IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 2 September 2014
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20130020960
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, in effect, a cash payment for 76 Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence (PDMRA) days earned during the period October 2007 to April 2009.
2. The applicant states, in effect:
* she accumulated 76 PDMRA days during her period of active duty under Title 10, U.S. Code, section 12302, from October 2007 to April 2009
* her unit never informed her of this benefit; hence, she has not used these days
* she was on active duty in a mobilized status and will be released from active duty and retired in November 2013
* she requests addition of the PDMRA days to the end of her orders, thus extending her release from active duty (REFRAD) date
3. The applicant provides her mobilization orders and a PDMRA calculator sheet.
CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:
1. On 24 August 1981, the applicant was appointed as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Reserve (USAR). She was promoted to colonel on 14 August 1993. She was ordered to active duty on 27 December 2004 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
2. She provided a PDMRA calculator which shows she accrued 76 days of PDMRA for the 19-month period from 19 October 2007 to 15 April 2009.
3. She provided email correspondence, dated March 2011, which shows she requested assistance from the Army Reserve G-1 on how to complete her application regarding her PDMRA days. The Army Reserve G-1 recommended she submit her application once her tour was complete and she received her final DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty).
4. She provided email correspondence, dated 12 November 2013, which shows she requested PDMRA credit. Her request was disapproved. The Army Reserve G-1 authority stated:
a. The law which governed PDMRA compensation for the time frame she requested expired on 28 October 2010.
b. Her admission of having no knowledge of the program in an email (dated 2011) did not constitute an error by the government.
5. On 29 November 2013, she was REFRAD.
6. On 30 November 2013, she was assigned to the Retired Reserve.
7. PDMRA is a Department of Defense program intended to compensate Active and Reserve Component Soldiers with days of administrative absence/non-chargeable leave when required to mobilize or deploy beyond the established DOD rotation policy thresholds. The program applies to creditable deployments and mobilizations underway on, or commencing after, 19 January 2007.
8. Department of the Army Personnel Policy Guidance for Overseas Contingency Operations (PPG), dated 1 July 2009 (last updated on 21 December 2012), provides personnel guidance governing the payment of PDMRA. Paragraph 8-10 (Leave) of the PPG provides specific guidance on the use of PDMRA and states, in part, other Army PDMRA Program policy changes:
a. PDMRA days earned must be used during the current mobilization order period. PDMRA days cannot be carried forward/rolled over to new mobilization orders. PDMRA is a use-or-lose benefit for the mobilization period under which it is earned.
b. PDMRA days earned during a mobilization to a qualifying foreign country outside the continental United States that is not officially "leave restricted" (generally, a mobilized Soldier earns 12 days PDMRA during a 12-month mobilization) must be used during the mobilization orders period. Soldiers will not be extended on contingency operations for active duty operational support (CO-ADOS) orders to use any accrued PDMRA days when the Soldier was eligible to use the PDMRA during the mobilization period. It is the Soldier's responsibility to schedule usage of any earned PDMRA while at the mobilization permanent duty station or return to the demobilization/transition center/REFRAD point in sufficient time to use earned PDMRA days before the order end date. Only Soldiers who are returning from theater deployments (leave restricted areas) will be extended on CO-ADOS orders to utilize earned PDMRA, as well as any accrued annual leave.
c. PDMRA days earned cannot be cashed out. PDMRA is intended to be used as a period of "administrative time-off/respite" to reintegrate with family after an arduous deployment or prolonged family separation. If not used for that purpose, there is no option for selling any unused PDMRA days at separation/REFRAD.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. The applicant requests a cash payment for 76 PDMRA days because her unit never informed her of the benefit. By law, PDMRA days earned cannot be cashed out. PDMRA is intended to be used as a period of "administrative time-off/respite" to reintegrate with family after an arduous deployment or prolonged family separation. If not used for that purpose, there is no option for selling any unused PDMRA days at separation/REFRAD.
2. In addition, it is the Soldier's responsibility to schedule use of any earned PDMRA. PDMRA is a use-or-lose benefit for the mobilization period under which it is earned.
3. Based on the foregoing, there is insufficient evidence on which to base granting the 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) AR20130020960
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