RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:           11 August 2005
      DOCKET NUMBER:   AR20040010021


      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:

|     |Mr. John N. Slone                 |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Ms. Deborah Jacobs                |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. Michael J. Flynn              |     |Member               |

      The Board considered the following evidence:

      Exhibit A - Application for correction of military records.

      Exhibit B - Military Personnel Records (including advisory opinion,
if any).

THE APPLICANT'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant requests that his Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
rated disability for coccidioidomycosis disease be approved for Combat-
Related Special Compensation (CRSC).

2.  The applicant states that he contracted coccidiodomycosis disease
during combat training in the desert at Camp Stoneman, California in 1943.
During training they slept on the ground where he inhaled spores of fungus
which caused his disease.  However, his coccidioidomycosis disease didn’t
manifest itself until 1950 when he developed pain in his left chest (lung).
 He was tested for tuberculosis at that time, and the tests were negative.
A VA physician later determined that his condition was coccidiodomycosis
disease.

3.  The applicant provides numerous documents in support of his request.
The applicant provides an index of these documents as part of his
application.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant, an administrative specialist in the rank of sergeant
major, was honorably released from active duty for years of service on 30
April 1965 with 26 years, 10 months and 22 days of active service and
placed on the Retired List the following day.

2.  The applicant’s military medical records show that Walter Reed Army
Medical Center (WRAMC) examined the applicant on 19 January 1959.  At that
time it was stated that the applicant was “completed asymptomatic and on a
routine reenlistment chest x-ray a thin walled right upper lobe cavity was
noted.  No previous x-rays are available but the patient states that in
1951 while in Germany he had an extensive diagnostic work up for pulmonary
disease following a routine chest film which apparently also showed this
cavity.  These studies were negative and the patient was allowed to return
to active duty . . . We feel that this is in all probability a cavity due
to coccidioidomycosis and is of little clinical significance at this time.”

3.  Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC), as established by Section
1413a, Title 10, United States Code, as amended, states that eligible
members are those retirees who have 20 years of service for retired pay
computation (or 20 years of service creditable for reserve retirement at
age 60) and who have disabilities that are the direct result of armed
conflict, specially hazardous military duty, training exercises that
simulate war, or caused by an instrumentality of war.  Such disabilities
must be compensated by the VA and rated at least 10% disabling.  For
periods before 1 January 2004 (the date this statute was amended), members
had to have disabilities for which they have been awarded the Purple Heart
and are rated at least 10% disabled or who are rated at least 60% disabled
as a direct result of armed conflict, specially hazardous duty, training
exercises that simulate war, or caused by an instrumentality of war.  CRSC
benefits are equal to the amount of VA disability compensation offset from
retired pay based on those disabilities determined to be combat-related.

4.  Concurrent Retirement and Disability Payment (CRDP), as established by
the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA),
provides a 10-year phase-out of the offset to military retired pay due to
receipt of VA disability compensation for members whose combined disability
rating is 50% or greater.

5.  On 6 May 2004, the U.S. Army Physical Disability Agency (USAPDA) CRSC
Branch, denied the applicant’s request for reconsideration of its initial
decision in his case.

6.  In the processing of similar cases, advisory opinions were obtained
from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD), Military
Personnel Policy.  The OUSD has maintained in these opinions that in order
for a condition to be considered combat related, there must be evidence of
the condition having a direct, causal relationship to war or the simulation
of war.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  CRSC was passed into law as the first stage of an ongoing legislative
initiative to eliminate the prohibition of military retirees from receiving
VA disability benefits.  Due to cost constraints, while all military
retirees who are rated 50 percent or more disabled by the VA will
eventually receive concurrent receipt of VA disability compensation, only
those military retirees who have disabilities incurred in combat, or in
conditions simulating combat (which includes hazardous duties), are
eligible for CRSC.

2.  As stated above, the CRSC criteria is specifically for those military
retirees who have combat related disabilities.  Incurring disabilities
while in a theater of operations or during a training exercise is not, in
and of itself, sufficient to grant a military retiree CRSC.  The military
retiree must show that the disability was incurred while engaged in combat,
while performing duties simulating combat conditions, or while performing
specially hazardous duties such as parachuting or scuba diving.

3.  The applicant, by his own admission, first experienced problems with
his lung 7 or 8 years after his desert training.  He was not diagnosed with
coccidioidomycosis disease for 8 or 9 years after he initially had lung
problems.  There is no evidence which would show that the applicant’s
coccidioidomycosis disease was incurred during desert training in 1943.

4.  In addition, contracting a spore-borne disease while sleeping would not
be considered combat related, even if it was during desert training.
Sleeping is not a performance of duties simulating combat conditions.

5.  The denial of the applicant’s request does not mean he will not be
compensated for his service related disabilities.  The denial means that he
will not be compensated for his disabilities in the first group of military
retirees being given this compensation.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___dj___  __jns ____  ____mjf__  DENY APPLICATION

BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

The evidence presented does not demonstrate the existence of a probable
error or injustice.  Therefore, the Board determined that the overall
merits of this case are insufficient as a basis for correction of the
records of the individual concerned.





            __________John N. Slone________
                    CHAIRPERSON




                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20040010021                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20050811                                |
|TYPE OF DISCHARGE       |(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)    |
|DATE OF DISCHARGE       |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DISCHARGE AUTHORITY     |AR . . . . .                            |
|DISCHARGE REASON        |                                        |
|BOARD DECISION          |DENY                                    |
|REVIEW AUTHORITY        |                                        |
|ISSUES         1.       |                                        |
|2.                      |                                        |
|3.                      |                                        |
|4.                      |                                        |
|5.                      |                                        |
|6.                      |                                        |


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