BOARD DATE:	  24 January 2012

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20110014520 


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 award of the Air Medal.

2.  The applicant states:

* While serving in Vietnam he spent enough time in the air to earn the Air Medal
* He logged lots of air time from 6 September 1967 to 10 July 1968 during his tour in Vietnam
* He primarily went from one ambush/fight to another 

3.  The applicant provides:

* Three sheets that show some of the air time he logged while serving in Vietnam
* DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge)

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 was inducted into the Army of the United States on 11 May 1967.  He served as a light weapons infantryman in Vietnam from 18 October 1967 to 13 October 1968.  On 9 May 1969, he was honorably released from active duty at the expiration of his term of service and he was transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) Control Group (Annual Training) to complete his remaining service obligation.

3.  Item 24 (Decorations, Medals, Badges, Commendations, Citations and Campaign Ribbons Awarded or Authorized) of the DD Form 214 he was issued at the time does not show the Air Medal as an authorized award.

4.  Item 41 (Awards and Decorations) of his DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record) does not show entitlement to the Air Medal.

5.  There are no orders for the Air Medal in the available records.

6.  There are no flight records in the available records.

7.  He provided three pages of what appears to be a log of flight dates and time recorded in minutes during the period 6 September 1967 to 10 July 1968 in Vietnam.  However, there is no name or any other identifying information shown on these pages.

8.  A review of the Awards and Decorations Computer-Assisted Retrieval System, an index of general orders issued during the Vietnam era between 1965 and 1973 maintained by the Military Awards Branch of the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, failed to reveal any orders for the Air Medal pertaining to the applicant.

9.  U.S. Army Vietnam Regulation 672-1 (Decorations and Awards) provided guidelines for award of the Air Medal.  It established that passenger personnel who did not participate in an air assault were not eligible for the award based upon sustained operations.  It defined terms and provided guidelines for the 


award based upon the number and types of missions or hours.  Twenty-five category I missions (air assault and equally dangerous missions) and accrual of a minimum of 25 hours of flight time while engaged in category I missions was the standard established for which sustained operations were deemed worthy of recognition by an award of the Air Medal.  However, the regulation was clear that these guidelines were considered only a departure point.

10.  Combat missions were divided into three categories.

	a.  A category I mission was defined as a mission performed in an assault role in which a hostile force was engaged and was characterized by delivery of ordnance against the hostile force, or delivery of friendly troops or supplies into the immediate combat operations area.

	b.  A category II mission was characterized by support rendered a friendly force immediately before, during or immediately following a combat operation.

	c.  A category III mission was characterized by support of friendly forces not connected with an immediate combat operation but which must have been accomplished at altitudes which made the aircraft at times vulnerable to small arms fire, or under hazardous weather or terrain conditions.

11.  To be recommended for award of the Air Medal, an individual must have completed a minimum of 25 category I missions, 50 category II missions or 100 category III missions.  Since various types of missions would have been completed in accumulating flight time toward award of an Air Medal for sustained operations, different computations would have had to be made to combine category I, II, and III flight time and adjust it to a common denominator.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant contends he earned the Air Medal and he provided a log of flight dates and time in Vietnam.

2.  There are no orders for the Air Medal in the available records.  In the absence of orders for the Air Medal or any other official corroborating evidence, the documentation provided by the applicant alone is insufficient as a basis for awarding him the Air Medal.

3.  In view of the foregoing, there is an insufficient evidentiary 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 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)                                         AR20110014520



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20110014520



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