IN THE CASE OF:	   

		BOARD DATE:	  13 May 2014

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20130021423 


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 remission of a debt of $43,079 for Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship payments.

2.  The applicant states he entered the United States Navy on 6 October 2011.  
He believes that after serving on active duty for 2 years his debt should be terminated. 

3.  The applicant provides a 20 November 2013 memorandum stating that the applicant, then serving as a Cryptological Technician Technical Seaman (CTTSN) in pay grade E-3, was on active duty and attached to Navy Expeditionary Intelligence Command; a 9 February 2011 memorandum stating the applicant is awaiting a school at Great Lakes; and the applicant's Army ROTC indebtedness calculations. 

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  On 8 September 2009, the applicant signed a DA Form 597-3 (Army ROTC Scholarship Cadet Contract) for a 4-year scholarship for up to $20,000 annually for tuition and fees of $1200 annually for books and library expenses which would increase if those costs increased.

2.  In April 2011, he withdrew from Eastern Michigan University and was placed on a leave of absence from ROTC.  On 18 April 2011, the applicant acknowledged his options, waived his right to a hearing, and declined expeditious call to active duty.
3.  On 12 August 2011, the applicant was informed that he was disenrolled from the ROTC program due to his withdrawal from school.  He was informed that $43,079 in U.S. Army funds had been spent on his education.  
 
4.  The documents the applicant submitted with his application show he had enlisted in the Navy sometime prior to 9 February 2011, had entered active duty on 6 October 2011, and had been advanced to pay grade E-3 by 20 November 2013.  His initial outstanding debt for ROTC was $43,079 and required a monthly payment of $1,197.19.

5.  The standard DA Form 597-3 includes the following provisions and options.  It states:

	a.  If the cadet were disenrolled from the ROTC Program for breach of contractual terms or any other established disenrollment criteria, the Secretary of the Army may offer the cadet the opportunity to reimburse the U.S. government the amount of money equal to the entire amount of financial assistance paid by the United States for the cadet's advanced education from the commencement of the contractual agreement to the date of the cadet's disenrollment.

	b.  If the cadet fails to complete the ROTC program, he/she may be ordered to active duty as an enlisted Soldier, if qualified, for a period of not more than
4 years.  If called to active duty for breach of contract the enlisted active duty service obligation will be based on the year during which the breach occurs:

* Military Science II, 2 years
* Military Science III, 3 years
* Military Science IV, 4 years

	c.  The cadet is required to acknowledge that he/she understood and agreed that if they voluntarily or because of misconduct fail to begin or fail to complete any period of active duty that they may have incurred under the contract, they would be required to reimburse the United States an amount of money, plus interest, that bore the same ratio to the total cost of the financial assistance provided as the unnerved portion of such duty bore to the total obligation.

6.  In accordance with Army Regulation 135-210 (Order to Active Duty as Individuals for Other Than a Presidential Selected Reserve Call-up, Partial, or Full Mobilization), former ROTC cadets, when ordered to active duty, will be ordered to report to the U.S. Army Reception Battalion, bypassing the recruiting function where enlistment options are offered and negotiated, and will be ordered to active duty in pay grade E-1.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The available evidence indicates the applicant was properly disenrolled from ROTC, he agreed to repay his scholarship, and he enlisted in the Navy without repaying his scholarship indebtedness.  The indebtedness was properly created and there is no error or injustice shown in its creation.

2.  He withdrew from the ROTC program owing over $43,000.

3.  He provided no evidence to show what enlistment bonuses or other incentives he received upon joining the Navy.

4.  If the applicant had chosen to enter active duty or been involuntarily ordered to active duty at the time he failed to continue his enrollment in the ROTC he would have been assigned according to the needs of the Army and would not have had the opportunity to choose his training or to receive a higher entry grade.  In this sense, the applicant sustained an advantage over similar individuals who, upon disenrollment from an ROTC program, elected to enter to or were involuntarily ordered to active duty in the rank/grade of PV1/E-1.

5.  However, his completion of a technical training and advancement to pay grade E-3 seems to demonstrate that the Nation benefited from his service for a period in excess of the 2 years of obligated service he would have had to serve had he been ordered to active duty.

6.  Although not provided for as an option on his ROTC contract, the applicant’s enlistment in the Navy may be considered as serving the same purpose as if he had been ordered to active duty following disenrollment.

7.  Therefore, as a matter of equity, it would be appropriate to consider his first 2 years of this enlistment as meeting the active duty obligation required under his ROTC scholarship contract.

8.  However, he should not benefit unduly from any additional monetary benefit such as an enlistment bonus.








BOARD VOTE:

____x___  ___x____  ___x_____  GRANT FULL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF 

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION:

The Board determined that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant a recommendation for relief.  As a result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by:

* amending his ROTC scholarship contract to show he would satisfy the service obligation under the original terms of the ROTC contract by enlistment in any branch of the Military

* halting any collection actions and reimbursing him any monies recouped to date minus any cash enlistment bonus he may have received




      _______ _   _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)                                         AR20130021423





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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20130021423



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