BOARD DATE:	  29 October 2009

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20090009242 


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 he be awarded the Air Medal. 

2.  The applicant essentially states that he was assigned to Company E, 3rd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, in Vietnam in military occupational specialty (MOS) 11B (Light Weapons Infantryman), and participated in the same operations for which other Soldiers were awarded the Air Medal.  He also states that he did not look at his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) until recently because of a reunion with fellow veterans.

3.  The applicant provides his DD Form 214 and the first page of orders, dated 8 November 1967, which awarded the Air Medal to other members of Company E, 3rd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, in support of this application.

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 applicant's military records show that he was inducted into the Army of the United States on 14 April 1966.  He completed initial entry training and was awarded MOS 11B.  He departed for the Republic of Vietnam on 12 December 1966 and served with Company E, 3rd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.  He returned to the continental United States on 30 November 1967, and was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas, until he was honorably released from active duty on 12 April 1968.  The DD Form 214 that he was issued at the time of his release from active duty shows that he was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal with one bronze service star, the National Defense Service Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Army Commendation Medal, the Purple Heart, and the Sharpshooter Marksmanship Qualification Badge with Rifle Bar.

3.  The applicant's DD Form 214 does not show that he was awarded the Air Medal.  Item 41 (Awards and Decorations) of his DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) does not show that he was awarded the Air Medal.  There are no orders in his military records awarding him the Air Medal and a search of the United States Army Human Resources Command Awards and Decorations Computer-Assisted Retrieval System (ADCARS), a web-based index containing roughly 611,000 general orders issued between 1965 and 1973 for the Vietnam era, also failed to produce orders awarding him the Air Medal..

4.  The applicant provided the first page of General Orders Number 6071, dated 8 November 1967, which awarded the Air Medal to other Soldiers from his unit in Vietnam.  ADCARS contains only the first page of this general order.

5.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides, in pertinent part, that the Air Medal is awarded in time of war for heroism and for meritorious achievement or service while participating in aerial flight.  This award is primarily intended for personnel on flying status, but may also be awarded to those personnel whose combat duties require them to fly, for example, personnel in the attack elements of units involved in air-land assaults against an armed enemy.  As with all personal decorations, formal recommendations, approval through the chain of command, and announcement in orders are required.

6.  U.S. Army Vietnam Regulation 672-1 (Decorations and Awards) provided, in pertinent part, guidelines for award of the Air Medal.  It established that passenger personnel who did not participate in an air assault were not eligible for the award based upon sustained operations.  It defined terms and provided guidelines for the award based upon the number and types of missions or hours.  Twenty-five category I missions (air assault and equally dangerous missions) and accrual of a minimum of 25 hours of flight time while engaged in category I missions was the standard established for which sustained operations were deemed worthy of recognition by an award of the Air Medal.  However, the regulation was clear that these guidelines were considered only a departure point.

7.  Combat missions were divided into three categories.  A category I mission was defined as a mission performed in an assault role in which a hostile force was engaged and was characterized by delivery of ordnance against the hostile force or delivery of friendly troops or supplies into the immediate combat operations area.  A category II mission was characterized by support rendered a friendly force immediately before, during, or immediately following a combat operation.  A category III mission was characterized by support of friendly forces not connected with an immediate combat operation, but which must have been accomplished at altitudes which made the aircraft at times vulnerable to small arms fire or under hazardous weather or terrain conditions.

8.  To be recommended for award of the Air Medal, an individual must have completed a minimum of 25 category I missions, 50 category II missions, or 100 category III missions.  Since various types of missions would have been completed in accumulating flight time toward award of an Air Medal for sustained operations, different computations would have had to be made to combine category I, II, and III flight time and adjust it to a common denominator.

9.  Army Regulation 15-185 (Army Board for Correction of Military Records) prescribes the policies and procedures for correction of military records by the Secretary of the Army acting through the ABCMR.  This regulation provides that the ABCMR begins its consideration of each case with the presumption of administrative regularity.  The applicant has the burden of proving an error or injustice by a preponderance of the evidence.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant contends that he should be awarded the Air Medal.

2.  The fact that other Soldiers in the applicant's unit in Vietnam were awarded the Air Medal was noted, as was the applicant's contention that he participated in the same operations for which other Soldiers were awarded the Air Medal.  Notwithstanding his contention that he participated in the same operations as other Soldiers from his unit in Vietnam who were awarded the Air Medal, there is no evidence in the applicant's military records and the applicant failed to provide evidence (such as the rest of General Orders Number 6071, which might contain his name) which supports his contention that he should be awarded the Air Medal.  The applicant's contention by itself, more than 41 years after his release from active duty, is not sufficient as a basis for award of the Air Medal.  In view of the foregoing, there is insufficient basis for awarding the Air Medal to the applicant in this case.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT FULL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___x____  ____x___  ___x____  DENY APPLICATION

BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

1.  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.

2.  The Board wants the applicant and all others concerned to know that this action in no way diminishes the sacrifices made by him in service to the United States during the Vietnam War.  The applicant and all Americans should be justifiably proud of his honorable service in arms.



      ___________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)                                         AR20090009242



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20090009242



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