RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:        31 August 2006
      DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20060002026


      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             |
|     |Mrs. Nancy L. Amos                |     |Analyst              |


      The following members, a quorum, were present:

|     |Mr. William D. Powers             |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. Jeffrey C. Redmann            |     |Member               |
|     |Ms. Karmin S. Jenkins             |     |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 he be allowed to retain his
payment under the Special Separation Benefit (SSB).

2.  The applicant states he left the military because he was told his job
position was going to be downsized.  He was given three choices:  (1) stay
in and see what was actually going to happen; (2) change his military
occupational specialty (MOS) if he qualified and if that was what the
military still needed; or (3) take the money and run.  During all his
outprocessing orientations, great emphasis was given on filing for medical
disability benefits.  At no time was any information given out that the
separation monetary benefit would have to be paid back if you qualified for
medical disability benefits.  He really does not think that he would have
given up his career if he had not been put in that kind of position.  He
took the money hoping to continue to have the same quality of life for
himself and his family.

3.  The applicant provides his DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or
Discharge from Active Duty); his separation orders; and a Compensation and
Pension Veteran Information printout.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  After having had prior service, the applicant enlisted in the Regular
Army on   8 October 1981.  He was promoted to Staff Sergeant, E6 on 1
February 1986 in MOS 76Y (Unit Supply Specialist).

2.  Around May 1992, the applicant applied for separation under the SSB.
His request was approved.  On 31 August 1992, he was separated with a total
SSB payment of $36,040.02.  He had completed a total of 12 years, 1 month,
and    29 days of creditable active service.  He was transferred to the U.
S. Army Reserve Control Group Reinforcement.

3.  The applicant was awarded Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
disability compensation on an unknown date.  He provided a printout to show
that $218.00 was last deducted from his disability payment with a
recoupment balance of $14,609.02.

4.  The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1992 established
voluntary incentive programs to support the Army drawdown.  These incentive
programs were designed to induce members of the Armed Forces to leave the
military voluntarily.  Under both of the programs, the Voluntary Separation

Incentive (VSI) and the SSB, qualifying service members who voluntarily
left active duty before their retirement received benefits based on their
salary at the time of separation and on years of service.

5.  Under the SSB, an eligible member of the Armed Forces would receive a
lump sum payment equal to 15 percent of the Soldier’s annual basic pay
multiplied by his years of active service.  Soldiers who applied for this
incentive were required to enter into a written agreement to serve in the
Ready Reserve for a period of not less than 3 years, in addition to any
remaining military service obligation based in statute, following the
separation from active duty.

6.  Title 38, U. S. Code, section 5304(a)(1) states that except…not more
than one award of pension, compensation…regular, or reserve retirement pay,
or…shall be made concurrently to any person based on such person’s own
service or concurrently to any person based on the service of any other
person.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant’s contention that at no time during his outprocessing was
any information given out that the SSB payment would have to be paid back
if he qualified for medical disability benefits has been considered.  While
there is no evidence to show that this information was not part of the
extensive briefings provided on the SSB and the VSI at the time, the
applicant has provided insufficient evidence to show that he was
detrimentally harmed by the lack of such information.

2.  The law states that not more than one award of compensation shall be
made to a person.  The most common scenario is when (up until very
recently) a member had to waive retired pay in order to receive VA
disability compensation.  An SSB payment is also compensation, and the
applicant cannot receive two awards of compensation for his service.
However, the applicant is not losing out on any monetary benefits.  What he
is “losing” in SSB payments is being paid to him in VA disability
compensation.

3.  The applicant contended that he really did not think that he would have
given up his career if he had not been “put in that kind of position.”
Such thoughts are purely speculative at this point.  The applicant elected
to separate during the earliest phase of the drawdown period, when he had
only a little over 12 years of active service.  The Army downsized even
more drastically in the following years. The Army briefed him accurately –
there was no guarantee that he would not have been reclassified into a
different MOS or even involuntarily separated prior to reaching retirement
eligibility.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

__wdp___  __jcr___  __ksj___  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.




                                  __William D. Powers___
                                            CHAIRPERSON



                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20060002026                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |                                        |
|DATE BOARDED            |20060831                                |
|TYPE OF DISCHARGE       |                                        |
|DATE OF DISCHARGE       |                                        |
|DISCHARGE AUTHORITY     |                                        |
|DISCHARGE REASON        |                                        |
|BOARD DECISION          |DENY                                    |
|REVIEW AUTHORITY        |Mr. Chun                                |
|ISSUES         1.       |128.00                                  |
|2.                      |                                        |
|3.                      |                                        |
|4.                      |                                        |
|5.                      |                                        |
|6.                      |                                        |


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