IN THE CASE OF:  

      BOARD DATE:  	3 April 2013

      CASE NUMBER:  	AR20120022085
___________________________________________________________________________

Board Determination and Directed Action

After carefully examining the applicant's record of service during the period of enlistment under review, and considering the Discussion and Recommendation which follows, the Board determined the discharge was both proper and equitable and voted to deny relief.




      
      
      Presiding Officer
      
I certify that herein is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Department of the Army Discharge Review Board in this case.

THE APPLICANT’S REQUEST AND STATEMENT:

1.  The applicant requests an upgrade of his discharge characterization from general, under honorable conditions to honorable.

2.  The applicant states, in effect, his discharge was inequitable because it was based on two isolated incidents that occurred in 3 years of honorable service.  Two of the incidents involved civilian authorities, and both incidents were dismissed by proper authority prior to his discharge.  He feels his honorable service, to include service in Iraq where he received the Combat Action Badge and Army Commendation Medal was not taken into consideration.

Additionally, the applicant contends he received a general under honorable discharge for minor offenses which include the following: (1) after getting off a thirty six hour mission; he did not shave before he went to the chow hall; (2) he used profanity towards a senior specialist when he was man handling the applicant; (3) he did not have items for a layout that he had not yet been issued through RFI for pre-deployment; (4) and he was 2 minutes late to a formation.  During his 3 years of service, he never received an Article 15 or any form of adverse action.  He received one Iraqi Campaign Medal with two Bronze Stars, one Army Commendation Medal, a Combat Action Badge, and two Overseas Service Bars.
 
DISCHARGE UNDER REVIEW INFORMATION:

a. Application Receipt Date:  		29 November 2012		
b. Discharge Received:  		General, Under Honorable Conditions		
c. Date of Discharge:  			13 May 2010				
d. Reason/Authority/SPD/RE Code:  Pattern of Misconduct, AR 635-200, 14-12b, JKA
                                                       RE-3	
e. Unit of assignment:  		4th ARB, TRP AIR CA P1, Schofield, Barracks, HI	
f. Current Enlistment Date/Term:  	15 May 2007, 3 years, 19 weeks	
g. Current Enlistment Service:  	2 years, 11 months, 29 days  	
h. Total Service:  			2 years, 11 months, 29 days
i. Time Lost:  				None				
j. Previous Discharges:  		None	
k. Highest Grade Achieved:  		E-4	
l. Military Occupational Specialty:	19D10 Cavalry Scout	
m. GT Score:  				NIF	
n. Education:  				HS Graduate	
o. Overseas Service:  			SWA	
p. Combat Service:  			Iraq (081018 – 090924)	
q. Decorations/Awards:  		ARCOM, NDSM, ICM w/2CS, GWOTSM, ASR, OSR 
						CAB	
r. Administrative Separation Board:  No
s. Performance Ratings:  		None	
t. Counseling Statements:  		None
u. Prior Board Review:  		No	
SUMMARY OF SERVICE:		
	
The applicant enlisted in the Regular Army on 15 May 2007 for a period of 3 years and 19 weeks.  He was 17 years old at the time of entry and a high school graduate.  He served a combat tour in Iraq.  He earned an ARCOM, NDSM, ICM w/2CS, GWOTSM, ASR, OSR, and a CAB and completed 2 years, 11 months, 29 days of active duty service.

SEPARATION FACTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES:

1.  The applicant’s record is void of the specific facts and circumstances concerning the events which led to the discharge from the Army.  The record contains a properly constituted DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty), which was authenticated by the applicant’s signature.  He was discharged as a SPC/E-4.

2.  The DD Form 214 indicates the applicant was discharged under the provisions of Chapter 14, AR 635-200, paragraph 14-12b, for a pattern of misconduct, with a characterization of service of general, under honorable conditions.  The DD Form 214 shows a Separation Program Designator (SPD) code of JKA and a reentry (RE) code of 3.  

3.  There is no record of any UCMJ action in her file.  

4.  The applicant was separated under Orders 110-0020, DA, Directorate of Human Resources, USA Garrison-Hawaii, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, dated 20 April 2010 with an effective date of 11 May 2010.  The applicant’s discharge was amended 13 May 2010 by orders 133-0004, DA, USA Garrison-Hawaii, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, to an effective date of discharge of 13 May 2010.     

EVIDENCE OBTAINED FROM THE APPLICANT'S RECORD:

There are no counseling statements or UCMJ actions in the available record.  

EVIDENCE SUBMITTED BY THE APPLICANT:

 The applicant provided a DD Form 293, a self-authored statement and DD Form 214.


POST-SERVICE ACTIVITY: 

The applicant provided no information regarding his post-service accomplishments. 

REGULATORY AUTHORITY:

1.  Army Regulation 635-200 sets forth the basic authority for the separation of enlisted personnel.  Chapter 14 establishes policy and prescribes procedures for separating members for misconduct.  Specific categories include minor disciplinary infractions, a pattern of misconduct, and commission of a serious offense, to include abuse of illegal drugs, convictions by civil authorities and desertion or being absent without leave.  Action will be taken to separate a member for misconduct when it is clearly established that rehabilitation is impractical or unlikely to succeed.  Army policy states that an under other than honorable conditions discharge is normally considered appropriate; however, a general, under honorable conditions or an honorable discharge may be granted.   

2.  Army Regulation 635-200, paragraph 3-7a, provides that an honorable discharge is a separation with honor and entitles the recipient to benefits provided by law.  The honorable characterization is appropriate when the quality of the member’s service generally has met the standards of acceptable conduct and performance of duty for Army personnel, or is otherwise so meritorious that any other characterization would be clearly inappropriate.  Whenever there is doubt, it is to be resolved in favor of the individual.

3.  Army Regulation 635-200, paragraph 3-7b, provides that a general discharge is a separation from the Army under honorable conditions.  When authorized, it is issued to a Soldier whose military record is satisfactory but not sufficiently meritorious to warrant an honorable discharge.  A characterization of under honorable conditions may be issued only when the reason for the Soldier’s separation specifically allows such characterization.

DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION:

1.  The applicant’s request for an upgrade of the characterization of his discharge was carefully considered.  However, after examining the applicant’s available record of service, and the documents and the issues submitted with the application, there are insufficient mitigating factors to merit an upgrade of the applicant's discharge.  

2.  The applicant's contentions were carefully considered.  However, the facts and circumstances leading to his discharge are unknown.  The record contains no evidence of arbitrary or capricious actions by the command and it is presumed that all requirements of law and regulation were met and the rights of the applicant were fully protected throughout the separation process.  

3.  The applicant’s record is void of the specific facts and circumstances concerning the events which led to his discharge from the Army.  However, the record does contain a properly constituted DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty), which was authenticated by the applicant's signature.  This document identifies the reason and characterization of the discharge and the analyst presumed government regularity in the discharge process.  

4.  The DD Form 214 also indicates the applicant was discharged on 13 May 2010, under the provisions of Chapter 14, AR 635-200, paragraph 14-12b for a pattern of misconduct, with a characterization of service of general, under honorable conditions.  Barring evidence to the contrary, the presumption of government regularity prevails as it appears that all the requirements of law and regulation were met and the rights of the applicant were fully protected throughout the separation process.  

5.  Therefore, the reason for discharge and the characterization of service being both proper and equitable, recommend the Board deny relief.  

SUMMARY OF ARMY DISCHARGE REVIEW BOARD HEARING:

Type of Hearing:  Record Review	  Date: 3 April 2013          Location: Washington, DC

Did the Applicant Testify?  No	 

Counsel: None	

Witnesses/Observers: None 

Board Vote:
Character Change:	0  	No Change:  5  
Reason Change:	0	No Change:  5  
(Board member names available upon request)

Board Action Directed:
Issue a new DD Form 214:		No
Change Characterization to:	No Change	
Change Reason to:			No Change	
Change Authority for Separation:	No Change
Change RE Code to:		No Change	
Grade Restoration to:		NA	
Other:					NA	












Legend:
AMHRR - Army Military Human Resource Record	FG - Field Grade	IADT – Initial Active Duty Training	 	RE - Reentry
AWOL - Absent Without Leave	GD - General Discharge	NA - Not applicable	SCM- Summary Court Martial
BCD - Bad Conduct Discharge	HS - High School	NIF - Not in File	SPCM - Special Court Martial
CG - Company Grade Article 15	HD - Honorable Discharge	OAD - Ordered to Active Duty	UNC - Uncharacterized Discharge  
CID - Criminal investigation Department	MP – Military Police	OMPF - Official Military Personnel File	UOTHC - Under Other Than                           			               Honorable Conditions



ADRB Case Report and Directive (cont)		AR20120022085



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ARMY DISCHARGE REVIEW BOARD (ADRB)

CASE REPORT AND DIRECTIVE



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