DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF NAVAL RECORDS

2 NAW ANNEX

WASHINGTON DC 20370-5100

JRE
Docket No: 2561-98
6 July 2000

This is in reference to your application for correction of your naval record pursuant to the
provisions of title 10 of the United States Code, section 1552.

A three-member panel of the Board for Correction of Naval Records, sitting in executive
session, considered your application on 29 June 2000. Your allegations of error and injustice
were reviewed in accordance with administrative regulations and procedures applicable to the
proceedings of this Board. Documentary material considered by the Board consisted of your
application, together with all material submitted in support thereof, your naval record and
applicable statutes, regulations and policies.
opinion furnished by designees of the Specialty Leader for Psychiatry dated August 1999,
and the Director, Naval Council of Personnel Boards dated 18 January 2000, and the
information you and your attorney submitted in response thereto.
attached.

In addition, the Board considered the advisory

A copy of each opinion is

After careful and conscientious consideration of the entire record, the Board found that the
evidence submitted was insufficient to establish the existence of probable material error or
injustice. In this connection, the Board substantially concurred with the comments contained
in the advisory opinions.
It was not persuaded that you were unfit by reason of physical
disability at the time of your discharge from the Navy, which is a prerequisite to disability
retirement or separation.
It did not accept your contention to the effect that the history of
pre-service traumatic events recorded in your naval health record was the product of
delusions, or that it is otherwise materially erroneous, or that the diagnosis of a borderline
personality disorder is unsubstantiated. The fact that the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) granted you service connection for post traumatic stress disorder in 1997, effective
from 23 August 1994, was not considered probative of error or injustice in your naval
record.
to the issue of fitness for military service, and may do so at any time during a veteran
lifetime. The military departments may assign disability ratings only in those cases where
Ratings are fixed as of the date. of
the service member has been found unfit for duty.

In this regard, the Board noted that the VA assigns disability ratings without regard
’s

separation or permanent retirement.
prior to your discharge were related to a personality disorder, which is a condition not
covered by the military disability evaluation system, rather than a physical disability. The
Board concluded that you did not report symptoms of any other condition at the time of your
discharge which warranted evaluation by a medical board.

The Board concluded that the difficulties you faced

In view of the foregoing, your application has been denied.
members of the panel will be furnished upon request.

The names and votes of the

It is regretted that the circumstances of your case are such that favorable action cannot be
taken. You are entitled to have the Board reconsider its decision upon submission of new
and material evidence or other matter not previously considered by the Board.
In this
regard, it is important to keep in mind that a presumption of regularity attaches to all official
records. Consequently, when applying for a correction of an official naval record, the
burden is on the applicant to demonstrate the existence of probable material error or
injustice.

Sincerely,

W. DEAN PFEIFFER
Executive Director

Enclosure

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
NAVAL COUNCIL OF PERSONNEL BOARDS

WASHINGTON NAW YARD
KENNON  STREET SE RM 309

720 
WASHINGTON, DC 203746023

IN 

REPLY  

REFER 

TO

5420
Ser:
18 Jan 00

00-001

Director,
Chairman,

Naval Council of Personnel Boards
Board for Correction of Naval Records

AND RECOMMENDATION

IN THE

CASE OF FORMER

(a) BCNR 
(b)  SECNAVINST  

ltr  JRE DN:

1850.4D

2561-98 dtd 1  

Dee  99

From:
To:

Subj:

Ref:

This responds to reference (a), received on 15  

1.
comments and recommendation regarding Petitioner's request for
correction of her record to show that she was retired by reason
of physical disability by reason of Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD).
UNFIT at the time of her discharge from active duty and
rate a medical retirement.

We have determined that Petitioner was not

 

Dee  99, for

does/not

The Petitioner's case history and medical records, contained
were thoroughly reviewed in accordance with
The following comments are

2.
in reference (a),
reference (b) and are returned.
provided.

Petitioner was psychiatri-

The hospital Summary Report also makes the point

Ana,  CA.
despite her suffering,

About 7 months post discharge,
{13  December

3.
cally hospitalized  
Santa 
that,
discharge from the Marine Corps, she "has worked as an
accountant for the current company for the last six months.
describes herself as a very capable and hard working individual,
having no problem at work...."

she indicated that since her

1988}  at Western Medical Center,

She

remained highly functional,

Petitioner, apparently,

4.
occupationally as an accountant,
months post discharge from the military.
lack of documentation that any significant, i.e., to a sep-
arately unfitting degree,
condition in sufficient proximity to her discharge to warrant a
by the Physical Evaluation
retrospective finding of 'UNFIT'
Board (PEB).

deterioration occurred in  

without interruption until 7

Further,

there is a

Petitioner's

Subj:

COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATION IN THE CASE OF FORMER CPL

The behavioral manifestations, which generated her

5.
administrative discharge from the USMC, are most consistent with
the contemporarily diagnosed Borderline Personality Disorder.

The 

6.
The mere presence of a clinical manifestation or condition
for which a rating exists, or can be found, in the VASRD, does
not translate automatically into a separate finding of unfitness
DVA's  concern is whether a veteran's
for that condition.
medical condition being considered is service-connected; the
PEB's  concern is whether the service member's condition inter-
feres with the ability of the individual to continue active
service.
determines a condition (for which the DVA is currently evalua-
ting the veteran) to be service-connected, the DVA can delete,
add or change diagnoses made by the service.
increase or decrease the disability percentage rating as the
condition worsens or improves.

it should be noted that, as long as the DVA

In fact,

.

The DVA can also
,

The medical evidence in reference (a)

7.
contention of
primary requirements for eligibility for consideration for
Department of Veterans Affairs

'service connection',

thereby fulfilling the

(DVA) rating and other benefits.

clearly

supports a

In summary,

there is a lack of documentation that any sig-

8.
nificant deterioration occurred in Petitioner's condition in
sufficient proximity to her release from active duty to support
The evidence of record appears to
a finding of unfitness.
support Petitioner's administrative separation for personality
disorder vice processing for physical  
recommend her petition be denied.

disabilitg  and therefore I

L

.

. 

.

Naval Medical Center San Diego

Chairman, Board for

Addressee:
Washington, DC 20370-5100
From:

LT

DEP T. OF PSYCHIATR Y
San Diego, California 92134-5000

August 99

Correction of Naval Records, Department of the Navy,

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emotionally weak to protect her. She began to rebel inside and outside the
home to protect her identity even though it risked retribution. This took the
form of sexual acting out starting at age 9, and a brief period of shoplifting
during the eighth grade.

At the time of this evaluation the patient reported that she had been
dating another Marine for one and a half years, and reported that she is able
to be herself with him. This is apparently one of the perpetrators of one of
her alleged sexual assaults, which would have occurred prior to this
evaluation. There is no mention of any of this in the report.

Testing consisted of the Bender Gestalt, Rotter, and MMPI.

Results were suggestive of someone who is conflicted and in notable psychic
distress, passively rebellious, poorly adjusted to authority, and with few
resources for dealing with stress, and easily overwhelmed in her constant
struggle to maintain a sense of self identity and self mastery, with a potential
for acting out. The psychologist concluded that the testing was characteristic
“ that much of her current emotional
of borderline personality features, and 
turmoil is no doubt attributable to her early family life and conditioning
history.”

Member discharged from military by reason of a personality disorder.
Admitted after suicide attempt.
Diagnosis on discharge was Major
Depression, Single episode. This admission was about 7 months after her
discharge from the military. In the history it is reported that the patient
endorsed feeling depressed for 2 months. From this report it appears that
the patient decompensated after talking to her ex- boyfriend. It also reports
that she has “gone through some traumatic episode with her ex-boyfriend
about a year prior to this admission. ”No additional information is given
about this event.
First documentation of sexual assault while in the military.
Department of Veterans Affairs awarded member service connection and
a 50% rating for post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive
disorder.
Rating was increased to 100%

16 MAY 88
15 DEC 88

25 MAY 94
19 MAR 97

01 OCT 97

3.

The member asserts that she did not disclose information about the sexual assault because she
was in denial. She also said she could not respond to the doctors questions because she had
“, “I was simply unable to comprehend what I could hear him say.
been  “robbed psychologically
I had shut down. ”

She also claims that when she previously saw a psychologist (13 June 86)and told him about
sexual harassment she was experiencing, nothing was done, and she claims she was told 
“it
is the Marine way.

The member contends that she does not have a personality disorder because her service
record show that she did well in military service for a period of a year and a half with several
awards.

4. Discussion: From review of the member ’s record it appears that she had a deterioration of

functioning prior to military service.
a teenager. On the enlistment physical the member did not check a history of suicide attempts.

There was also documentation of  “suicide attempts ” as

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If this information was known prior to enlistment it may have prevented her acceptance into the
Marine Corps.

The member received several awards and evidently performed well during a period in the

military.
It is possible that a person with personality disorder may have periods of higher
functioning, especially in a highly structured environment. A personality disorder may be
exacerbated following the loss of previously stabilizing social situations. Borderline personality
disorder is particularly sensitive to environmental situations.

There is a close association between borderline personality disorder and post traumatic

stress disorder, with a high degree of overlap of symptoms, which could make diagnosis
difficult. With all the information available to the psychiatrist during her admission in early
1988, I feel they made the correct diagnosis. At that time the patient did not endorse any
symptoms that would be better explained by PTSD than personality disorder.
It should also be
noted that in the DSM IV the diagnosis of PTSD may include efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings,
or conversations associated with trauma, or inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma.
Nevertheless, the absence of this data at the time of initial evaluation prevents the psychiatrist
from considering the relative contributions of past and current trauma to her overall dysfunction.
It appears likely that the diagnosis made with all information would be PTSD and preeexisting
borderline personality disorder.

Another point that deserves mention is that the patient has experienced numerous traumatic

events which started in early childhood, including physical beating from her father. The
patient did not disclose sexual trauma until 1993 according to her report. With this history
it is difficult to conclude that all her symptoms she is now experiencing are related to only
events that occurred in the military. Many people suffer from PTSD, MDD and borderline
personality disorder from physical abuse as a child. How much each 
current symptoms is difficult to evaluate.

stressor contributes to her

(5) Recommendations: The diagnosis of borderline personality disorder appears to be accurate.
appears to also to have post traumatic stress disorder, predisposed by childhood trauma but with
onset during active service, presuming that the sexual assaults occurred as she described.

,

She

LT/MC/USNR
Resident Psychiatrist

LCDRMCX-JSN
Staff Psychiatrist

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