RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:           10 January 2006
      DOCKET NUMBER:   AR20050009512


      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. Kenneth L. Wright             |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. Dale E. DeBruler              |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. Qawiy A. Sabree               |     |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 his Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) rated disabilities be approved for Combat-Related Special Compensation
(CRSC).

2.  The applicant states that his tinnitus was due to machine gun and
engine noise while he served on a helicopter in Vietnam.  His tinnitus is
also due to the noise of an enemy RPG round hitting his bunker in Vietnam
and the automatic weapons fire noise in the bunker.

3.  The applicant states that his lumbosacral or cervical strain and
paralysis of his sciatic nerve are due to the weight he was required to
carry while in the field in Vietnam.  On a normal basis he had to carry 60
pounds of gear.  When it was his turn to carry the radio antenna, he had to
carry 100 pounds of gear or more.  At that time he weighed 135 pounds.

4.  The applicant provides the denial of his request to reconsider his CRSC
application, a statement from a physician who says that the applicant’s
degenerative joint and disc disease of the lumbar spine with herniated
nucleus pulpous of L-4 and L-5 is as least likely as not related to the
combat operations in Vietnam, and a VA rating decision.

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

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.  The applicant has not submitted any documentation showing that he was
treated for traumatic ear injuries or back problems while he was in
Vietnam.

3.  The statement submitted by the physician in the applicant’s behalf only
states that it is as likely as not that the applicant’s back problems were
caused by his combat experiences.  This is speculative at best and cannot
be used in and of itself as a basis to grant the applicant’s 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 his request.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___klw___  ___qas__  ___ded__  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.




            __________Kenneth L. Wright______
                    CHAIRPERSON


                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20050009512                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20060110                                |
|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.                      |                                        |












-----------------------
[pic]