RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:           1 December 2005
      DOCKET NUMBER:   AR20050006357


      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. John T. Meixell               |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Ms. Maribeth B. Love              |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. Richard G. Sayre              |     |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 back strain be approved for Combat-Related Special
Compensation (CRSC).

2.  The applicant states that his request to have his back strain approved
for CRSC has twice been disapproved by the U.S. Army Physical Disability
Agency (USAPDA) Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) Branch.
However, the USAPDA CRSC Branch disapproved him for benign growth of bones,
not back strain.  He explains that he strained his back while mountain
climbing and rappelling while at Fort Hood, Texas, which would be under
conditions simulating war.

3.  The applicant provides the partial denial of his request for
reconsideration of CRSC.  He also submits his VA rating decisions.  In his
29 May 1981 rating decision, he was granted service connection for back
strain, but was not awarded a disability pension since it was less than 10
percent disabling.  In his 17 September 2001 rating decision, he was
awarded a 10 percent disability rating for calcific mass at L2, low back
strain, under Veterans Administration Schedule for Rating Disabilities
(VASRD) Code 5015-5295.

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 28 February 2005, the U.S. Army Physical Disability Agency (USAPDA)
Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) Branch denied the applicant’s
request for CRSC for his benign growth of the bones under VASRD Code 5015.
However, the USAPDA CRSC Branch approved the applicant’s 20 percent
disability rating for diabetes mellitus for CRSC.

3.  VASRD Code 5015 denotes bones, new growth of, benign.  VASRD Code 5295
denotes lumbosacral strain.

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.  A disability incurred while performing the official military training
of mountain climbing would certainly be considered combat related for CRSC
purposes.  However, the applicant has not submitted any evidence to show
that he strained his back while mountain climbing.  In addition, the
applicant would also have to show that his VA rated disability was the
result of that injury.

3.  As such, it made no difference which VASRD Code the USAPDA CRSC Branch
referred to in its denial of the applicant’s request for CRSC for his
calcific mass at L2, low back strain.

4.  Without evidence to establish a direct, causal relationship to the
applicant’s VA rated disability 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

____jtm__  ___rgs __  ____mbl__  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.





            ________John T. Meixell______________
                    CHAIRPERSON


                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20050006357                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20051001                                |
|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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