RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:           9 August 2005
      DOCKET NUMBER:   AR20050002052


      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. Barbara J. Ellis              |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. Kenneth L. Wright             |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. Patrick H. McGann Jr.         |     |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 disabilities for limited extension of right knee and impaired hearing
be approved for Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC).

2.  The applicant states that when he was hit, his battalion surgeon had
him evacuated to a MASH unit.  He was treated at the MASH unit and returned
to duty.

3.  The applicant provides the denial of his request for reconsideration of
his CRSC denial, his separation document, and the orders awarding him the
Purple Heart.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  He was ordered to active duty from the Army Reserve on 16 October 1956
with 5 years, 6 months and 27 days of prior active service.  He served in
Vietnam, was promoted to major, and was honorably released from active duty
on 31 May 1971 and placed on the Retired List the following day for years
of service.  His significant awards include the Bronze Star for Valor, the
Air Medal, two awards of the Purple Heart, two Presidential Unit Citations,
the Valorous Unit Award, the Meritorious Unit Award, and the Korean
Presidential Unit Citation.

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.  On 7 January 2005, the U.S. Army Physical Disability Agency (USAPDA)
Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) Branch determined that the
applicant’s limited motion in lumbar spine, impaired hearing, tinnitus, and
PTSD  were combat related, and awarded him a total combat related
disability of 70 percent.  The USAPDA CRSC Branch denied the applicant’s
request to have his VA rated disabilities for limited extension of knee and
spinal meningitis approved as combat related.

4.  However, the USAPDA noted that the applicant has been granted
Individual Unemployment Compensation (IUC).

5.  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.

6.  Military retirees who are granted IUC and who are awarded a 60 percent
or greater CRSC rating are automatically given 100 percent CRSC.

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 the applicant has submitted evidence that he was wounded in
combat, he has not submitted any evidence that one of his combat incurred
wounds formed the basis for the contested VA ratings.

4.  However, this denial will not affect the amount of CRSC the applicant
will receive.  The applicant has been granted over 60 percent CRSC and has
been awarded IUC.  As such, he is already receiving 100 percent CRSC.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___klw___  ____phm  ____bje _  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.





            __________Barbara J. Ellis_______
                    CHAIRPERSON




                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20050002052                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20050809                                |
|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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