RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 13 December 2005
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20050005707
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. Melvin H. Meyer | |Member |
| |Mr. Allen L. Raub | |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 his Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
rated disability for his hand injury be approved for Combat-Related Special
Compensation (CRSC).
2. The applicant states that he was an infantryman assigned to an infantry
unit in the Canal Zone when he injured his hand loading equipment. He
contends that he was loading equipment to move to a training area, which
was a simulation of war. His hand injury was so bad that he was later
transferred to Walter Reed Army Medical Center for treatment.
3. The applicant provides the denial of his request to reconsider his CRSC
application, the separation document for the period in question, and a
single medical record.
CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:
1. The applicant’s military records show that while performing duties as
an infantryman, on 31 January 1957 a gasoline drum fell and injured his
right thumb. No other specifics concerning the nature of the injury are
available in the applicant’s military records.
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 24 March 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 applicant was injured when a gasoline drum fell. However, there is
no evidence or indication that the applicant was performing duties
simulating war at that time.
3. 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 his request.
BOARD VOTE:
________ ________ ________ GRANT FULL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
__alr ____ ___mhm_ ____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 |AR20050005707 |
|SUFFIX | |
|RECON |YYYYMMDD |
|DATE BOARDED |20051213 |
|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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