IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 29 January 2009
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20080016184
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 his earlier request for physical disability retirement.
2. The applicant states, in effect, that he developed mental problems while in the Army and has amassed a great deal of evidence to prove that he did not have a preexisting condition.
3. The applicant provides a copy of the original Record of Proceedings; numerous interviews and medical documents to substantiate his case - those originally obtained in Spanish have been translated to English; his Medical Evaluation Board Proceedings; and his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge.
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 AR20080010497, on 11 September 2008.
2. The documents submitted by the applicant are new evidence that require Board consideration.
3. The applicant entered active duty on 6 July 1972. On 25 October 1972 he underwent an episode of erratic or irrational behavior (he was throwing trays and stating that he wanted to kill his sergeant). This resulted in medical and mental evaluations during which the applicant admitted seeing a psychiatrist on some unidentified pre-service occasion. He requested to be discharged due to failure to meet enlistment medical standards and that transpired on 21 November 1972.
4. The documents submitted by the applicant consist of the following:
a. a 2 August 1983 psychiatric hospital report states the applicant is a patient and that he had been previously hospitalized from 8 March to 6 April 1982;
b. the applicant's mother stated in a deposition that he came home from the Army in terrible condition, that he was not that way before the Army and that he never had any nervous or psychological problem before entering the Army;
c. a plumber, who had known the applicant for 12 or 14 years, swore that, before the applicant entered the Army, the applicant was a normal child and had never had any nervous condition or problems getting along with people;
d. a barber provided a deposition similar to that of the plumber;
e. the applicant's father swore he was a healthy hard working youth who had no pre-service emotional or mental problems;
f. a teacher wrote that the applicant had no behavior or learning problems in school;
g. a psychiatric evaluation conducted in May and June 1993 provides a diagnosis of moderately severe, chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia and noted that there was no evidence of pre-service mental illness. [No medical records are described within this report.]
h. in December 1999 the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reconsidered that applicant's case and provided a service-connected disability rating of 70 percent.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The applicant states, in effect, that his current evidence shows that he did not have a pre-existing condition.
2. As has been previously noted in the original case the military and VA systems are different , they operate under different rules and the military is not bound to match the VA decisions.
3. The applicant has yet to address let alone explain why the record shows he admitted to a pre-service mental or emotional problem or why he agreed to accept discharge for a pre-existing condition, if that was not the truth.
4. In order to justify correction of a military record the applicant must show to the satisfaction of the Board, 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.
5. In view of the foregoing, there is no basis for granting the applicant's request.
BOARD VOTE:
________ ________ ________ GRANT FULL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
____X___ ___X____ ___X____ 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 to amend the decision of the ABCMR set forth in Docket Number AR20080010497, dated 11 September 2008.
_______ _ 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) AR20080016184
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ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20080016184
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