IN THE CASE OF:
BOARD DATE: 24 March 2015
DOCKET NUMBER: AR20140013855
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, correction of his military records to show his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was service-connected or combat-related for award of Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC).
2. The applicant states this information was not added to his record at the time, so he would like it to now be added.
3. The applicant provides copies of several 2011, 2012, and 2013 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) progress notes and discharge summaries.
CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:
1. Title 10, U.S. Code (USC), section 1552(b), provides that applications for correction of military records must be filed within 3 years after discovery of the alleged error or injustice. This provision of law also allows the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to excuse an applicant's failure to timely file within the 3-year statute of limitations if the ABCMR determines it would be in the interest of justice to do so. While it appears the applicant did not file within the time frame provide in the statute of limitations, the ABCMR has elected to conduct a substantive review of the cases and, only to the extent relief, if any, is granted, has determined it is in the interest of justice to excuse the applicant's failure to timely file. In all other respects, there are sufficient bases to waive the statute of limitations.
2. The applicant enlisted in the Regular Army on 26 February 1986. He was awarded military occupational specialty 92G (food service operator). He served continuously on active duty through several reenlistments until he was honorably retired on 31 July 2007. He was credited with completing 21 years, 5 months, and 5 days of active service.
3. He provides copies of several VA progress notes and discharge summarizes which show he received treatment for diabetes, anxiety disorder, and PTSD between April 2011 and September 2013. The discharge summaries show he was hospitalized in 2013 for PTSD.
4. His records contain the following:
a. A letter, dated 11 August 2008, wherein the U.S. Army Human Resources Command (HRC) advised him that they were unable to find any additional evidence which allowed them to award him CRCS. They were unable to verify a combat-related disability for the following conditions:
* Asthma
* Bursitis
* Diabetes
* Erectile Dysfunction
* Bilateral Pes Planus
* Right Ankle Degenerative Changes
* Residuals of Fractured Left Wrist
* PTSD
b. A letter, dated 12 December 2013, wherein HRC advised him that they were unable to overturn his previous adjudication(s) because the documentation he submitted still showed no new evidence to link his requested conditions (as listed in the 11 August 2008 letter) to a combat-related event. That disapproval was now final and he could appeal to the Army Review Boards Agency.
5. CRSC, as established by Title 10, USC, 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 who have 20 years of service for retired pay computation (or 20 years of service creditable for Reserve retirement at age 60) and who have disabilities that are the direct result of armed conflict, especially hazardous military duty, training exercises that simulate war, or cause by an instrumentality of war. Such disabilities must be compensated by the VA and rated at least 10% disabling. Military retirees who are approved for CRSC must have waived a portion of their military retired pay.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
1. There is no evidence of record and the applicant provided none showing he met all of the requirements for CRSC for his medical condition of PTSD or any other condition(s).
2. As stated above, the CRSC criteria are specifically for those military retirees who have combat-related disabilities. The military retiree must show that the disability incurred while engaged in combat, while performing duties simulating combat conditions, or while performing especially hazardous duties.
3. CRSC determinations required evidence of a direct causal relationship to the military retiree's VA-rated disabilities to war or the simulation of war. Without evidence to establish a direct, causal relationship of his requested conditions to war or the simulation of war, not just by being deployed during a period of war, there is insufficient evidence to support granting him 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) AR20140013855
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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20140013855
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