IN THE CASE OF:

		BOARD DATE:	  25 June 2009

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20090000361 


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 date of rank (DOR) for colonel be adjusted to June 2007.

2.  The applicant states, in effect, that she believes she was not recommended for promotion to colonel by the promotion board for fiscal year (FY) 2006 due to the fact that a Senior Service College Academic Evaluation Report was placed in her board file one or two days before the board convened.  She appealed the evaluation report, her appeal was approved, the evaluation report was removed from her military records, and it was determined that promotion reconsideration was warranted.  She was considered for promotion using the criteria established for the mandatory board which met in July 2006 and was selected for promotion to colonel.  She indicates the earliest date of consideration to the rank of colonel was determined to be 9 December 2006 when the Senate approved the confirmation of all officers on the FY2006 Army Promotion List. 
  
3.  The applicant states that she is asking for a DOR adjustment for pay purposes and time in grade due to the tremendous injustice that she has had to endure for over two years.  She points out that she asked for a one-year deferment from enrolling in the Army War College Distance Education Program and was denied by the Commander, U.S. Army Human Resources Command (USAHRC) without explanation.  At that time her mother was gravely ill and she felt that she could not complete the rigorous course of study given the immediate concerns of her ailing mother.  Her mother passed away in May 2007.  She 


claims that due to the fact it was classified as a compassionate disenrollment she 
was afforded the opportunity to re-enroll for the Army War College Distance Education Course (2009).  She made a conscious decision not to begin a course of study without giving it 100 percent of her attention and she believes she made the right choice.  She states that she has lost career opportunities and assignments due to this injustice.  She further states that her previous supervisor retired from the military in May 2006 and she could have been promoted into this position but because of the appeal process and the board action she did not get promoted until 12 January 2009. 

4.  The applicant provides a promotion consideration letter, dated 19 March 2008; a letter from the President, Special Review Board, undated; an evaluation report appeal, dated 30 October 2006; and a promotion order, dated 12 January 2009 in support of her application. 

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  Having prior enlisted service in the U.S. Air Force, Air National Guard, and U.S. Army Reserve (USAR), the applicant was commissioned a second lieutenant in the USAR on 10 January 1985.  She was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 14 February 2003.  She was placed in an Active Guard Reserve (AGR) status on 28 January 2006.  

2.  The applicant was considered but not selected for promotion to colonel by a Department of the Army Reserve Components Selection Board (RCSB) that convened on 11 July 2006. 

3.  On 28 September 2007, a Department of the Army Standby Advisory Board (STAB) considered the applicant for promotion to colonel and she was recommended for promotion to colonel using the criteria established for the mandatory board which met in 2006.  The memorandum, dated 19 March 2008, states, in pertinent part, that if in an AGR position the earliest date the applicant could receive is the senate confirmation date of 9 December 2006 pending a position memorandum from the colonel management branch.    

4.  The applicant was promoted to colonel effective 12 January 2009.

5.  In the processing of this case, on 17 March 2009, a staff advisory opinion was obtained from the Chief, Special Actions Branch, Department of the Army Promotions, USAHRC, St. Louis, Missouri.  The opinion points out that the 
applicant was considered and selected by a Special Selection Board (SSB) that 
reconsidered her for promotion under the 2006 criteria.  The original 2006 board 
was senate approved on 9 December 2006.  The applicant's SSB was approved on 8 February 2008 and released on 28 February 2008.  The applicant received a select letter from the Office of Promotions stating that as an AGR officer the earliest date she could have received is the senate confirmation date of
9 December 2006 pending a position memorandum from the colonel management branch.  That office received documentation from the Office of the Chief, Army Reserve, Director, Senior Leader Development Office on 3 October 2008 requesting that the applicant be promoted based on the date she was ordered to report into a higher grade position on 12 January 2009.  The opinion states that there is supporting documentation that warrants different assignments that the applicant may have been eligible for but no proof that she was placed in the higher grade position until 12 January 2009.  Therefore, that office promoted the applicant based on her assignment in the higher grade position on
12 January 2009.  Although the Chief, Special Actions Branch recommends denial of the applicant's request, the opinion states that if the Office of the Chief, Army Reserve, Director, Senior Leader Development Office determined that the applicant would have been placed in a higher grade position earlier than
12 January 2009, that office might support authorizing an earlier DOR.    

6.  In the processing of this case, on 27 April 2009, a second staff advisory opinion was obtained from the Director, Office of the Chief, Army Reserve, Senior Leader Development Office.  That office states that had the applicant been selected for promotion on her original promotion board she would have been included as part of the assignment slating to higher grade positions that occurred in late 2006.  Officers in her specialty who were selected by the promotion board were assigned through that colonel slating process and promoted with dates of rank between 14 May 2007 and 3 December 2007.  While it is not possible to determine to which position and therefore which assignment/promotion date she would have received, it is not unreasonable to assume her promotion date would have been not later than 3 December 2007. 

7.  A copy of the advisory opinion was forwarded to the applicant for information and to allow her the opportunity to submit comment or a rebuttal.  On 11 May 2009, the applicant responded.  In summary, she stated that the advisory opinion from the Chief, Special Actions Branch, Department of the Army Promotions left out the most pertinent facts of this case in which she had to ask for an appeal to go up before a Standby Advisory Board due to a document being walked illegally into her board file just hours before the 2006 Army Promotion List Colonel board 
convened in July 2006.  She reiterates the advisory opinion from the Director, Office of the Chief, Army Reserve, Senior Leader Development Office.  She points out that delay in her promotion to colonel was through no fault of her own and that it was based upon procedural and regulatory errors by the Office of 
Promotions.  She states that her appeal was based on both administrative and substantive inaccuracy.  She goes on to state that after being selected for the U.S. Army War College Distance Education Program she asked for a deferment due to her mother's health; however, her request was denied without justification.  She inquired about the ramifications of voluntarily requesting disenrollment from the course and was informed that no adverse action would result.  She claims that she was told she would receive a compassionate disenrollment  and would be allowed to be reinstated once her mother's situation was resolved.  She states that at no time was she told that she would receive a referred academic report.  She indicates that she re-enrolled in the course and will graduate in July 2009.        
 
8.  The applicant also states that it was during the Colonel Army Promotion List board that she learned that a DA Form 1059-2 (Senior Service College Academic Evaluation Report) had been inserted into her board file.  She was not made aware of the insertion and not given the opportunity to respond to a referred academic report.  She claims that the report never went through the proper channels. 

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  Evidence of record shows the applicant was selected for promotion to colonel by an SSB on 27 September 2007 under the 2006 criteria.  She was promoted to colonel on 12 January 2009 with a DOR of 12 January 2009.  

2.  The advisory opinion from the Director, Office of the Chief, Army Reserve, Senior Leader Development Office states that had the applicant been selected for promotion on her original promotion board she would have been included as part of the assignment slating to higher grade positions that occurred in late 2006 and that officers in her specialty who were selected by that promotion board were assigned through that colonel slating process and promoted with dates of rank between 14 May 2007 and 3 December 2007.  Therefore, since the applicant requests that her DOR be adjusted to June 2007, it would be equitable to adjust her DOR for colonel to 1 June 2007.

BOARD VOTE:

__X______  ___X_____  ____X____  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.  adjusting the applicant's DOR for colonel to 1 June 2007; and 

	b.  paying her any and all back pay and allowances due as a result of this correction.



      _________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)                                         AR20090000361



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20090000361



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