RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:           29 November 2005
      DOCKET NUMBER:   AR20050004846


      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 his Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
rated disability for coronary artery disease be approved for Combat-Related
Special Compensation (CRSC).

2.  The applicant states that his coronary artery disease has been accepted
by the VA as secondary to his diabetes, which has already been approved for
CRSC.

3.  The applicant provides the denial of his request to reconsider his CRSC
application and a VA rating decision dated 6 October 2004.  In that rating
decision it was stated “The report of your June 2004 VA examination, when
considered with the evidence cited in the Statement of the Case of October
10, 2003, is sufficient to resolve benefit of the doubt in your favor
regarding the role your service-connected diabetes played in the
development of your heart disease.  Although you are shown to suffer from
elevated cholesterol and triglycerides and to have a strong family history
of heart disease, the medical evidence of record now demonstrates that your
diabetes, although not formally diagnosed until 2001, did indeed
significantly contribute to your heart disease and ultimate need for bypass
surgery in 1997.  Service connection for your heart disease as secondary to
your diabetes can therefore be granted.”

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant was separated from active duty on 1 January 1980 in the
rank of major and placed on the retired list the following day.

2.  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.

3.  On 28 February 2005, the U.S. Army Physical Disability Agency (USAPDA)
Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) Branch denied the applicant’s
request for CRSC.

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.  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.  The VA gave the applicant the benefit of doubt to award him service
connection for arteriosclerotic heart disease secondary to diabetes, even
though he wasn’t diagnosed as being diabetic until 21 years after his
retirement.  However, the VA also noted that the applicant had several
other non-service related factors which could have caused his heart
disease.

3.  As such, the applicant has not established by a preponderance of
evidence a direct, causal relationship to his arteriosclerotic heart
disease to war or the simulation of war.  Without the establishment of this
relationship, there is insufficient basis in which to grant his 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                 |AR20050004846                           |
|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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