RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:            28 June 2005
      DOCKET NUMBER:   AR20050001053


      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. Joe R. Schroeder              |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. Lawrence Foster               |     |Member               |
|     |Ms. Jeanette R. McCants           |     |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 all of his Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) rated disabilities be approved for Combat-Related Special Compensation
(CRSC).

2.  The applicant states, in effect, that the medical records of his
injuries during the attack in Iraq were not returned back to the United
States and are now not locatable.  The applicant adds that all of his
disabilities were incurred in combat, either in the Persian Gulf War or in
the Korean War.

3.  The applicant provides the denial of his CRSC application, his VA
disability rating, and documents which show that military records
chronicling any incident in which chemical or biological agents had been
detected had not been taken back to the United States and the whereabouts
of those records are now unknown.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant entered on active duty in his status as a reservist on 5
July 1987, he served as an allied trades technician and military personnel
technician, he served in Southwest Asia from 30 September 1990 to 27 April
1991, and he was honorably released from active duty as a Chief Warrant
Officer 4 on 31 December 1991 and transferred to the Retired Reserve the
following day.

2.  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.

3.  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.

4.  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 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 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.  While wounds incurred in combat would certainly be considered combat
related for CRSC purposes, the applicant has not submitted any
documentation to support his contention.

4.  The applicant states that he was injured in combat in the Korean War,
but does not submit any evidence that he was treated for any wounds or
combat related injuries during that time.

5.  The applicant states that his Persian Gulf War medical records were
never returned to the United States, and provides documents which show that
the Army acknowledged that records were lost in the Persian Gulf.  However,
those documents only show that records of suspected chemical and biological
incidents were lost; not medical treatment records.

6.  As such, there should be no reason the applicant would not have medical
records on any wounds or injuries he received while serving in Korea or the
Persian Gulf.

7.  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

__JRS __  __JRM   _  __LF____  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.





            ____Joe R. Schroeder___
                    CHAIRPERSON




                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20050001053                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20050628                                |
|TYPE OF DISCHARGE       |(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)    |
|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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