RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:        10 August 2006
      DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20060002289


      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. Curtis L. Greenway            |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. James B. Gunlicks             |     |Member               |
|     |Ms. Peguine M. Taylor             |     |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 bronchitis secondary to pulmonary tuberculosis be
approved for Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC).

2.  The applicant states that he served two tours in Vietnam as an
infantryman.  Between the first and second tours, he had a positive tine
test.  After he left Vietnam for the second time he was assigned to Fort
McClellan where he served as the noncommissioned officer in charge of the
physical training committee.  After completing that tour, he was assigned
to Germany, where he started having problems running.  In April 1977 he was
diagnosed as having a paralyzed diaphragm.  In 1988 he was prejudicially
denied reenlistment.  He was eleven pounds overweight at the time.

3.  The applicant provides the denial of his request to reconsider his CRSC
application, VA rating decisions, and excerpts from his military records to
include a clinical record dated 27 November 1978.  In that clinical record
it is stated that the applicant had a negative tine test in 1977.  However,
because tuberculosis involvement could not be excluded, the applicant was
started on a two drug anti-tuberculosis therapy.

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 9 January 2006, the U.S. Army Physical Disability Agency (USAPDA)
Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) Branch denied the applicant’s
request for CRSC for bronchitis and weak foot condition, but approved his
request for CRSC for diabetes mellitus (20%) and Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (50%), for a combined CRSC rating of 60%.

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.

4.  Tuberculosis (TB) can develop after inhaling droplets sprayed into the
air from a cough or sneeze by someone infected with M. tuberculosis.  The
disease is characterized by the development of granulomas (granular tumors)
in the infected tissues.

5.  The usual site of the disease is the lungs, but other organs may be
involved.  The primary stage of the infection is usually asymptomatic
(without symptoms).  In the United States, the majority of people will
recover from primary TB infection without further evidence of the disease.

6.  Primary pulmonary TB develops in the minority of people whose immune
systems do not successfully contain the primary infection.  In this case,
the disease may occur within weeks after the primary infection.  TB may
also lie dormant for years and reappear after the initial infection is
contained.

7.  Infants, the elderly, and individuals who are immunocompromised -- for
example, those with AIDS, those undergoing chemotherapy, or transplant
recipients taking antirejection medications -- are at higher risk for
progression to disease or reactivation of dormant disease.  In pulmonary
TB, the extent of the disease can vary from minimal to massive involvement.
 Without effective therapy, the disease becomes progressively worse.

8.  The risk of contracting TB increases with the frequency of contact with
people who have the disease, with crowded or unsanitary living conditions
and with poor nutrition (MEDLINE PLUS).


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 which shows that he
contracted TB in Vietnam or, even if he had, that he contracted TB in
combat.  As stated above, the fact that a disability was incurred in a
theater of operations or during a training exercise is insufficient, in and
of itself, to warrant approval of CRSC.

3.  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

__clg____  ____jbg_  ___pmt___  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.





                                  _________Curtis L. Greenway______
                                            CHAIRPERSON

                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20060002289                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20060810                                |
|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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