DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 

BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS 

 
Application for the Correction of 
the Coast Guard Record of: 
 
                                                                                BCMR Docket No. 2009-093 
 
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx   

FINAL DECISION 

 

 
 

 

 

This is a proceeding under the provisions of section 1552 of title 10 and section 425 of 
title 14 of the United States Code.  The Chair docketed the case after receiving the applicant’s 
completed application on February 27, 2009, and assigned it to staff member J. Andrews to pre-
pare the decision for the Board as required by 33 C.F.R. § 52.61(c). 
 
 
appointed members who were designated to serve as the Board in this case. 
 

This final decision, dated September 24, 2009, is approved and signed by the three duly 

APPLICANT’S REQUEST AND ALLEGATIONS 

The applicant asked the Board to correct the date of his indefinite1 reenlistment contract 
from October 4, 2007, to June 25, 2007.  The applicant alleged that he actually signed the con-
tract on June 25, 2007, but the date of enlistment shown in block 5 on the first page of the con-
tract is October 4, 2007.  The applicant alleged that he sold 60 days of leave upon his discharge 
and indefinite reenlistment on June 25, 2007.2  However, because of the erroneous date in block 
5, the sale of leave was not effected until October 4, 2007, which was after the end of the fiscal 
year.  As a result of this delay, he lost 14 days of leave at the end of the fiscal year because on 
September 30, 2007, he had 74 days of accrued, unused leave and only 60 days of leave may be 
carried over from one fiscal year to the next.3  The applicant stated that if the sale of leave had 
been  effected  on  June  25,  2007—the  date  he  signed  the  reenlistment  contract—he  would  not 

                                                 
1  Under  Article  1.G.2.a.2.  of  the  Personnel  Manual,  members  with  more  than  10  years  of  active  duty  may  not 
reenlist for a definite term of years and must instead reenlist indefinitely.  
2 Under Article 7.A.11.a. of the Personnel Manual, members earn 2.5 days of leave per month of continuous active 
duty.  Under Chapter 10.A.1. of the Pay Manual, each member may sell a maximum of 60 days of accrued, unused 
leave during his military career.  Leave may be sold on any date the member is being separated from active duty 
even if the member is immediately reenlisting on active duty.   
3 Article 7.A.15.a. of the Personnel Manual states that “[e]arned leave may exceed 60 days during a fiscal year, but 
must be reduced to 60 days on the first day of the next fiscal year except as outlined in paragraphs b. through d. 
below.  The  amount  so  reduced  is  irrevocably  lost  without  compensation.”    Paragraphs  b.  through  d.  concern 
situations that might prevent members from using leave, such as national emergencies and long deployments at sea.   

have had more than 60 days of unused leave on September 30, 2007, and would not have lost any 
at the start of the new fiscal year.  The applicant further alleged that if he did not use them, he 
might lose another 8.5 days of leave in fiscal year 2009. 

 
 
In support of his allegations, the applicant submitted a copy of his indefinite reenlistment 
contract.  The date of enlistment shown in block 5 on the first page of the contract is October 4, 
2007.  However, the signatures of the applicant and the officer who reenlisted him in blocks 13, 
14, 18, and 19 of the contract are all hand-dated June 25, 2007. Block 8 of the contract states, 
“Member is selling 60 days of leave.”  The contract also shows that the applicant was serving on 
the CGC MUNRO, a high-endurance cutter, at the time.  The applicant’s prior contract was a 
six-year reenlistment running from October 5, 2001, through October 4, 2007. 
 

The applicant also submitted copies of his Leave and Earnings Statements (LESes) for 
July  and  October  2007.    His July  2007  LES  shows  that  he  had  93.5  days  of  accrued,  unused 
leave at the end of the month.  The October 2007 LES shows that he was paid $6,267.00 for 
leave sold, lost 14.0 days of leave, and began the new fiscal year with 60 days of leave. 

VIEWS OF THE COAST GUARD 

 
On July 15, 2009, the Judge Advocate General (JAG) of the Coast Guard submitted an 
advisory opinion in which he recommended that the Board grant the applicant’s request.  The 
JAG stated that the applicant’s active duty base date is October 6, 1991, so he was eligible to 
sign an indefinite reenlistment contract on June 25, 2007, because he had more than ten years of 
active duty on that date.  He further stated that the record supports the applicant’s allegation that 
his reenlistment contract was signed on June 25, 2007, rather than October 4, 2007.  Therefore, 
the JAG recommended that the Board grant relief by correcting the date of reenlistment to June 
25, 2007, “thereby allowing him to retain the fourteen (14) days leave earned in FY07.” 

APPLICANT’S RESPONSE TO THE VIEWS OF THE COAST GUARD 

On July 24, 2009, the applicant responded by agreeing with the JAG’s recommendation. 

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS 

The Board makes the following findings and conclusions on the basis of the applicant’s 

 
 
military record and submissions, the Coast Guard’s submissions, and applicable law: 
 

The Board has jurisdiction concerning this matter pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 1552.  

The application was timely.  

The applicant has proved by a preponderance of the evidence that he lost 14 days 
of leave because his reenlistment contract, which he signed on June 25, 2007, was post-dated as 
being effective as of October 4, 2007.  If the contract had been dated in fiscal year 2007, his sale 
of 60 days of leave would have been effected in that fiscal year, and he would not have had more 
than 60 days of accrued, unused and unsold leave on September 30, 2007.  Therefore, he would 
have had fewer than the maximum of 60 days of leave that a member may carry over to a new 

 

 

1. 

 
2. 

 
 
 

 
3. 

 
4. 

 
5. 

fiscal year under Article 7.A.15.a. of the Personnel Manual, and he would not have lost 14 days 
of leave with the start of fiscal year 2008. 

The  end  date  of  the  applicant’s  prior,  six-year  contract  was  October  4,  2007.  
Therefore, it appears to the Board that the indefinite reenlistment contract was intentionally post-
dated to begin upon the end of his prior enlistment.  However, the applicant was serving on a 
high-endurance cutter in 2007, and his command may well have asked him to sign the contract 
early  due  to  operational  demands.    In  this  regard,  the  Board  notes  that  the  CGC  MUNRO 
changed its homeport from Alameda, California, to Kodiak, Alaska, in September 2007.4   

Under Article 12.B.7.b.4. of the Personnel Manual, however, a commanding offi-
cer does not have authority to discharge a member for immediate reenlistment more than three 
months prior to the end of an enlistment except under a few, specific circumstances which are 
inapplicable here.  Therefore, under Article 12.B.7.b.4., the applicant could not be reenlisted on 
June 25, 2007, because that date was not within three months of his end of enlistment on October 
4, 2007.  In the Board’s experience, unauthorized reenlistment contracts dated more than three 
months before the end of the prior enlistment often cause problems with the Coast Guard’s mili-
tary pay technicians.  Therefore, the Board finds that the date of the applicant’s indefinite reen-
listment contract should be corrected to July 5, 2007, which is within three months of the end of 
his prior enlistment on October 4, 2007. 

Accordingly,  relief  should  be  granted  by  correcting  the  date  of  the  applicant’s 
indefinite reenlistment contract to July 5, 2007, and his sale of leave and leave record should be 
adjusted accordingly so that he will not have lost leave at the start of fiscal year 2008. 
 

  

[ORDER AND SIGNATURES APPEAR ON NEXT PAGE]

 
 

                                                 
4 See http://www.uscg.mil/pacarea/cgcmunro/, which includes a link to 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Munro_%28WHEC-724%29, which provides the history of the cutter. 

ORDER 

 

The  application  of  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,  USCG,  for  correction  of  his 
military record is granted.  The Coast Guard shall correct the date in block 5 of his indefinite 
reenlistment contract to show that he reenlisted  on July 5, 2007, rather than October 4, 2007.  
The date of his sale of 60 days of leave and his leave balances shall be corrected accordingly so 
that he shall not have lost leave upon the end of fiscal year 2007 and the start of fiscal year 2008. 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 

 
 Donna M. Bivona 

 

 

 
 
 Philip B. Busch 

 

 
 Erin McMunigal