IN THE CASE OF:	 

		BOARD DATE:	 4 DECEMBER 2008 

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20080014155 


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, in effect, that her DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, be corrected to show:  her correct rank and pay grade; that she completed an 80-hour Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) Officer/ Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) Course in 1984; that she completed a Basic Skills Education Program (BSEP) Math Course in 1984; and that she served in a special duty assignment in 1982.

2.  The applicant makes no additional statements about the corrections she is seeking.

3.  In support of her request, the applicant provides a copy of her DD Form 214; a copy of notarized orders for her release from active duty; a copy of the results of a medical examination she underwent on 19 December 1984; a copy of a Statement of Option she signed on 19 December 1984 stating she did not want a separation medical examination; a copy of Assignment/Release Orders from Special Duty, dated 5 January 1983; a copy of a certificate of course completion for BSEP Math, dated 23 August 1984; a copy of a DA Form 2139, Military Pay Voucher, dated 11 April 1983; a copy of a certificate of training for an 80-hour NBC Officer/NCO Course she attended for the period 5 through 19 October 1984; and a statement from the Department of Veterans Affairs Community Based Outpatient Clinic, Hagatna Heights, Guam, indicating she has been treated at the Guam Veteran's Clinic from 1985 to the present.



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 evidence shows that the applicant enlisted in the Regular Army on 18 March 1980.  She was honorably discharged for the purpose of immediate reenlistment on 29 March 1983.  She reenlisted for six years on 30 March 1983 and continued to serve on active duty until she was released from active duty on 21 December 1984 for hardship reasons.  The applicant was separated in the rank and pay grade of specialist four (SP4)/E-4.  On the date she was released from active duty she had completed 4 years, 9 months, and 4 days with no time lost.

3.  Item 4a (Grade, Rate or Rank) and Item 4b (Pay Grade) of the applicant's DD Form 214 show the entries, "SP4" and "E-4," respectively.

4.  Item 18 (Appointments and Reductions) of the applicant's DA Form 2-1 shows she was advanced to the rank and pay grade SP4/E-4 on 1 October 1981.  The applicant was advanced to this rank and pay grade with a date of rank and effective date of 1 October 1981 by Orders 186-35, paragraph 1, Headquarters, 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) and Fort Riley, Fort Riley, Kansas, dated 22 September 1981.

5.  There are no orders, and the applicant provided none, to show she was either promoted or reduced in an enlisted rank and pay grade or that she was appointed a warrant officer or commissioned an officer in the Regular Army or in the Reserve.

6.  The majority of the documents the applicant submitted in support of her request show she served on active duty in the rank and pay grade of SP4, E-4.



7.  Item 14 (Military Education) of the applicant's DD Form 214 shows she completed the following courses while she served on active duty:

			NBC Specialist			8 Weeks		(8007)
			German					1 Week		(8404)
			CBR NCO				2 Weeks		(81)

8.  A certificate of training is on file in the applicant's service personnel records and shows she completed a Chemical, Biological, and Radiological NCO Course conducted by the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley on 13 March 1981.  This course is listed on the applicant's DD Form 214.

9.  The applicant submitted a certificate of training which shows she completed an 80-hour NBC Officer/NCO Course conducted by the 8th Infantry Division (Mechanized) for the period 5 through 19 October 1984.  This course is not listed on the applicant's DD Form 214.

10.  The applicant submitted a certificate of course completion that shows she completed a BSEP Math course though Big Bend Community College, Moses Lake, Washington, on 23 August 1984.  This course is not listed on the applicant's DD Form 214.

11.  The applicant submitted an assignment order showing she was assigned special duty with the Adjutant General as an administrative specialist to perform duties in the promotions section in the military occupational specialty (MOS) 71L (Administrative Specialist) on 14 May 1982 because she was in an overstrength MOS.  The applicant was projected to serve in the special duty assignment until 13 May 1983.

12.  Item 35 (Record of Assignments) of the applicant's DA Form 2-1, Personnel Qualification Record, Part II, shows she was assigned to the Headquarters and Company A, 701st Maintenance Battalion, at Fort Riley in the duty MOS 54E on 19 August 1980, and remained in the same assignment until she departed enroute to Germany on reassignment on 22 February 1984.

13.  Army Regulation 635-5 (Separation Documents), in effect at the time of the applicant's separation, prescribed policies and procedures regarding separation documents.  This regulation prescribed that the grade of rank and pay grade held by an individual at the time of his or her separation be entered in item 4a and 4b of the DD Form 214.


14.  Army Regulation 635-5 also required that all in-service training courses by title, number of weeks, and the year they were successfully completed during the period served be entered in item 14 of the DD Form 214.  Because this information was to assist members after separation in job placement and counseling, training courses for combat skills would not be listed.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  In order to justify correction of a military record, the applicant must show, or it must otherwise satisfactorily appear, that the record is in error or unjust.  The applicant has failed to submit evidence that would satisfy this requirement.

2.  The evidence shows that the highest rank and pay grade the applicant attained while she served on active duty was that of SP4, E-4.  There is no evidence she was promoted or reduced in an enlisted rank and pay grade or that she was appointed a warrant officer or commissioned an officer in the Regular Army or in the Reserve.

3.  The evidence shows she was released from active duty in the rank and pay grade SP4, E-4.  Based on the evidence of record and the evidence the applicant provided, the applicant is not entitled to a correction of her DD Form 214, items 4a and 4b, to show another rank or pay grade.

4.  The applicant's DD Form 214 shows she completed a 2-week CBR NCO course in March 1981.  This course is shown on the applicant's DD Form 214.

5.  The applicant provided a certificate of training which shows she completed an 
80-hour NBC Officer/NCO Course conducted by the 8th Infantry Division (Mechanized) during the period 5 through 19 October 1984.  This course is not listed on the applicant's DD Form 214.  She is entitled to have this course added to her DD Form 214.

6.  The BSEP Math course the applicant completed did not meet the criteria established in Army Regulation 635-5 to be entered on her DD Form 214.  This course was a college or college-preparatory course which was provided by a civilian college at a military installation and not an in-service training course.  Because the course did not meet the established criteria for entry on the DD Form 214, the applicant is not entitled to a correction of her DD Form 214 to have this course added to item 14 of her DD Form 214.



7.  There is no evidence, and the applicant provided none, to show that she actually complied with the special duty assignment orders she was provided on 5 January 1983 to work with the Adjutant General's Promotions Section in the MOS 71L as an administrative specialist for the period 14 May 1982 through 13 May 1983.

8.  The applicant's personnel qualification record shows she continued her assignment with a maintenance unit as a chemical operation specialist from the first date of her assignment on 19 August 1980 until she departed Fort Riley enroute to Germany on assignment on 22 February 1984.

9.  Since only the last duty assignment and major command that a Soldier served with is shown on the DD Form 214, and since it has not been shown that the applicant actually complied with the special duty assignment orders, and since this assignment was not her last duty assignment before she was released from active duty, the applicant is not entitled to a correction of her records to show this special duty assignment on her DD Form 214.

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 recommendation for partial relief.  As a result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by adding the following to item 14 of the applicant's DD Form 214:

Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Officer/Noncommissioned Officer Course//
2 Weeks//1984

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 correction of the applicant's 


rank and pay grade on her DD Form 214, addition of the BSEP Math Course to her DD Form 214, and a correction to her DD Form 214 to show she performed in a special duty assignment in the MOS 71L in 1982.



___________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.