IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 31 July 2014
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20130020068
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 Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC).
2. The applicant states she has obtained "new medical evidence for Department of Veterans Affairs Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD) 9440. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) DX of concluded is no longer provisional."
3. The applicant provides a CRSC denial letter, dated 15 January 2013, and VA Progress Notes.
CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:
1. On 31 December 2006, the applicant voluntarily retired from the U.S. Army Reserve in the rank of sergeant first class due to sufficient service for retirement after completing more than 20 years of active service.
2. In a letter, dated 28 November 2007, the CRSC Branch advised the applicant that based on the documentation she provided they were unable to determine if her disabilities resulted from a combat-related situation. This document shows she was being awarded a 10 percent rating for VASRD 9440, chronic adjustment disorder.
3. In a letter, dated 4 March 2009, the CRSC Branch advised the applicant that based on the documentation she provided it was unable to determine if her disabilities resulted from a combat-related situation. The document shows she was being awarded a 10 percent disability rating for VASRD 9440, chronic adjustment disorder.
4. In a letter, dated 15 January 2013, the CRSC Branch advised her that they were unable to overturn the previous adjudication(s) and the documentation she submitted still showed no new evidence to link her requested conditions to a combat-related event. The CRSC Branch stipulated that this was the final disapproval.
5. The applicant provides VA Progress Notes completed by a staff psychiatrist on 15 April 2013 which contains the annotation "STATUS: COMPLETED PTSD dx of concluded. It is no longer provisional."
6. CRSC, as established by Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1413a, as amended, provides for the payment of the amount of money a military retiree would receive from the VA for combat-related disabilities if it weren't for the statutory prohibition for a military retiree to receive a VA disability pension. Payment is made by the Military Department, not the VA, and is tax free. Eligible members are those retirees (Active, Reserve, or National Guard with 20 years of creditable service, or permanent medical retiree, or Temporary Early Retirement Authority retiree) who have disabilities that are the direct result of armed conflict, especially 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. Military retirees who are approved for CRSC must have waived a portion of their military retired pay since CRSC consists of the Military Department returning a portion of the waived retired pay to the military retiree.
7. The Under Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy provided policy guidance on the processing of CRSC appeals. This guidance states 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.
8. 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 CSRC Branch on two previous occasions (2007 and 2009) determined the applicant's adjustment disorder for which she was awarded a 10 percent disability rating was not combat-related. The applicant submitted evidence to show she was diagnosed with PTSD in April 2013. It appears she believes this substantiates her claim that her adjustment disorder is combat-related. However, she has not submitted any evidence linking her adjustment disorder to combat.
2. As stated above, 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. The 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. The applicant has failed to provide documentation to show she meets this requirement.
3. In the absence of evidence to support her claim that her VA-rated disability of adjustment disorder was combat-related, there appears to be no 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) AR20130020068
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