RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS


	IN THE CASE OF:	  


	BOARD DATE:	  28 June 2007
	DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20060009553 


	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.  


	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 his skin condition be approved for Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC).

2.  The applicant states that he served in Korea from 1968 to 1969, and in Vietnam.  His skin condition is presumed to have been caused by Agent Orange exposure.

3.  The applicant provides the denial of his request to reconsider his CRSC application, his separation document, civilian medical records, and a VA rating decision with allied documentation.  

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 25 January 2005, the U.S. Army Physical Disability Agency (USAPDA) CRSC Branch denied the applicant’s request for CRSC for dermatitis or eczema, blindness, and limited motion of arm.

3.  The medical records submitted by the applicant show that he was diagnosed with extreme acne conglobata or possibly also trichophytosis profunda on 11 December 1980; with cyctic acne on 9 May 2005; and with folliculitis, cheloid and acne on 17 April 1991.

4.  In accordance with the VA, current conditions considered presumptive to exposure to Agent Orange are:

 - Chloracne or other acneform disease consistent with chloracne (a skin eruption resembling acne and resulting from exposure to chlorine or its compounds).

 - Hodgkin's disease.(a neoplastic disease that is characterized by progressive enlargement of lymph nodes, spleen, and liver and by progressive anemia).

 - Multiple myeloma. (a disease of bone marrow that is characterized by the presence of numerous myelomas in various bones of the body).

 - Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (any of the numerous malignant lymphomas [as Burkitt's lymphoma] that are not classified as Hodgkin's disease and that usually have malignant cells derived from B cells or T cells).

 - Acute and subacute peripheral neuropathy. (a disease or degenerative state [as polyneuropathy] of the peripheral nerves in which motor, sensory, or vasomotor nerve fibers may be affected and which is marked by muscle weakness and atrophy, pain, and numbness).

 - Porphyria cutanea tarda. (a common porphyria that is marked by an excess of uroporphyrin caused by an enzyme deficiency chiefly of the liver and that is characterized especially by skin lesions produced by exposure to light, scarring, hyperpigmentation, and hypertrichosis).

 - Prostate cancer.

 - Respiratory cancers (cancer of the lung, bronchus, larynx, or trachea).

 - Soft-tissue sarcoma (a malignant neoplasm arising in tissue of mesodermal origin [as connective tissue, bone, cartilage, or striated muscle] that spreads by extension into neighboring tissue or by way of the bloodstream).

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.  The applicant contends that his dermatitis or eczema should be considered combat related for CRSC purposes since it was due to Agent Orange exposure.  However, neither dermatitis nor eczema are considered presumptive conditions caused by Agent Orange.

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

___jtm___  ____dac_  ___wfc _  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.



___________John T. Meixell______
          CHAIRPERSON


INDEX

CASE ID
AR20060009553
SUFFIX

RECON
YYYYMMDD
DATE BOARDED
20070628
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.