IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 5 December 2013
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20130007107
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 correction of his DD Form 214 (Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge) to show the Senior Parachutist Badge.
2. The applicant states, in effect, the Senior Parachutist Badge was omitted from his DD Form 214 in error. He contends that he completed the initial requirements for award of the basic Parachutist Badge and eventually accumulated 52 jumps as a paratrooper which exceeds the 35 jumps required for award of the Senior Parachutist Badge.
3. The applicant provides his DD Form 214.
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's complete military records are not available to the Board for review. A fire destroyed approximately 18 million service members' records at the National Personnel Records Center in 1973. It is believed that his records were lost or destroyed in that fire. However, there is sufficient information available to conduct a fair and impartial review of this case.
3. His DD Form 214 shows that:
* he enlisted in the Regular Army on 12 August 1953
* held MOS 464.17 (Parachute Rigger)
* his last duty assignment was with the 549th Airborne Quartermaster Company (Aerial Supply), Japan
4. On 30 August 1957, the applicant was honorably released from active duty and transferred to a U.S. Army Reserve unit.
5. In January 1951, the Quartermaster School approved an aerial delivery training program for Quartermaster Soldiers, with courses in parachute packing, maintenance, and aerial delivery. The first class opened on 21 May 1951 at Fort Lee, Virginia that consisted of 12 weeks of instruction for both officers and enlisted men. All students were required to be airborne qualified and in good physical shape.
6. Army Regulation 615-25-15 (Enlisted Personnel - Military Occupational Specialties), in effect at the time, prescribed the qualifications for award of MOS 464.17 Parachute Rigger. It provided that individuals must be qualified as a parachutist in order to hold the MOS.
7. Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) states:
a. The basic Parachutist Badge requires that an individual must have satisfactorily completed the prescribed proficiency tests while assigned or attached to an airborne unit or the Airborne Department of the Infantry School or have participated in at least one combat parachute jump.
b. The Senior Parachutist Badge requires a rating of excellent in character and efficiency, completion of 30 jumps (15 with combat equipment, two night jumps with one as jumpmaster, and two mass tactical jumps culminating in an airborne assault problem), graduation from the Jumpmaster Course, and service on jump status for at least 24 months.
c. The Parachute Rigger Badge may be awarded retroactively to any individual who graduated from the Parachute Rigger school after May 1951 and holds or at anytime held an awarded MOS of Parachute Rigger.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The applicant requests correction of his DD Form 214 to show the Senior Parachutist Badge. Unfortunately, without evidence to verify his character and efficiency ratings or the number and type of jumps he completed it is impossible to determine if he meets the criteria for award of the Senior Parachutist Badge. As such, he is not entitled to the requested relief.
2. The available records show that his MOS was that of a parachute rigger. It would be appropriate to add the Parachute Rigger Badge to his DD Form 214.
3. The evidence of record shows that he held an MOS that required him to be airborne qualified and that his last unit of assignment was with an Aerial Supply, Airborne Quartermaster Company. This is sufficient evidence to award the basic Parachutist Badge. It must be presumed that an administrative error occurred which caused the Parachutist Badge to be omitted from his DD Form 214; therefore, it would be appropriate to add this badge to his DD Form 214.
BOARD VOTE:
________ ________ ________ GRANT FULL RELIEF
____X____ ___X_____ ___X_____ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF
________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING
________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION
BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:
1. The Board determined that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant a recommendation for partial relief. As a result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by adding the Parachute Rigger Badge and the basic Parachutist Badge to his
DD Form 214.
2. The Board further determined that the evidence presented is insufficient to warrant a portion of the requested relief. As a result, the Board recommends denial of so much of the application that pertains to award of the Senior Parachutist Badge.
____________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) AR20130007107
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20130007107
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