BOARD DATE: 1 July 2014
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20130018153
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 to be granted Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) for his condition of tinnitus.
2. The applicant states he was exposed to numerous loud noise hazards while training for deployment and during numerous field exercises while serving on active duty. He served as an Abrams tank mechanic and he has never heard anything louder than the firing of an Abrams to this day.
3. The applicant provides two statements from physicians and a CRSC Reconsideration Request Form.
CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:
1. The applicant enlisted in the Regular Army on 27 April 1972. He completed basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and advanced individual training as a track vehicle mechanic at Fort Dix and Fort Knox, Kentucky. He remained on active duty through a series of continuous reenlistments, served three overseas tours in Germany, and was promoted to pay grade E-6 on 8 July 1981.
2. On 30 April 1992, he was honorably retired in pay grade E-6 and he was placed on the Retired List effective 1 May 1992. He completed 20 years and 4 days of active service.
3. The applicant was granted 10-percent service connection for tinnitus by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
4. The applicant applied to the U.S. Army Human Resources Command (HRC) for CRSC on at least four occasions beginning in August 2012. HRC denied all of his applications because of a lack of sufficient evidence to show his condition was combat related as defined by CRSC program guidance.
5. The two statements provided by the applicant are from physicians who opine that the applicant's condition (tinnitus) is related to his military duties requiring exposure to loud noises.
6. The Under Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy provided policy guidance for processing CRSC appeals. This guidance stated that in order for a condition to be considered combat related, there must be evidence of the condition having a direct, causal relationship to war or the simulation of war.
7. Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1413a (CRSC), provides that eligible members are those retirees who have 20 years of service for retired pay computation and who have disabilities that are the direct result of armed conflict, specially hazardous military duty, training exercises that simulate war, or caused by an instrumentality of war. Such disabilities must be compensated by the VA and rated at least 10-percent disabling.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The CRSC criteria are specifically for those military retirees who have combat-related disabilities. Incurring disabilities while in a theater of operations or in training exercises is not, in and of itself, sufficient to grant a military retiree CRSC. In order to qualify for CRSC, the military retiree must show the disability was incurred while engaged in combat, while performing duties simulating combat conditions, or while performing especially hazardous duties, such as parachuting or scuba diving.
2. The applicant's contention that his medical condition (tinnitus) was sustained while simulating war during training exercises has been carefully considered. However, without evidence to establish a direct, causal relationship to the applicant's disability to war or simulation of war, there is an insufficient basis in which to grant his request.
3. The applicant failed to show through the evidence of record and evidence submitted with his application that his condition was the resultant cause of an incident relating to simulation of war.
4. In the absence of evidence to support his claim that his condition was caused by an instrumentality of war or the simulation of war, 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 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) AR20130018153
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20130018153
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