BOARD DATE: 3 November 2009
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20090008061
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 military records be changed to reflect her name change from Alan Wells V------l to Vanessa Ann W---s and gender change from male to female.
2. The applicant states the Superior Court of Fulton County, GA legally changed her name and gender in 2000. She states her social security card, birth certificate, and passport have been changed. She states she has been living and working successfully as a woman for 9+ years. She states she is applying for work with the U.S. Government and cannot use her DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) to prove military service because it shows her former name.
3. The applicant provides, in support of her application, copies of her
DD Form 214, her name and gender change from the Superior Court of Fulton County, GA, and a surgeon's report.
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 applicants 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 applicants failure to timely file. In all other respects, there are insufficient bases to waive the statute of limitations for timely filing.
2. The applicant enlisted in the Regular Army on 16 August 1968, as a male, for a period of 3 years. The applicant's DD Form 4 (Enlistment Contract - Armed Forces of the United States) shows the applicant's name as Alan Wells V------l. The DD Form 4 also shows the applicant's gender as male.
3. Documents throughout the applicant's official military personnel file (OMPF) identify the applicant as Alan Wells V------l.
4. The applicant's Standard Form (SF) Form 88 (Report of Medical Examination) for enlistment identifies the applicant with the name Alan Wells V------l and the gender as male.
5. On 26 July 1971, the applicant was released from active duty after having completed 2 years, 11 months, and 11 days of active service that was characterized as honorable. The applicant's DD Form 214 identified the applicant as Alan Wells V------l. Gender is not indicated on a DD Form 214.
6. The applicant's SF Form 88 for separation identifies the applicant with the name Alan Wells V------l and the gender as male.
7. The applicant submitted a document from the Superior Court of Fulton County that decreed that her name was changed from Alan Wells V------l to Vanessa Ann W---S and that the applicant's legal gender status be changed from male to female. The document was signed on 20 June 2000.
8. The applicant submitted a sworn affidavit from a surgeon in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In this affidavit the surgeon states that on 8 April 2003 he performed male-to-female gender reassignment surgery on an individual then identified as Vanessa A. W---s. The surgeon states he successfully completed gender reassignment surgery for Vanessa A. W---s and the anatomical sex of the person has changed from male to female.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The applicant did not serve under her current name or as a female. All documents in the applicant's OMPF identify the applicant with the name Alan Wells V------l and gender as male where indicated. The applicant did not obtain a name and sex change until over 30 years after her period of service.
2. For historical purposes, the Army has an interest in maintaining the accuracy of its records. The data and information contained in those records should reflect the conditions and circumstances that existed at the time the records were created. While it is understandable the applicant desires to now record her new name and gender in her military records, there is not a sufficiently compelling reason for compromising the integrity of the Armys records at this late date.
3. The applicant is advised that a copy of this decisional document, along with her application and the supporting evidence she provided which confirms her new name and gender, will be filed in her OMPF. This should serve to clarify any questions or confusion in regard to the difference in the name and gender recorded in her military record and to satisfy her desire to have her new name and gender documented in her OMPF.
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 for correction of the records of the individual concerned.
_______ _ _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.
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