IN THE CASE OF:	  

	BOARD DATE:	  6 May 2008

	DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20080003379 


THE BOARD CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING EVIDENCE:

1.  Application for correction of military records (with supporting documents provided, if any).

2.  Military Personnel Records and advisory opinions (if any).


THE APPLICANT'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant requests that her DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge From Active Duty) for the period 27 December 1990 through 18 March 1991 be corrected in Block 18 (Remarks) and Block 24 (Character of Service).

2.  The applicant states she served in Desert Shield/Desert Storm, but that information is not contained in Block 18.  She also states that Block 24 shows her service as uncharacterized and this should be corrected.

3.  The applicant provides:

	a.  A copy of her DD Form 214 for the period 27 December 1990 through 18 March 1991.  It shows she completed her period of active service and was separated with an uncharacterized character of service.  It shows she served overseas for 1 month and 28 days, but does not indicate where or the "from-to" dates of that service.

	b.  A copy of her NGB Form 22 (Report of Separation and Record of Service) for the period 26 August 1988 through 1 October 1991 showing honorable service.  This document also shows service in Desert Shield/Desert Storm from 27 December 1990 to 18 March 1991.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1552(b), provides that applications for correction of military records must be filed within 3 years after discovery of the alleged error or injustice.  This provision of law also allows the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to excuse an applicant’s failure to timely file within the 3-year statute of limitations if the ABCMR determines it would be in the interest of justice to do so.  While it appears the applicant did not file within the time frame provided in the statute of limitations, the ABCMR has elected to conduct a substantive review of this case and, only to the extent relief, if any, is granted, has determined it is in the interest of justice to excuse the applicant’s failure to timely file.  In all other respects, there are insufficient bases to waive the statute of limitations for timely filing.

2.  The applicant’s military records are not available to the Board.  This case is being considered using reconstructed records, which primarily consist of the documents provided by the applicant.

3.  With 1 year and 14 days of prior service in the Regular Army (RA), and 2 years and 8 months of prior service in the US Army Reserve (USAR), the applicant enlisted in the Texas Army National Guard (TXARNG) on 26 August 1988.  She was a member of the 217th Evacuation Hospital, San Antonio, TX.

4.  The applicant's unit was mobilized for Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm.  Her DD Form 214 and her NGB 22 show she entered on active duty on 27 December 1990 and separated on 18 March 1991.  Her DD Form 214 shows that she had 1 month and 28 days of foreign service during her active duty mobilization, but it does not indicate the "from-to" dates of that service.  Likewise, her NGB Form 22 only shows her total active service for Desert Shield/Desert Storm, not her actual service in the Southwest Asia Theater of Operations.

5.  A newspaper article in the San Antonio (TX) Express-News, dated Saturday, 16 March 1991, states that the 217th Evacuation Hospital deployed to Saudi Arabia for service near Riyadh on 13 January 1991.  The article also states the unit demobilized on Friday, 15 March 1991.

6.  Title 10, United States Code, Section 1168, provides that a discharge certificate or certificate of release from active duty (DD Form 214) will be given to each Soldier upon discharge or release from active duty.

7.  Army Regulation 635-200 (Enlisted Separations), then in effect, provided in Chapter 3 that uncharacterized separations were given to Soldiers in an entry-level status (initial 180 days of service), or to Soldiers separated by reason of a voided enlistment.  

8.  Army Regulation 635-5 (Separation Documents) prescribes the separation documents that must be prepared for soldiers on retirement, discharge, release from active duty service, or control of the Active Army.  It establishes standardized policy for preparing and distributing the DD Form 214.  It currently provides that for a Reserve Soldier ordered to active duty and deployed to a foreign country, three statements will be entered in Block 18 in succession.  They are:

(1)  "ORDERED TO ACTIVE DUTY IN SUPPORT OF (OPERATION NAME) PER 10 USC (applicable section)."

(2) "SERVICE IN (NAME OF COUNTRY DEPLOYED) FROM (inclusive dates for example, YYYYMMDD - YYYYMMDD)."

(3) "SOLDIER COMPLETED PERIOD FOR WHICH ORDERED TO ACTIVE DUTY FOR PURPOSE OF POST-SERVICE BENEFITS AND ENTITLEMENTS." 

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant was a TXARNG Soldier activated during Operation Desert Shield; however, with 1 year and 14 days of prior RA service and 2 years and 8 months of prior USAR service, she was not in an entry-level status.  Therefore, she should not have been given an uncharacterized separation on 18 March 1991.

2.  Army Regulation 635-200 states that an honorable discharge is a separation with honor.  It is appropriate when the quality of the Soldier's service generally has met the standard of acceptable conduct and performance of duty for Army personnel.  Only the honorable characterization may be awarded to a Soldier upon completion of his or her period of enlistment or period for which called to active duty.

3.  While it is confirmed the applicant served in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm, it cannot be determined the exact dates of that service.  However, if the San Antonio newspaper is correct in reporting the applicant's unit deployed on 13 January, and if the applicant's DD Form 214 is correct in stating she served 1 month and 28 days of foreign service, then she would have returned to the United States on Wednesday, 13 March 1991.  This would appear to be in consonance with the unit's official demobilization date of Friday, 15 March 1991.

4.  The applicant's DD Form 214 should be corrected as shown below.

BOARD VOTE:

__xxx___  __xxx___  __xxx___  GRANT FULL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

The Board determined that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant a recommendation for relief.  As a result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by:

	a.  Deleting from Block 24 the term "Uncharacterized."

	b.  Adding to Block 18 the statements:

		(1)  "ORDERED TO ACTIVE DUTY IN SUPPORT OF OPERATION DESERT STORM PER 10 USC 673";

		(2)  "SERVICE IN SAUDI ARABIA FROM 19910113 - 19910313"; and

		(3)  "SOLDIER COMPLETED PERIOD FOR WHICH ORDERED TO ACTIVE DUTY FOR PURPOSE OF POST-SERVICE BENEFITS AND ENTITLEMENTS."

	c.  Adding to Block 24 the term "Honorable."



							XXX
       _       ______________
           CHAIRPERSON
      
I certify that herein is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in this case.

ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20080003379



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20080003379



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