IN THE CASE OF:	  

		BOARD DATE:	  16 April 2015

		DOCKET NUMBER:  AR20140014747 


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 reconsideration of her request to forgive her Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (ROTC) debt.  In effect, this is a request that her ROTC scholarship contract be corrected to show that, if she did not complete the program enlistment in the Regular Army would satisfy the repayment requirements.

2.  The applicant states she started the process in 2008.  Because she had received an enlistment bonus she was, "told to appeal down the line."  She has since completed 2 years additional active duty and 1 year in the North Carolina Army National Guard (NCARNG).

3.  The applicant provides no substantiating documents.

CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE:

1.  Incorporated herein by reference are military records, which were summarized in the previous consideration of the applicant’s case by the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) in Docket Number AR20080013263 dated 4 August 2009.

2.  In consideration of her basic request, the applicant request that her ROTC scholarship contract be corrected to show that, if she did not complete the program enlistment in the Regular Army would satisfy the repayment requirements.

3.  In May 2008, the applicant requested that her ROTC debt be cancelled because she was serving in the Regular Army.  The Record of Proceedings for that case is attached for information purposes.

4.  In August 1988, the applicant enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve and entered into a 3-year contract under the Senior ROTC Scholarship Program.

5.  Her contract provided that if she were disenrolled any reason she could be ordered to reimburse the United States the dollar amount plus interest or called to active duty. 

6.  On 15 November 2001, a board of officers determined that the applicant should be disenrolled from the ROTC Program due to her voluntary breech of the scholarship contract by failing to meet the prescribed weight and physical fitness requirements.  It was also recommended that she be required to repay $9,227.00 for scholarship monies expended.  On 30 November 2001, the applicant acknowledged receipt of the proceedings and declined to submit a response.

7.  She was disenrolled from the ROTC Scholarship Program for breach of contract and, in October 2002, she elected to repay the resultant debt and set up a payment schedule with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS).

8.  On 18 March 2008, the applicant enlisted in the RA in the rank/grade of specialist (pay grade E-4) for a period of 4 years and 21 weeks, training as a food service specialist, an $18,000 enlistment bonus, and participation in the student loan repayment program.

9.  On 4 April 2008, DFAS informed the applicant that her debt was currently in the amount of $8,379.77 and advised her of her option to apply to this Board for suspension or termination of the indebtedness.

10.  The applicant requested this Board terminate her indebtedness because she was on active duty. 

11.  The Board pointed out that the applicant had received the enlistment bonus and also profited by enlisting in pay grade E-4 than being ordered to active duty in pay grade E-1 and declined to grant her request.

12.  The applicant completed her enlisted in December 2012 as a sergeant.  She has since joined the NCARNG and was promoted to staff sergeant in May 2014. 

13.  Title 10, U.S. Code, section 2005(a)(3), states, in pertinent part, that the Secretary concerned may require, as a condition to the Secretary providing advanced education assistance to any person, that such person enter into a written agreement with the Secretary concerned under the terms of which such 
person shall agree that if such person, voluntarily or because of misconduct, fails to complete the period of active duty specified in the agreement, or fails to fulfill any term or condition prescribed by the Secretary to protect the interest of the 
United States, such person will reimburse the United States in an amount that bears the same ratio to the total costs of advanced education provided such person as the un-served portion of active duty bears to the total period of active duty such person agreed to serve.

14.  Army Regulation 135-210 prescribes policies and procedures for ordering individual soldiers of the Army National Guard of the United States and the U. S. Army Reserve to active duty during peacetime.  In pertinent part, it states that former ROTC cadets, when ordered to active duty, will be ordered will be ordered to active duty in pay grade E-1.

15.  The military pay charts found at www.dfas.mil show that, at the pay rate in effect for January 2008, the applicant earned at least more by enlisting with an $18,000.00 bonus rather than being called to active duty in pay grade E-1 as provided for in her ROTC scholarship.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant requests cancellation of her ROTC scholarship debt because she enlisted in the Regular Army and then joined the Army National Guard.

2.  She received an $18,000 enlistment bonus by enlisting rather than being called to active duty as provided for in the contract she voluntarily signed in order to receive the ROTC scholarship.

4.  The applicant is tens of thousands of dollars ahead of where she would have been had she simply been called to active duty.  She could have repaid the debt about half of the enlistment bonus alone.  There is no error in her case and clearly no injustice.

5.  In view of the foregoing there is 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 to amend the decision of the ABCMR set forth in Docket Number AR20080013263 dated 4 August 2009.




      __________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)                                         AR20140014747



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ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont)                                         AR20140014747



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