IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 04 May 2010
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20090011840
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 his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) be approved as combat-related for Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) purposes.
2. The applicant states the U.S. Army Human Resources Command (HRC) CRSC Branch won't recognize his Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) rating for PTSD as combat related.
3. The applicant provides his CRSC appeal denial and VA rating decisions.
CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:
1. The applicant's military records show that he enlisted in the Regular Army on 9 September 1966. He was awarded military occupational specialty 68B (Aircraft Turbine Engine Repairman) and was promoted to pay grade E-5.
2. The applicant served in Vietnam as an aircraft engine repairman assigned to Company A, 15th Transportation Corps Battalion, from 7 August 1967 to 8 August 1968.
3. The applicant was honorably released from active duty on 8 September 1969 at the expiration of his term of service.
4. The HRC CRSC Branch awarded the applicant a 50-percent CRSC rating effective October 2007 and an 80-percent CRSC rating effective April 2008.
However, the HRC CRSC Branch denied the applicant's request that his
100-percent disability rating for PTSD be approved as combat related. The HRC CRSC Branch stated that there was no evidence in the applicant's claim to show that his PTSD was caused by a combat-related event.
5. CRSC, as established by Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1413a, as amended, provides for the payment of the amount of money a military retiree would receive from the VA for combat-related disabilities if it wasn't for the statutory prohibition for a military retiree to receive a VA disability pension. Payment is made by the Military Department, not the VA, and is tax-free. Eligible members are those retirees who have 20 years of service for retired pay computation (or 20 years of service creditable for Reserve retirement at age 60) and who have disabilities that are the direct result of armed conflict, especially hazardous military duty, training exercises that simulate war, or were caused by an instrumentality of war.
Such disabilities must be compensated by the VA and rated at least 10-percent disabling. For periods before 1 January 2004 (the date this statute was amended), members had to have disabilities for which they were awarded the Purple Heart and were rated at least 10-percent disabled or who were rated at least 60-percent disabled as a direct result of armed conflict, especially hazardous duty, training exercises that simulate war, or were caused by an instrumentality of war.
6. The Under Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy has provided policy guidance on the processing of CRSC appeals. In that guidance it was stated that in order for a condition to be considered combat related, there must be evidence of the condition having a direct, causal relationship to war or the simulation of war.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The CRSC criteria are specifically for those military retirees who have combat-related disabilities. Incurring disabilities while in a theater of operations or in training exercises is not, in and of itself, sufficient to grant a military retiree CRSC. The military retiree must show that the disability was incurred while engaged in combat, while performing duties simulating combat conditions, or while performing especially hazardous duties such as parachuting or scuba diving.
2. The applicant was a helicopter engine repairman assigned to a transportation company and has not provided any evidence that he was involved with traumatic events while he was stationed in Vietnam.
3. Without evidence to establish a direct, causal relationship between the applicant's PTSD and war, there is insufficient basis in which to grant his requested relief.
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.
ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20090011840
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