RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:            27 APRIL 2006
      DOCKET NUMBER:   AR20050010894


      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. Jessie B. Strickland          |     |Analyst              |

      The following members, a quorum, were present:

|     |Mr. Lester Echols                 |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. John Meixell                  |     |Member               |
|     |Ms. Naomi Henderson               |     |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 she be issued a 20-year letter and that she
be transferred to the Retired Reserve.

2.  The applicant states that she maintained an active status in the
Alabama Army National Guard (ALARNG) from 4 April 1979 until August 1997,
when she transferred to a United States Army Reserve (USAR) unit.  She
remained in the USAR unit until March 1999, when she was transferred to the
USAR Control Group (Reinforcement) due to unsatisfactory participation.
She remained in the control group until she was discharged in August 2001.
She goes on to state that she began experiencing health problems in
February 1999, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and those medical
problems contributed to her unsatisfactory participation.  She also states
that she was not counseled regarding her options and was not provided
transition assistance.  She further states that she began inquiring about
her 20-year retirement eligibility in March 2000

3.  The applicant provides a letter explaining her position on the matter
with a listing of 12 enclosures.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant is requesting correction of an alleged injustice which
occurred on 21 August 2001.  The application submitted in this case is
dated 15 July 2005.

2.  Title 10, U.S. Code, Section 1552(b), provides that applications for
correction of military records must be filed within 3 years after discovery
of the alleged error or injustice.  This provision of law allows the Army
Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to excuse failure to file
within the 3-year statute of limitations if the ABCMR determines that it
would be in the interest of justice to do so.  In this case, the ABCMR will
conduct a review of the merits of the case to determine if it would be in
the interest of justice to excuse the applicant’s failure to timely file.

3.  She enlisted in the Regular Army on 2 November 1976 and served on
active duty until she was honorably discharged on 17 February 1978.  On 5
April 1979, she enlisted in the ALARNG and continued to serve until she was
honorably discharged in the pay grade of E-5 on 21 August 1997, for the
purpose of enlisting in the USAR.

4.  On 22 August 1997, she enlisted in the USAR for a period of 4 years,
which established her expiration of term of service (ETS) as 21 August
2001.

5.  On 18 March 1999, she was reassigned from her troop program unit (TPU)
to the USAR Control Group (Reinforcement) due to unsatisfactory
participation.

6.  On 21 August 2001, she was honorably discharged from the USAR on her
ETS.

7.  A review of the available records fails to show that she was ever
issued a   20-year letter or that she completed 20 creditable years to
qualify for retirement at age 60.

8.  A retirement points history statement provided by the applicant shows
that on 4 October 2002, her ALARNG points totaled 19 years of creditable
service for Retired Pay purposes.  A more recent chronological statement of
retirement points shows that she has 19 years, 7 months and 16 days of
creditable service for retirement purposes.

9.  A chronological statement of retirement points which shows her USAR
service indicates that she had only 1 creditable year of service in the
USAR for the Retirement Year Ending (RYE) on 4 April 1998.  It also shows
that she was three points short of having a creditable year in the RYE 4
April 1997.

10.  On 30 November 2000, the applicant contacted officials at the Army
Reserve Personnel Center in St. Louis, Missouri, to obtain a 20-year letter
and was informed at that time that there was no record of her having
qualifying years of service.  She was provided an address to send the
documents required to update her records.  On 6 February 2001 she was sent
a reenlistment card.  There is no indication that she responded to the
issue of reenlistment and there is no evidence to show that she was barred
from reenlistment.

11.  A review of the documents provided by the applicant indicates that she
began treatments for cancer in March 1999.

12.  Army Regulation 135-180, Qualifying Service for Retired Pay -
Nonregular Service, provides, in pertinent part, that a USAR Soldier who
completes 20 qualifying years of service is eligible to apply for Retired
Pay at age 60, provided that the last 8 years were served in the Reserve
Components.  A qualifying year of service is one in which the Soldier earns
at least 50 points during the established retirement year.  Any points less
than 50 do not qualify as a qualifying year for retirement purposes.  A
Soldier must have 20 years of service in which he or she earned 50 or more
points each retirement year in order to be issued a 20-year letter.

13.  Title 10, United States Code, Section 1176b provides a sanctuary
provision for Reserve enlisted members who are credited with at least 18
but less than 20 years of service completed under section 1332 of the Code
and are selected to be involuntarily separated or whose term of enlistment
expires and who are denied reenlistment.

14.  Army Regulation 135-178, Enlisted Administrative Separations,
provides, in pertinent part, that a Soldier is entitled to be discharged on
the expiration of their service obligation and normally will be discharged
unless action is taken to retain the Soldier beyond such expiration date.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The evidence in this case suggests that the applicant was discharged
because she had reached the expiration of her term of service (ETS) and had
not taken steps to reenlist.  Accordingly, since reenlistment is a
volitional act and she was not barred from reenlistment, the Department was
obligated to discharge her on her ETS.

2.  At the time the applicant was discharged she had only completed 19
years, 7 months and 16 days of creditable service for retired pay purposes
and thus was not issued a 20-year letter.

3.  Therefore, it was incumbent on the applicant to take the steps
necessary to either obtain the additional service necessary to qualify for
retirement at age 60 or to provide documentation to show that she in fact
had service that was not properly documented in her records.

4.  However, given the seriousness of the applicant’s condition at the
time, it is reasonable to presume that the applicant’s concerns were
focused on her medical condition at the time instead of her military
service obligations and that checking her records was not one of her
priorities.

5.  Accordingly, it would be in the interest of compassion to grant the
applicant an exception to policy by transferring three retirement points
from the RYE 4 April 1998 to the RYE 4 April 1997, so as to give her a
creditable year of service for that year and to qualify her for issuance of
a 20-year letter and non-regular retirement at age 60.


BOARD VOTE:

___LE  __  ___JM __  ___NH __  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

The Board determined that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant
a recommendation for relief.  As a result, the Board recommends that all
Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by
voiding her discharge of 21 August 2001, by transferring three retirement
points from the RYE 4 April 1998 to the RYE 4 April 1997, by issuing her a
20-year letter and by transferring her to the Retired Reserve effective 21
August 2001.



                                  ______Lester Echols________
                                            CHAIRPERSON

                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20050010894                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |                                        |
|DATE BOARDED            |20060427                                |
|TYPE OF DISCHARGE       |HD                                      |
|DATE OF DISCHARGE       |20010821                                |
|DISCHARGE AUTHORITY     |AR 135-180                              |
|DISCHARGE REASON        |Retirement-Nonregular Service           |
|BOARD DECISION          |GRANT-FULL RELIEF                       |
|REVIEW AUTHORITY        |AR 15-185                               |
|ISSUES                  |341/usar ret res                        |
|1.136.0300              |                                        |
|2.                      |                                        |
|3.                      |                                        |
|4.                      |                                        |
|5.                      |                                        |
|6.                      |                                        |


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