979, the applicant was punished two more times under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. His records note that he was confined by civilian authorities between 27 September 1979 and 19 December 1979, when he was released on bond.

8. In January 1980 the applicant’s local bar to reenlistment was reviewed and his commander recommended that the bar remain in effect, thus precluding the applicant from reenlisting.

9. In February 1980 the applicant received his fourth record of nonjudicial punishment under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

10. On 29 May 1980, after being retained on active duty, with his concurrence, in order to make up for the lost days while in civilian confinement, the applicant was released from active duty in pay grade E-2, under honorable conditions. His separation document reflects entitlement to the Air Assault Badge and qualification as an expert with the M-16 rifle. Although the applicant had been awarded the Parachutist Badge upon completion of airborne training, the badge was revoked when the applicant voluntarily terminated his jump status in 1977 under the provisions of Army Regulation 600-200. As such his Parachutist Badge would not have been recorded on his separation document.

11. Army Regulation 601-280, then in effect, established the policies and procedures for local bars to reenlistment. It stated that local bars were intended to deny reenlistment to soldiers whose immediate separation under administrative procedures is not warranted, but whose reentry into, or service beyond the expiration of their term of service (ETS) with the Active Army was not in the best interest of the military service. It also noted that the fact that a soldier may have been issued an honorable or general discharge for the current period of service did not prevent initiation of bar to reenlistment procedures to deny the soldier later service in the Regular Army.

CONCLUSIONS:

1. While the Board acknowledges that training course which develop combat skills are not entered on the separation document, the Board concludes that although the courses which the applicant attended, with the exception of the Dragon Gunners Course, may have been primarily intended to prepare the applicant for combat, the courses would also have included skills such as leadership, first aid, and group dynamics which are skills which could translate to a civilian environment. As such, as an exception to policy, and in the interest of justice and equity, the Board concludes that it would be appropriate to reflect completion of the 7 week Infantry Advanced Individual Training in October 1977, the 2 week Airborne Course in November 1977, the 1 week Air Assault Course in June 1977, and the 2 week Jungle Warfare Training Course in October 1978.

2. Evidence available to the Board indicates that the Dragon Gunners Course did not meet the requirements for inclusion on the applicant’s separation document and as such, inclusion of that course on his separation document would be inappropriate.

3. The evidence available to the Board also indicates that the applicant was denied reenlistment at the time of his 1980 release from active duty because of a locally imposed bar to reenlistment. The Board notes that based on the applicant’s repeated incidents of misconduct, civilian confinement, and various counseling statements, the local bar to reenlistment was an appropriate action.

4. The applicant’s separation document reflects all of the awards and decorations he received while on active duty. There is no evidence he was entitled to any additional decorations.

5. 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 in item 14 on the individual’s 1980 separation document that he completed the 7 week Infantry Advanced Individual Training in October 1977, the 2 week Airborne Course in November 1977, the 1 week Air Assault Course in June 1977, and the 2 week Jungle Warfare Training Course in October 1978.

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

BOARD VOTE:

__RWA__ __BJE __ __LCB __ GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION




                  _____Roger W. Able______
                  CHAIRPERSON

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INDEX

CASE ID	AR2002081177
SUFFIX
RECON	YYYYMMDD
DATE BOARDED	20030710
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.	110.00
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.