RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:           29 November 2005
      DOCKET NUMBER:   AR20050004810


      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. Stanley Kelley                |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. Melvin H. Meyer               |     |Member               |
|     |Ms. LaVerne M. Douglas            |     |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 her Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) rated disabilities be approved for Combat-Related Special Compensation
(CRSC).

2.  The applicant states, in effect, that the documents she submits in
support of her request will show that she was denied CRSC inappropriately.

3.  The applicant provides:

      a.  the partial denial of her request to reconsider her CRSC
application;

      b.  two VA rating decisions, both dated 8 December 2004, one of which
has a combat code of 1 (which has the annotation “Old” written on it), and
the other with the combat code 1 written over with a 2 (which has the
annotation “New” written on it).  Both of these rating decisions list all
of the applicant’s disabilities as either Gulf War incurred, aggravated, or
presumptive;

      c.  a DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active
Duty, which shows that while assigned to an Army Reserve unit as a Medical
Surgical Nurse in the rank of colonel, she served on active duty from 7
December 1990 to 4 June 1991;

      d.  a letter from the Office of the Secretary of Defense dated 5
December 2000 which stated that if she was with her unit between 10 to 13
March 1991, she may have been exposed to a very low level of chemical agent
resulting from the demolition of munitions.  She was also advised that
“Based on current medical evidence and ongoing research, there is no
indication that any long-term health effects would be expected from the
brief, low-level exposure to chemical agents that may have occurred . . .”;
and

      e.  a computer printout, presumably from the VA, which indicated that
the applicant served in the Gulf War in combat.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC), as established by Section
1413a, Title 10, United States Code, as amended, provides for the payment
of the amount of money a military retiree would receive from the VA for
combat related disabilities if it wasn’t for the statutory prohibition for
a military retiree to receive a VA disability pension.  Payment is made by
the Military Department, not the VA, and is tax free.  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.  Military retirees who are approved
for CRSC must have waived a portion of their military retired pay since
CRSC consists of the Military Department returning a portion of the waived
retired pay to the military retiree.

2.  On 2 February 2005, the U.S. Army Physical Disability Agency (USAPDA)
Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) Branch denied the applicant’s
request for CRSC for eye condition, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and
lumbosacral or cervical strain.  However, the USAPDA CRSC Branch approved
the applicant for her 20 percent VA disability rating for undiagnosed
condition of the musculoskeletal system.

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 or in training exercises 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.  While all of the applicant’s disabilities have been classified as Gulf
War incurred, aggravated or presumptive, there is no evidence or indication
that those conditions were incurred in combat.  While the computer printout
lists the applicant as being in combat during the Gulf War, it is unknown
what parameters the VA used in making this determination.  As stated above,
the fact that a disability was incurred in a theater of operations is
insufficient, in and of itself, to warrant approval of CRSC.

3.  The handwritten alteration of the combat code of the applicant’s VA
rating decision has been carefully considered by the Board and has been
determined to be insufficient to grant her request.

4.  Without evidence to establish a direct, causal relationship to the
applicant’s VA rated disabilities to war or the simulation of war, there is
insufficient basis in which to grant her request.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___lmd__  ___sk___  ____mhm_  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.





            __________Stanley Kelley________
                    CHAIRPERSON


                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20050004810                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20051129                                |
|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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