BOARD DATE: 9 June 2011
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20100029367
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 correction of his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) to show award of the Combat Medical Badge.
2. The applicant states he served as a medic with an infantry unit in Vietnam. He states his wallet-sized copy of his DD Form 214 shows his assignment to 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, and period of service in Vietnam from 8 February 1970 to 28 November 1970. This and his Combat Medical Badge should be all the proof necessary to correct his DD Form 214. He points out that a 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, website shows he was assigned to an infantry unit. [The analyst reviewed the website photographs, but was unable to print them and was unable to determine what badge the applicant was wearing on his uniform.]
3. The applicant provides an enlarged copy of a wallet-sized reproduction of his DD Form 214.
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 enlisted in the Regular Army on 10 January 1968 and completed training as a medical aidman.
3. He attended airborne training and was awarded the Parachutist Badge. He served with Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 2nd Battalion, 504th Infantry Regiment, at Fort Bragg, NC, until January 1970 when he was deployed to Vietnam.
4. In Vietnam the applicant served with:
a. HHC, 4th Aviation Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, from 19 February to 10 June 1970 as a medical aidman and
b. HHC, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, from 11 June to 24 November 1970 as a medical specialist.
5. On 25 November 1970, he returned to the United States and he was released from active duty on 28 November 1970. He was transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve to complete his remaining service obligation.
6. The applicant's DD Form 214 shows he was awarded or authorized the following awards:
* National Defense Service Medal
* Parachutist Badge
* Vietnam Service Medal
* Expert Field Medical Badge
* Vietnam Campaign Medal
* one overseas service bar
* Sharpshooter Marksmanship Qualification Badge with Rifle Bar (M-14)
7. The applicant was contacted and asked to obtain supporting evidence from his combat companions. He declined to do so since he felt that his assignment
to an infantry unit was sufficient. He reported that the Department of Veterans Affairs rated him as 80-percent disabled due to post-traumatic stress disorder.
8. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) states the Combat Medical Badge is awarded to medical department personnel (colonel and below) who are assigned or attached to a medical unit of company or smaller size that is organic to an infantry unit of brigade, regimental or smaller size which is engaged in active ground combat. Battle participation credit is not sufficient; the infantry unit must have been in contact with the enemy and the Soldier must have been personally present and under fire during such ground combat.
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. The ABCMR will decide cases on the evidence of record; it is not an investigative body. The 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 was a medical specialist assigned to an infantry unit in Vietnam. Unfortunately, there is no available evidence that he was actually present and under hostile fire while so assigned.
2. In view of the foregoing, there is no basis for granting the applicant's 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 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) AR20100029367
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20100029367
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