IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 30 August 2011
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20110011044
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 Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC).
2. The applicant states he fractured his ankle while performing his duties as a section sergeant during a combat training exercise in Korea.
3. The applicant provides medical treatment records for March through August 1987 and CRSC denial letters, dated 24 January and 14 March 2011, in support of his application.
CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:
1. Combat-Related Special Compensation, as established by Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1413a, provides for the payment of the amount of money a military retiree would receive from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for combat-related disabilities if it were not 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 caused by an instrumentality of war. Such disabilities must be compensated by the VA and rated at least 10-percent disabling.
2. To qualify for CRSC for periods before 1 January 2004 (the date this statute was amended), members must have disabilities that resulted in award of the Purple Heart and are rated at least 10-percent disabled or were rated at least
60-percent disabled as a direct result of armed conflict, especially hazardous duty, training exercises that simulate war, or caused by an instrumentality of war. Military retirees who are approved for CRSC must have waived a portion of their military retired pay since CRSC consists of the Military Department returning a portion of the waived retired pay to the military retiree.
3. On 14 March 2011, the CRSC Division, U.S. Army Human Resources Command, Alexandria, Virginia, denied the applicant's claim for CRSC based on "avulsion fracture medial malleolus, left ankle, with degenerative joint disease." The CRSC Division stipulated that this was the final disapproval. It further indicated CRSC had been previously requested and no new evidence was provided to show a combat-related event caused the condition.
4. There is no evidence in the available record which shows the above "avulsion fracture medial malleolus, left ankle, with degenerative joint disease," incurred prior to 1 January 2004, resulted in award of the Purple Heart and a 10-percent disability rating or resulted in a disability rating of at least 60 percent as a direct result of armed conflict, specially hazardous duty, training exercises that simulate war, or caused by an instrumentality of war.
5. The applicant provides medical treatment records that indicate he was treated for an ankle injury he sustained in the field in March 1987. The particular field exercise is not identified.
6. The Under Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy has provided policy guidance for processing 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 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 met the established disability criteria and 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's contention that his medical condition was sustained while participating in training simulating war has been carefully considered. However, participation in a regularly-scheduled field exercise is not considered being in combat or participation in a training exercise simulating war. The evidence fails to show his condition was the result of simulation of war or a combat-related action. Without evidence to establish a direct, causal relationship to the applicant's disability 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 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) AR20110011044
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ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20110011044
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ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS
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