DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS 

 
Application for the Correction of 
the Coast Guard Record of: 
 
                                                                                        BCMR Docket No. 2000-012 
 
 
   

 

 
 

FINAL DECISION 

 
ANDREWS, Attorney-Advisor: 
 
 
This is a proceeding under the provisions of section 1552 of title 10 and section 
425 of title 14 of the United States Code.  It was docketed on October 19, 1999, upon the 
BCMR’s receipt of the applicant’s completed application. 
 
 
members who were designated to serve as the Board in this case. 
 

This  final  decision,  dated  June  8,  2000,  is  signed  by  the  three  duly  appointed 

RELIEF REQUESTED 

 
 
The  applicant,  a  xxxxxxxxxxxx  on  active  duty  in  the  Coast  Guard,  asked  the 
Board  to  correct  his  military  record  by  changing  the  date  of  a  four-year  reenlistment 
contract he signed on September 1, 1999.  The correction would entitle him to receive a 
larger Zone A selective reenlistment bonus (SRB) pursuant to ALDIST 184/99. 
 

APPLICANT’S ALLEGATIONS 

 
 
The applicant alleged that when he signed a reenlistment contract on September 
1, 1999, he was advised that the SRB he received would be calculated based on his rank 
that day, which was xx2.  However, when he received his next pay statement, his SRB 
was calculated based on his rank as of August 31, 1999, which was XX3.   
 

The applicant alleged that this was unfair because he was misadvised about the 
calculation,  although  regulations  entitled  him  to  proper  SRB  counseling.    He  alleged 
that if he had known that SRBs are calculated based on a member’s rank the day before 
reenlistment, he would have waited another day to reenlist.  He stated that his then-

current enlistment was not due to end until November 27, 1999.  Therefore, he could 
easily have waited and received the higher SRB. 

 

SUMMARY OF THE RECORD 

 
 
four years, through November 27, 1999. 
 

On November 28, 1995, the applicant enlisted in the Coast Guard for a term of 

On September 1, 1999, the applicant was advanced from XX3 to XX2.  Also on 
that day, he signed a four-year reenlistment contract.  The contract shows his rank as 
XX2 and indicates his entitlement to an SRB based on a multiple of two under ALDIST 
290/98.1 
 

VIEWS OF THE COAST GUARD 

On April 19, 2000, the Chief Counsel of the Coast Guard recommended that the 

 
 
Board grant the applicant’s request.   
 
 
The  Chief  Counsel  stated  that  the  applicant  should  be  granted  relief  because 
there is no documentation of SRB counseling in his record and proper counseling would 
have informed him that he should wait a day before reenlisting to receive an SRB based 
on his new XX2 rank.   
 
 
show that he reenlisted for six years on September 2, 1999. 
 

The Chief Counsel recommended that the Board correct the applicant’s record to 

APPLICANT’S RESPONSE TO THE COAST GUARD’S VIEWS 

 
 
On  April  21,  2000,  the  BCMR  sent  the  applicant  a  copy  of  the  Chief  Counsel’s 
recommendation  and  invited  him  to  respond  within  15  days.    On  May  4,  2000,  the 
applicant  responded,  stating  that  he  did  not  want  to  be  reenlisted  for  six  years.    He 
stated  that  his  request  was  only  for  the  Board  to  change  the  date  of  his  reenlistment 
contract, not the term of it, which is currently four years. 
 

COAST GUARD’S SUPPLEMENTAL RESPONSE 

 
On May 12, 2000, the Coast Guard sent the BCMR an e-mail message stating that 
 
it concurs in the applicant’s requested amendment to the relief proposed in the Chief 
Counsel’s recommendation. 
 

APPLICABLE REGULATIONS 

 

                                                 
1    ALDIST  290/98  had  actually  been  cancelled  on  June  14,  1999.    However,  the  multiple  used  for 
calculating SRBs for members in the XX rating remained the same under the new provisions in ALDIST 
184/99, which became effective on June 15, 1999. 

Section  2  of  Commandant  Instruction  7220.33  (Reenlistment  Bonus  Programs 
 
Administration) provides that “[a]ll personnel with 14 years or less active service who 
reenlist  or  extend  for  any  period,  however  brief,  shall  be  counseled  on  the  SRB 
program.    They  shall  sign  a  page  7  service  record  entry,  enclosure  (3),  outlining  the 
effect  that  particular  action  has  on  their SRB entitlement.”  The page 7 that members 
must sign after receiving SRB counseling acknowledges that they have been provided a 
copy of the full instruction. 
 
 
Section 3.f.(1) of Enclosure (1) of the instruction states that “[c]omputation of SRB 
payments is based on the rate of basic pay as of the day immediately preceding reenlist-
ment or the date immediately preceding the date the extension becomes operative.”  
 

ALDIST  184/99,  issued  on  May  13,  1999,  established  SRBs  for  personnel  in 
certain  skill  ratings  who  reenlisted  or  extended  their  enlistments  after  June  15,  1999.  
The multiple to be used for calculating SRBs for members in the XX rating was two.   
 

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 appli-
cable law: 
 

1. 

The Board has jurisdiction concerning this matter pursuant to section 1552 

of title 10, United States Code.  The application was timely. 
 

2. 

Under  Section  2  of  Commandant  Instruction  7220.33,  the  applicant  was 
entitled  to  proper  counseling  concerning  his  eligibility  for  an  SRB  under  ALDIST 
184/99  when  he  reenlisted  on  September  1,  1999.    Proper  counseling  would  have 
provided him with a copy of the instruction, whose terms required that he wait a day 
before reenlisting to receive an SRB based on his new rank, XX2. COMDTINST 7220.33, 
Enclosure (1), Section 3.f.(1). 

 
3. 

The applicant alleged that he was told his SRB would be based on his new 
rank if he reenlisted the same day he was advanced to XX2, September 1, 1999.  There is 
no  evidence  in  his  record  that  he  received  proper  SRB  counseling.    Had  he  been  so 
counseled, a page 7 entry documenting the counseling should appear in his record, but 
there is no such entry. 
 

The Coast Guard committed an error by failing to counsel the applicant 
concerning his eligibility for an SRB on September 1, 1999.  The Board is persuaded that, 
if the applicant had been properly counseled, he would have waited until September 2, 
1999, before reenlisting to receive an SRB based on his new rank under ALDIST 184/99.  
 

4. 

5. 

Accordingly, the applicant’s request should be granted. 

 
 
 
 
 
 

[ORDER AND SIGNATURES APPEAR ON NEXT PAGE] 

 

 

The application of XXXXXXXXXXXX, USCG, for correction of his military record 

ORDER 

 

 

 

 
 

 
 

        

 
 
 Terence W. Carlson 

The Coast Guard shall pay him any sum he is due as a result of this correction. 

is hereby granted. 
 
 
The date of his four-year reenlistment contract shall be changed from September 
1, 1999, to September 2, 1999, so that he shall be eligible for an SRB based on his XX2 
base pay under ALDIST 184/99. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 Edmund T. Sommer, Jr. 

 
 

 

 
 
 Pamela M. Pelcovits