RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:        10 August 2006
      DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20060002292


      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 disabilities for his back and knee be approved for Combat-Related
Special Compensation (CRSC).

2.  The applicant states that while on maneuvers in Grafenwoehr, Germany,
he fell off a truck, injuring his back.  He injured his knees when he fell
from the horizontal bars while taking the combat proficiency test.  He also
injured his arm at that time.

3.  The applicant provides the denial of his request to reconsider his CRSC
application, a VA rating decision, and excerpts from his military medical
records.  In one excerpt it is shown that the applicant injured his back
when he fell off a truck at midnight.  In another excerpt dated 25 July
1980, it was stated that the applicant reported that he “fell off the
horizontal bars at Fort Carson in 1972 and fell to both knees.  He sought
no medical treatment at that time, but approximately one month later was
seen in the clinic for bilateral knee pain.”

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 16 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 (30%), intervertebral disc syndrome (10%),
loss of motion of knee (10%), limited flexion of knee (10%), and limited
motion of arm (10%).  However, the USAPDA CRSC Branch approved the
applicant’s request for CRSC for prostate gland condition (40%).

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 submitted documentation which shows he injured his
back when he fell off a truck.  However, he has not submitted any evidence
to show that he was simulating war at that time.  The fact that an injury
is incurred during a training exercise is insufficient, in and of itself,
to warrant approval of CRSC.

3.  The applicant submits documentation to show that he reported that he
fell off horizontal bars a month after the incident occurred.  The
applicant has not submitted any documentation which would substantiate that
he fell off horizontal bars.  However, even if the applicant had submitted
verification that he injured his knees when he fell off horizontal bars, it
would not establish combat relationship.  For a disability to qualify for
CRSC under the simulation of war provisions, it would have to have been
incurred in the actual execution of maneuvers or operations his unit would
be expected to conduct during a time of war.

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

____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                 |AR20060002292                           |
|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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