RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 5 December 2006
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20060006010
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:
| |Ms. Linda D. Simmons | |Chairperson |
| |Mr. Patrick H. McGann Jr. | |Member |
| |Mr. Donald W. Steenfott | |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 impaired hearing and tinnitus be approved for Combat-
Related Special Compensation (CRSC).
2. The applicant states that when he enlisted he only had a small hearing
loss. He served in an artillery unit in Vietnam. By the time he returned
from Vietnam his hearing had deteriorated to the point where he had to be
issued hearing aids. A subsequent assignment as the gunner on an armored
personnel carrier further deteriorated his hearing.
3. The applicant provides the partial denial of his request to reconsider
his CRSC application, a personal statement, and a statement from a former
member of his platoon when he was a gunner.
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 20 January 2005, the U.S. Army Physical Disability Agency (USAPDA)
Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) Branch approved the applicant
for CRSC for diabetes mellitus (60%), circulatory condition (40%),
paralysis of median nerve (10%), and paralysis of sciatic nerve (10%), for
a combined CRSC rating of 80%. However, the USAPDA CRSC Branch denied the
applicant’s request for CRSC for psoriasis, degenerative arthritis,
impaired hearing, tinnitus, and hemorrhoids.
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 not submitted any documentation to show that he was
treated for acoustic trauma stemming from cannon fire.
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
____lds__ ___phm_ ___dws__ 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.
_________Linda D. Simmons________
CHAIRPERSON
INDEX
|CASE ID |AR20060006010 |
|SUFFIX | |
|RECON |YYYYMMDD |
|DATE BOARDED |20061205 |
|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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