BOARD DATE: 3 November 2011
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20110010904
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 the narrative reason for her discharge be changed to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
2. The applicant states she was discharged for a personality disorder. However, what the Department of Defense found to be a personality disorder, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with the help of certified doctors diagnosed as PTSD. She states she is rated as 100-percent disabled for PTSD secondary to sexual assault. Accordingly, she should have been discharged for PTSD.
3. The applicant provides copies of her VA Rating Decision and her DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty).
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 6 August 1987 for a period of 4 years and training as a unit supply specialist. She completed one-station unit training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and was transferred to Germany on 18 December 1987.
3. She completed her tour of duty in Germany on 24 December 1989 and was transferred to Fort Carson, Colorado.
4. On 18 December 1990, she reenlisted for a period of 2 years. On 23 March 1992, she was transferred to Camp Page in Chunchon, South Korea.
5. The applicant was referred to the 121st Evacuation Hospital in Seoul, Korea, on 23 April 1992 for a psychiatric evaluation. The examining psychiatrist opined that the applicant should be discharged for a personality disorder under the provisions of Army Regulation 635-200 (Personnel Separations Enlisted Personnel), paragraph 5-13.
6. On 28 April 1992, the applicant's commander notified her that he was initiating action to separate her from the service under the provisions of Army Regulation 635-200, paragraph 5-13, based on the 23 April 1992 psychiatric evaluation indicating she suffered from a personality disorder that was not treatable through hospitalization, treatment, or transfer.
7. After consulting with counsel, the applicant waived her rights and elected not to submit a statement in her own behalf.
8. The appropriate authority approved the recommendation for discharge on 13 May 1992 and directed issuance of an Honorable Discharge Certificate.
9. Accordingly, she was transferred to the Presidio of San Francisco, California, where she was honorably discharged on 27 May 1992 due to a personality disorder under the provisions of Army regulation 635-200, paragraph 5-13. She completed 4 years, 9 months, and 22 days of active service.
10. There is no evidence in the available records to show the applicant applied to the Army Discharge Review Board for a change in the narrative reason for her discharge within that board's 15-year statute of limitations.
11. The applicant's medical records were not present for review by the Board and her official records show no evidence to support her contentions. The only diagnosis contained in her records is that of a personality disorder.
12. Army Regulation 635-200, paragraph 5-13 provides the criteria for discharge because of a personality disorder. It states a Soldier may be separated for a personality disorder that interferes with assignment to or performance of duty. The diagnosis of personality disorder must have been established by a physician trained in psychiatry and psychiatric diagnosis. Separation because of a personality disorder is authorized only if the diagnosis concludes that the disorder is so severe that the Soldier's ability to function effectively in the military environment is significantly impaired.
13. Title 38, U.S. Code, sections 310 and 331, permits the VA to award compensation for a medical condition which was incurred in or aggravated by active military service. The VA, however, is not required by law to determine medical unfitness for further military service. The VA, in accordance with its own policies and regulations, awards compensation solely on the basis that a medical condition exists and that said medical condition reduces or impairs the social or industrial adaptability of the individual concerned. Consequently, due to the two concepts involved, an individual's medical condition, although not considered medically unfitting for military service at the time of processing for separation, discharge or retirement, may be sufficient to qualify the individual for VA benefits based on an evaluation by that agency.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The applicant's discharge was administratively correct and in conformance with applicable regulations with no indication of any violations of the applicant's rights. Accordingly, the type of discharge directed and the reason were appropriate under the circumstances.
2. The applicant failed to show through the evidence submitted and the evidence of record that she was improperly diagnosed as having a personality disorder.
3. The VA operates under its own laws and regulations and this Board has no authority over that agency or the benefits administered by that agency. The fact that the VA, in its discretion, has awarded the applicant a disability rating for PTSD is a prerogative exercised within the policies of that agency. It does not, in itself, establish by any means that the applicant was improperly diagnosed as having a personality disorder.
4. Therefore, in absence of sufficient credible evidence to show the applicant did not have a personality disorder when she was evaluated and discharged in 1992, there appears to be no basis to grant her request to change the narrative reason for her discharge.
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.
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