ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 7 August 2008
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20080010229
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 reconsideration of the Boards denial of his request that the incident report for a HMMWV (military vehicle) crash be corrected from showing that it was accidently caused, to that it was intentionally caused. The applicant also requests award of the Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states that he was the driver of the HMMWV involved in the incident. He sustained a broken clavicle along with head and neck injuries. He adds one of the crewman on the HMMWV died and was awarded the Purple Heart.
3. The applicant provides a redacted copy of the Criminal Investigation Command (CID) Agent Report which shows that when a Iraqi automobile moved over to let the convoy go by, the civilian vehicle made a hard left turn and struck the left side of the HMMWV, causing it to turn over.
4. The applicant also submits a copy of his separation document (DD Form 214).
CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:
1. Incorporated herein by reference are military records which were summarized in the previous consideration of the applicant's case by the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) in Docket Number AR20080005938 on 8 May 2008.
2. The applicant provides new evidence, which requires that the Board reconsider his request.
3. In the applicants first request to the Board, he included a copy of the Boards Record of Proceedings on a former service member (FSM) who died as a result of the HMMWV accident which caused the applicants injury.
4. In the Boards first consideration of the applicants request, the Board concluded that the applicant had not submitted anything to show that he was in a HMMWV crash or that he was injured as a result of a HMMWV crash.
5. Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides that the Purple Heart is awarded for wounds sustained as a result of hostile action. Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify that the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment by a medical officer, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. In the case submitted by the applicant in his first request, the Board believed that the collision, on 22 May 2005, that resulted in the death of a FSM was caused by hostile action and he was therefore entitled to award of the Purple Heart. As a result, the Board recommended that he be posthumously awarded the Purple Heart for the incident resulting in his death. That recommendation was approved. However, the Board did not recommend that the accident report be changed to show that the HMMWV incident was intentional.
2. In a subsequent explanation of the Boards decision, it was explained that no relief other than issuance of the Purple Heart was recommended by the ABCMR or directed by the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary (Army Review Boards). The applicants request to change Army records to reflect that the incident resulting in the FSMs death was an intentional act and not an accident was noted in the Record of Proceedings, but the ABCMR did not grant relief on that claim, Making such changes would affect records related to individuals other than the applicant and would not have been appropriate or recommended in this case. Award of the Purple Heart was directed as an exercise of the extraordinary authority of the ABCMR to grant relief and was in keeping with the Armys guidance for issuance of the Purple Heart: It is not intended that such a strict interpretation of the
requirement for the wound or injury to be caused by direct result of hostile action be taken, that it would preclude the award being made to deserving personnel.
3. The applicant has now provided the accident report on the HMMWV incident which resulted in one soldiers death and two soldiers injured, medical records to show he was treated for injuries incurred as a result of the HMMWV incident, and his DD Form 214.
4. Since the Board determined that the death of the FSM in the cited case warranted the Purple Heart, then all individuals injured in the HMMWV rollover incident would also be entitled to the Purple Heart, based on the Armys guidance for issuance of the Purple Heart: It is not intended that such a strict interpretation of the requirement for the wound or injury to be caused by direct result of hostile action be taken, that it would preclude the award being made to deserving personnel. Because there is no clear evidence that the accident was caused by a hostile action, this must be directed as an exercise of the ABCMRs extraordinary authority, as it was in the case of the FSM.
5. However, there is still insufficient evidence to warrant changing the accident report on the HMMWV rollover incident to show that it was intentionally caused.
BOARD VOTE:
________ ________ ________ GRANT FULL RELIEF
___X____ __X_____ ___X___ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION
BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:
1. The Board determined that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant a partial amendment of the ABCMRs decision in Docket Number AR20080005936 on 8 May 2008. As a result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by awarding him the Purple Heart.
2. The Board further determined that the evidence presented is insufficient to warrant a portion of the requested relief. As a result, the Board recommends denial of so much of the application that pertains to changing the accident report to show the accident was intentionally caused.
_______ _ X_______ ___
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) AR20080010229
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ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS
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