RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:        12 September 2006
      DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20060000469


      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. Allen L. Raub                 |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Ms. Linda M. Barker               |     |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, in effect, that his medical records be
corrected to add a record of treatment for hypertension (eight instances),
arm injury; arm, face and eye (12 instances); hearing loss (six instances);
nervous trouble (two instances) face disease (10 instances); and fractured
skull (nine instances).  The applicant also requests that his records
reflect the combat units to which he was assigned.

2.  In a separate letter, the applicant asks his records be corrected to
show he was assigned to A Battery, 96th Field Artillery in 1954, the 6th
Training Battalion in November 1954 to January 1955, Division Artillery
from January 1955 to February 1956, and A Company, 22nd Engineer Battalion
from February to March 1956.  He also asks that his records be corrected to
show that he suffered frostbite in either January or February 1954 and was
given physical profile restrictions for the residuals of the frostbite.

3.  The applicant states that he requires these corrections in order to
have his Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) rated disabilities approved
for Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC).

4.  The applicant provides 10 documents in support of his request, which he
lists as enclosures in his letter.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant entered active duty in an enlisted status in January
1953, and was awarded the military occupational specialty of gunner.  The
applicant served in A Battery, 96th Field Artillery from 8 July 1953 to 7
October 1954, he served in C Battery, 6th Battalion AAA RTC, he served in
Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 5th Armored Division from 2 February
1955 to 1 February 1956, and he served in Company A, 22nd Engineer
Battalion, 5th Armored Division from 2 February to 19 March 1956.  He
served one tour in Korea and served two tours in Vietnam, and was honorably
released from active duty on 31 March 1983 in pay grade E-9 and placed on
the retired list the following day for years of service.

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 25 January 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 CRSC 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 applicant’s military records do not contain any treatment records
or profile limitations for frostbite.

2.  The Board corrects military records when an error or injustice exists
in those records.  The addition of treatment records is not a correction to
a military record.  If the applicant has treatment records which are not
contained in his military or VA medical records, he has the option of
forwarding those records to the records repository at St. Louis, Missouri
and his VA medical center for inclusion in his records.

3.  The applicant has not stated that his record of assignments is in
error.  He has asked for his records to reflect that he was assigned to
specific units during specific periods of time.  His records already
reflect the assignments he has requested, with the exception of the 6th
Training Battalion from November 1954 to January 1955.

4.  In this regard, the location of an individual's duty assignments and
principal duties assigned are entered on a Soldier's DA Form 20 and DA Form
2-1.  Since the DA Form 20 and DA Form 2-1 are not normally accessible by
individuals other than the Soldier, there is no basis for applications for
corrections to these form to be reviewed by the Board. 

5.  However, in an effort to assist the applicant, a copy of the assignment
portions of the applicant’s military records have been attached to this
record of proceedings.

6.  As for the addition of medical treatment records to the applicant’s
military health records, the applicant did not submit any medical treatment
records.  As such, there is insufficient documentation for the Board to
consider this portion of the applicant’s request.

7.  It is the applicant’s stated intent to have his records corrected to
establish eligibility for CRSC.  In this regard, 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.

8.  As such, simply showing that a medical condition had its inception
while in a theater of operations would be insufficient, in and of itself,
to show the condition was combat related.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___alr___  ____qas_  ___lmb__  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.




                                  _________Allen L. Raub________
                                            CHAIRPERSON

                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20060000469                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20060912                                |
|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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