RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


      IN THE CASE OF:


      BOARD DATE:        9 January 2007
      DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20060009077


      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. James E. Anderholm            |     |Chairperson          |
|     |Mr. Jerome L. Pionk               |     |Member               |
|     |Mr. Scott W. Faught               |     |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 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) be approved for
Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC).

2.  The applicant states that he believes that his PTSD was caused by
conditions simulating war.

3.  The applicant provides the denial of his request to reconsider his CRSC
application, his separation documents, VA rating decisions and associated
documents, and internet articles concerning weapons of mass destruction.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant was appointed a second lieutenant, United States Air
Force Reserve (USAFR) on 10 February 1965.  He entered active duty in his
commissioned status at that time.  He served in France and England and was
promoted to captain.  On 30 June 1977, the applicant was honorably released
from active duty and transferred to the USAFR.  On 22 September 1978, the
applicant’s USAFR commission was terminated for the purpose of enlistment
in the Army National Guard (ARNG).  He served in an enlisted status in the
ARNG until his transfer to the Retired Reserve on 30 November 1986 in the
rank of staff sergeant.

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 15 October 2004, the U.S. Army Physical Disability Agency (USAPDA)
Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) Branch denied the applicant’s
request for CRSC.

4.  PTSD is a psychiatric illness that can occur following a traumatic
event in which there was threat of injury or death to you or someone else.
PTSD may occur soon after a major trauma, or can be delayed for more than
six months after the event.  When it occurs soon after the trauma it
usually resolves after three months, but some people experience a longer-
term form of the condition, which can last for many years.  PTSD can occur
at any age and can follow a natural disaster such as flood or fire, or
events such as war or imprisonment, assault, domestic abuse, or rape.  The
terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in the U.S. may have caused PTSD in
some people who were involved, in people who witnessed the disaster, and in
people who lost relatives and friends.  These kinds of events produce
stress in anyone, but not everyone develops PTSD.  We do not know what
causes PTSD, but psychological, genetic, physical, and social factors are
involved.  PTSD alters the body’s response to stress by affecting stress
hormones and neurotransmitters (chemicals that transmit information between
our nerves).  Previous exposure to trauma may increase the risk, which
suggests that this kind of a reaction may be a learned response.  Having
good social support helps to protect against developing PTSD.  In studies
of Vietnam veterans, those with strong support systems were less likely to
develop PTSD than those without social support.  People with PTSD re-
experience the event again and again in at least one of several ways.  They
may have recurrent distressing dreams and recollections of the event, a
sense of reliving the experience (referred to as flashbacks), and/or become
very distressed around the time of events that symbolize the event (such as
anniversaries).  (MEDLINE PLUS)

5.  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.  While the applicant is currently diagnosed as suffering from PTSD, he
has not submitted any evidence to show that condition resulted from a
traumatic experience while simulating war.

3.  Without evidence to establish a direct, causal relationship to the
applicant’s PTSD 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

___jea___  ___jlp___  ___swf__  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.





            ______James E. Anderholm________
                    CHAIRPERSON





                                    INDEX

|CASE ID                 |AR20060009077                           |
|SUFFIX                  |                                        |
|RECON                   |YYYYMMDD                                |
|DATE BOARDED            |20060109                                |
|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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