IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 2 August 2012
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20120000650
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 Purple Heart.
2. The applicant states he was injured in combat during August 2004. Others were also hurt, but completion of the mission took precedence over making a full report.
3. The applicant provides:
a. his DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty);
b. an unsigned witness statement the applicant calls a "Buddy Statement" detailing how the applicant was knocked unconscious by an improvised explosive device (IED); and
c. a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) rating decision granting him a
10 percent disability rating for traumatic brain injury.
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 applicants 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 applicants 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 7 August 1997, completed training as a unit supply specialist, progressed normally, and was promoted to sergeant (E-5) in April 2004. He was stationed in Germany and deployed to the Middle East.
3. On 15 June 2005, he was separated (on temporary records) with disability severance pay due to chronic knee pain.
4. The witness statement the applicant provided indicates the applicant was knocked unconscious for approximately 10 minutes due to an IED explosion when the vehicle he was riding in was capsized.
5. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) states the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained while in action against an enemy or as a result of hostile action. Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify that the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment by medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The applicant's witness statement describes the applicant being knocked unconscious by an enemy IED blast; however, the statement does not mention that any medical treatment was required.
2. There is no available evidence that the applicant incurred any wound that required treatment by medical personnel, or that such treatment is a matter of official record. The incident as described in the statement does not qualify for award of the Purple Heart.
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.
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20120000650
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