IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 23 August 2011
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20100025561
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 Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC).
2. He states he is providing new evidence for his reconsideration.
3. He provides numerous documents from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), including progress notes, medical records, compensation and pension awards, rating decisions, pay records, and notices of benefit payment transaction.
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 AR20090021219 on 8 July 2010.
2. The applicant provides progress notes, dated 16 September 2010, and numerous documents from the VA as new evidence that will be considered by the Board.
3. His VA rating decision, dated 23 June 2004, shows he was granted service-connection for chronic, paranoid-type, competent schizophrenia (50 percent from 1 June 1987 and 100 percent from 18 June 1990) and right foot plantar warts (zero percent from 18 June 1990).
4. On 23 April 2009, the CRSC Compensation Division, U.S. Army Human Resources Command (HRC), Alexandria, Virginia, denied the applicant's claim for CRSC based on his condition of schizophrenia. They stipulated this was the applicant's third request and he had previously been informed in his first two requests that his schizophrenia does not meet the criteria for CRSC. He was also advised this was CRSC Compensation Division's third decision that remained the same and was final. He was also informed while his condition was service-connected, just being in training does not make a condition combat-related. There must be a definite, documented casual relationship between a combat-related event or activity and the resultant disability.
5. On 6 May 2009 after considering all evidence submitted by the applicant in appeal of the original CRSC denial, the HRC CRSC Compensation Division determined there was insufficient evidence to justify reversal of the previous denial decisions made on his claim. He was informed the decision was final and his only recourse was to apply to this Board.
6. The applicant provides North Texas Home and Community-Based Services Mental Health Outpatient progress notes, dated 16 September 2010, from a VA staff psychiatrist. The psychiatrist stated the applicant has a history of paranoid schizophrenia with auditory and occasional visual hallucinations and vague paranoid ideations. The applicant reported having auditory and visual hallucinations and paranoid delusions during his infantry training while firing weapons and simulating hand-to-hand combat. The physician also stated the applicant started having suicidal ideations and paranoid delusions of persecution.
7. The Under Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy provided policy guidance on the processing of CRSC appeals. This guidance states 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. In order to qualify for CRSC, the military retiree must show 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 progress notes from the VA psychiatrist were considered. However, his service record is void of evidence and he has not provided sufficient evidence that shows his medical condition was sustained during combat action or simulation of war. The fact that a disability was incurred in a theater of operations or during a training exercise is insufficient, in and of itself, to warrant approval of CRSC.
3. Without evidence to establish a direct, causal relationship to his VA-rated disabilities to war or the simulation of war, there is insufficient basis in which to grant his 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 the overall merits of this case are insufficient as a basis to amend the decision of the ABCMR set forth in Docket Number AR20090021219, dated 8 July 2010.
____________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) AR20100025561
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