RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:        15 NOVEMBER 2005
      DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20050003983


      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. Gale J. Thomas                |     |Analyst              |


      The following members, a quorum, were present:

|     |Ms. Stanley Kelley                |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. John Meixell                  |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. Robert Duecaster              |     |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 records be corrected by adjusting his
date of rank to Master Sergeant (E-8), and by having his records reviewed
by a Standby Advisory Board for promotion to Sergeant Major (E-9).

2.  The applicant states that his date of rank should be adjusted from 1
January 2004 to 1 March 2002, and that his records should be reviewed by a
Standby Advisory Board for promotion to Sergeant Major, for the boards that
he has missed.

3.  The applicant provides documents relating to the handling and
processing of his security clearance in support of his request.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant was selected for promotion by the 2001 Master Sergeant
(MSG) Promotion Selection Board.  However, when the applicant’s promotion
sequence number was reached in March 2002, he was not promoted because he
failed to meet the security requirements of Army Regulation 600-8-19,
paragraph 1-16, which states that promotion to MSG and SGM requires a
favorable National Agency Check, local Agency Check, and Credit Check, or a
security clearance of secret or higher.

2.  Documents submitted with the applicant’s application indicate he
submitted a request to update his security clearance in 2001 in preparation
for promotion to Master Sergeant, as well as a rebuttal to reinstate his
clearance.

3.  In January 2002 and February 2002, the applicant requested a copy of
his investigative records from the Freedom of Information Privacy Office.
In February 2002 he was informed that although the Investigative Records
Repository (IRR) determined that there was a file listed under his name it
had declared the file “missing-unable to locate”, and that they would
conduct another search in 30 days and would advise him of the results.  In
a March 2002 response to the applicant’s request, he was informed that they
were still unable to locate his file, that they had gone through a major
project to scan paper files into a computer server for electronic retention
and retrieval, however, as a result of the computer glitches they were
unable to retrieve his electronic file from the computer system, and had
decided to give him a no record response and close his case.  They
suggested that he submit another request in about six months, that
hopefully they would have fixed the glitches and would be able to find his
file.
4.  In September 2002 an inquiry was made to the U.S. Army Central
Personnel Clearance Facility (CCF) to check the status of the applicant’s
request.  The CCF reported that they had no records of the request, however
had received a rebuttal concerning reinstating his clearance, and had
requested files from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Office to assist
in making a reinstatement determination.

5.  In December 2002, the adjudication of the applicant’s reinstatement had
not occurred.  On 6 May 2003, a representation from CCF informed the
Security Manager that even if the adjudicator agreed with the rebuttal,
they could not reinstate his clearance because his investigation was too
old.  They instructed him to submit a new request for a security clearance,
which he did on 21 May 2003.

6.  In December 2003 a second request was submitted to CCF to grant the
applicant an interim clearance.  CCF conducted a second open-case
investigation and on 17 December 2003, granted the applicant an interim
SECRET clearance.

7.  On 17 December 2003, the applicant was promoted to Master Sergeant with
an effective date and date of rank of 1 January 2004.

8.  In the processing of this case an Advisory Opinion was obtained from
the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, Alexandria, Virginia which
recommended that the applicant’s request be denied.  The opinion was based
on the applicant not meeting the requirement of having a favorable National
Agency Check, local Agency Check, and Credit Check or a security clearance
of secret or higher, as required by Army Regulation 600-9-19.

9.  The applicant was provided a copy of the opinion and has not responded.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Notwithstanding the advisory opinion, the applicant not meeting the
security requirements of Army Regulation 600-8-19, was no fault of the
Soldier, and he should not be penalized for actions beyond his control.





2.  The applicant did as he was instructed and in sufficient enough time to
have met the security requirement prior to his March 2002 promotion date.
In the interest of justice the applicant’s records should be corrected to
show he was promoted to Master Sergeant, pay grade E-8 on 1 March 2002,
with entitlement to all pay and allowances.  The applicant’s records should
then be reviewed by a Standby Advisory Board for any promotion boards he
would have been eligible for based on his March 2002 date of rank.

BOARD VOTE:

__SK ___  _JM ____  __RD ___  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

The Board determined that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant
a recommendation for relief.  As a result, the Board recommends that all
Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by
showing the applicant was promoted to Master Sergeant on 1 March 2002, with
entitlement to all pay and allowances.  The applicant’s records should then
be reviewed by a Standby Advisory Board for any promotion boards he would
have been eligible for based on his March 2002 date of rank.




                                  _____ Stanley Kelley________
                                            CHAIRPERSON



                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20050003983                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20051115                                |
|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.       |131.00                                  |
|2.                      |                                        |
|3.                      |                                        |
|4.                      |                                        |
|5.                      |                                        |
|6.                      |                                        |


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