RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:           13 September 2005
      DOCKET NUMBER:   AR20050002005


      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. Shirley L. Powell             |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. Robert L. Duecaster           |     |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 his Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
rated disability for spinal disc disorder be considered as being incurred
while simulating war and, as a result, that he be approved for Combat-
Related Special Compensation (CRSC).

2.  The applicant states that he injured his back during a field exercise
under conditions simulating war on 12 April 2003 (sic).

3.  The applicant provides the partial denial of his CRSC application,
select excerpts from his military medical records, and two witness
statements.

4.  In the first witness statement it was said that the applicant was
“carrying a section of a light tactical raft down a steep bank when the
injury occurred.”  In the second witness statement it was said that “I was
with [the applicant] when he injured his back.  It was at night during the
war games portion of our field training.  This training was done under
conditions simulating war as part of our two-week summer camp . . . [the
applicant] was helping carry a portion of a raft down a bank when he was
injured.”

5.  The medical records submitted by the applicant include a Narrative
Summary which records that the applicant was admitted to the hospital on 12
April 1983 for sharp pain in his lower back.  The applicant reported that
he was “carrying a heavy object” when the pain started.  In an Emergency
Care and Treatment record it was stated that the applicant experienced low
back pain when he was “carrying heavy load.”  In an Inpatient Treatment
Record Cover Sheet, Item 33, cause of injury, it was stated that while the
applicant “was lifting articulators, muscle pulled in [unreadable] 12 Apr
83.”

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  On 1 December 2004, the US Army Physical Disability Agency (USAPDA)
CRSC Branch approved the applicant for 50 percent CRSC based on his VA
rating for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  The USAPDA CRSC Branch
denied the applicant’s request for CRSC for spinal disc condition which was
rated 60 percent disabling by the VA.

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.  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.  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.

2.  There is a misconception that all disabilities incurred during training
are considered combat related for CRSC purposes.  This is not so.  To
qualify for CRSC for a training injury, the retiree would have to show that
the training was a direct simulation of war, such as an airmobile assault,
a beach landing, or an infiltration course.

3.  The first statement submitted by the applicant does not indicate that
the individual making the statement witnessed the accident nor does the
individual indicate how the injury was incurred  The second statement also
lacks specifics on how the injury was incurred.

4.  Since all the medical documentation submitted by the applicant state
that he suffered low back pain as a result of lifting a heavy object, and
one of the medical records specify he was lifting articulators, the
statements submitted by the applicant are insufficient to show that his low
back pain was combat related.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___rld ___  ___jrm__  ___slp___  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.





            __________Shirley L. Powell________
                    CHAIRPERSON




                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20050002005                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20050913                                |
|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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