IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 2 August 2012
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20120002792
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 that he be awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB).
2. The applicant states that he served in combat with the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam from September 1966 to September 1967 and he was not awarded the CIB. He goes on to state the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has determined he is 100% disabled and unemployable.
3. The applicant provides a copy of his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) and a page from his VA Rating Decision.
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 was inducted in Fairmont, West Virginia on 12 January 1966. He completed the training requirements and he was awarded military occupational specialty (MOS) 56A (Supply Handler) and transferred to Vietnam on 22 September 1966.
3. He was assigned to Company B, 1st Supply and Transportation Battalion,
1st Infantry Division for duty in MOS 56A and he served in this MOS the entire time that he served in Vietnam. He departed Vietnam on 18 September 1967 and he was assigned to Fort Knox, Kentucky where he remained until he was honorably released from active duty (REFRAD) on 11 January 1968. He had served 2 years of active service and he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, and Good Conduct Medal.
4. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) states the CIB is awarded to infantry officers and to enlisted and warrant officer persons who have an infantry MOS. They must have served in active ground combat while assigned or attached to an infantry unit of brigade, regimental or smaller size. Additionally, Appendix V of U.S. Army Vietnam (USARV) Regulation 672-1 states that during the Vietnam era the CIB was awarded only to enlisted individuals who held and served in MOS 11B, 11C, 11D, 11F, 11G, or 11H.
5. U.S. Army Vietnam Regulation 672-1 (Awards and Decorations) governed award of the CIB to Army forces operating in South Vietnam. This regulation stated that criteria for award of the CIB identified the man who trained, lived, and fought as an infantryman and that the CIB was the unique award established to recognize the infantryman and only the infantryman for his service. Further, the CIB is not an award for being shot at or for undergoing the hazards of day to day combat. This regulation also stated the CIB was authorized for award to infantry officers, to enlisted personnel, and to warrant officers who had an infantry specialty/military occupational specialty and required that they must have served in active ground combat while assigned or attached to an infantry unit of brigade, regimental or smaller size.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. While the sincerity of the applicant's claim that he served in combat is not in doubt, there is no evidence in the available records and he has not provided any evidence to show he held the MOS of an infantryman, that he endured the hardships of an infantryman, and that he engaged the enemy in combat while serving as an infantryman.
2. Absent evidence to show he met the qualifications for this award, there appears to be no basis to grant his request to add the CIB to his DD Form 214.
BOARD VOTE:
________ ________ ________ GRANT FULL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
____x___ ____x___ ___x____ DENY APPLICATION
BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:
1. 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.
2. The Board wants the applicant and all others concerned to know that this action in no way diminishes the sacrifices made by the applicant in service to the United States during the Vietnam War. The applicant and all Americans should be justifiably proud of his service in arms.
_______ _ __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) AR20120002792
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20120002792
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