IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 10 September 2013
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20130002615
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 Combat Infantryman Badge.
2. The applicant states he served in combat in Vietnam during the Battle of
Dau Tieng on 22 and 23 February 1969 while assigned to the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. They were over-run by the North Vietnamese and two men in his company were killed. He and others in his unit fought the Vietnamese and prevented them from over-running their sector.
3. The applicant provides no additional evidence.
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 applicants records show he enlisted in the Regular Army on 20 January 1967 and he held military occupational specialty (MOS) 63C (General Vehicle Repairman). He served in Vietnam from 24 May 1968 to 20 May 1969 while assigned to the 124th Signal Battalion, 4th Infantry Division and the 725th Maintenance Battalion, 25th Infantry Division.
3. He was honorably released from active duty on 19 January 1970 and he was transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve. He completed 3 years of creditable active service.
4. The DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) he was issued does not show the Combat Infantryman Badge. There are no orders in his records for award of the Combat Infantryman Badge.
5. A review of the Awards and Decorations Computer-Assisted Retrieval System (ADCARS), 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 that the applicant was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge.
6. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) provides that the Combat Infantryman Badge is awarded to infantry officers, 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 Regulation 672-1 (Decorations and Awards) provides that during the Vietnam era, the Combat Infantryman Badge was awarded only to enlisted individuals who held and served in MOS 11B, 11C, 11D, 11F, 11G, or 11H.
7. U.S. Army Vietnam Regulation (USARV) 672-1 (Awards and Decorations) governed award of the Combat Infantryman Badge to Army forces operating in South Vietnam. This regulation stated that criteria for award of the Combat Infantryman Badge identified the man who trained, lived, and fought as an infantryman and that the Combat Infantryman Badge was the unique award established to recognize the infantryman and only the infantryman for his service. Further, the Combat Infantryman Badge is not an award for being shot at or for undergoing the hazards of day to day combat. This regulation also stated the Combat Infantryman Badge was authorized for award to infantry officers, to enlisted personnel, and to warrant officers who had an infantry specialty/MOS 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. There are three requirements for award of the Combat Infantryman Badge: the Soldier must be an infantryman satisfactorily performing infantry duties, he must be assigned to an infantry unit during such time as the unit is engaged in active ground combat, and he must actively participate in such ground combat.
2. The applicants service in Vietnam is not in question. However, there is no evidence in the available records and he did not submit any evidence that shows he held an infantry MOS and participated in active ground combat while assigned to an infantry unit. As he held MOS 63C, a non-qualifying MOS for the Combat Infantryman Badge, there is no basis for granting this portion of 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 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) AR20130002615
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20130002615
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ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS
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