BOARD DATE:	  1 July 2014

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20130018727 


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 granted Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) for his conditions of Schizophrenia and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

2.  The applicant states, in effect, in December 1978 he was burned during a training exercise by an exploding Coleman lantern and he was hospitalized at Madigan Army Medical Center, Fort Lewis, Washington.  He desires award of CRSC based on his injury that occurred during a simulated act of war.  He also states that his disability is currently rated as 100% service-connected from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

3.  The applicant provides copies of his VA Rating Decisions, denial of his CRSC requests from the U.S. Army Human Resources Command (HRC), correspondence from his Congressional Representative, progress notes, and his orders placing him on the Temporary Disability Retired List (TDRL). 

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  The applicant enlisted in the Regular Army on 24 January 1977 for a period of 3 years.  He completed his one-station unit training as a wire systems installer/operator at Fort Gordon, Georgia and he was transferred to Fort Lewis.

2.  On 1 October 1978, he was transferred back to Fort Gordon, Georgia and on 19 December 1978, he was advanced to the pay grade of E-4.

3.  On 27 July 1979, a Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) convened at Fort Gordon and determined that the applicant’s diagnosed condition of Schizophrenia, paranoid, was a definite impairment of his social and industrial adaptability and recommended that he be placed on the TDRL with a 30% service-connected disability rating.  The applicant concurred and waived a formal hearing of his case.  

4.  On 24 August 1979, he was honorably retired by reason of temporary disability and was placed on the TDRL effective 25 August 1979 with a 30% disability rating.  He had served 2 years, 7 months, and 1 day of active service.  His DA Form 3713 (Data for Retired Pay) indicates that his disability was not caused by a combat-related injury.

5.  On 30 April 1983, he was removed from the TDRL and on 1 May 1983, he was retired by reason of permanent disability with a 30% disability rating.

6.  The VA Rating Decisions provided by the applicant show that he is receiving VA service-connected disability (100%) for schizophrenia and after reviewing his medical treatment records, denied his claim for PTSD.

7.  The applicant has applied to HRC on at least four occasions for CRSC status and in each instance HRC has denied his claim.  HRC advised the applicant that the available evidence did not identify a verifiable combat stressor or combat-related event responsible for the onset of Schizophrenia.  He was also advised that Schizophrenia does not meet the criteria for CRSC and that he could reapply if the VA changed any of his approved disabilities or awarded him compensation for new disabilities.

8.  A review of the available records failed to show evidence related to a training accident or treatment thereafter.  The applicant has also not provided evidence to support his contentions.

9.  The Under Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy has provided policy guidance on the processing of CRSC appeals.  In that guidance it was 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.

10.  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 or are medical retirees 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% disabling.  For periods before 1 January 2004, members had to have disabilities for which they were awarded the Purple Heart and are rated at least 10% disabled or who are rated at least 60% disabled as a direct result of armed conflict, specially hazardous duty, training exercises that simulate war, or cause by an instrumentality of war. 

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 are not, in and of themselves, sufficient to grant CRSC.  In order to qualify for CRSC, a military retiree must show that 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 conditions (Schizophrenia and PTSD) were sustained while simulating war during a training exercise 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 insufficient basis in which to grant his request.

3.  The applicant has failed to show through sufficient evidence of record and the evidence submitted with his application that his conditions were the result of an incident relating to simulation of war.

4.  Therefore, in the absence of evidence to support his claim that his condition was caused by an instrumentality 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 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)                                         AR20130018727



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20130018727



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