RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS IN THE MATTER OF: DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2013-02630 COUNSEL: NONE HEARING DESIRED: YES ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: 1. His date of separation from active duty in the Regular Air Force be adjusted to reflect the day before his appointment in the Air Force Reserve (AFR) to eliminate a break in service. 2. His Date of Rank (DOR) be adjusted to the DOR he had while on active duty. 3. His eligibility for the Transition Assistance Management Program (TAMP) be reinstated. ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: 1. He was negatively impacted by an administrative error. He was told that he did not need to be scrolled but, he did need to be scrolled and that resulted in a break in service. This error was in no way his fault. He has exhausted all remedies provide by existing law or regulation. 2. He began the process of transitioning from active duty to the AFR with more than sufficient time to be appointed in the AFR with no break-in-service, however, on 4 February 2013, he was told that he needed to be scrolled. The paperwork for scrolling was submitted on 6 February 2013, and approved on 8 March 2013. The approval was after the effective date of his separation from active duty and too late to avoid a break in service. This was also unfortunately at the same time that a Military Personnel Data System (MilPDS) upgrade was being completed and no appointment actions into the AFR were being accomplished until sometime after 27 March 2013. The break-in- service created the following issues: a. His DOR was reset from 1 January 2008 to 11 August 2010, which pushes his promotion eligibility more than two-and-a-half years further into the future. Thus, he is ineligible for a position vacancy promotion in 2014 which was a possibility given the manning structure of his current unit. b. Because of the break, he was ineligible for Tricare coverage under the Transitional Assistance Management Program, which provides 180 days of coverage for an individual who separates from active duty with an agreement to immediately become a member of the Selected Reserve. Because of this lost entitlement, he was forced to purchase Tricare Reserve Select coverage, which (due to the MilPDS upgrade) was not available to him until 1 May 2013 resulting in two months without medical coverage. c. His appointment into the AFR was delayed. He was expecting to receive compensation beginning in March, which was delayed until May, and his retirement eligibility time has been extended. In support of his request, the applicant provides a personal statement; copies of his ARPC IMT 92, Appointment Order, DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, documents extracted from his military personnel record, and supporting email correspondence. The applicant’s complete submission, with attachments, is at Exhibit A. ________________________________________________________________ STATEMENT OF FACTS: The applicant is currently serving in the Air Force Reserve in the grade of Major, 0-4. ________________________________________________________________ AIR FORCE EVALUATION: ARPC/DPA recommends approval. DPA states that they found no administrative error and conclude the break-in-service was no fault of the applicant. DPA further states, current policies do not allow for backdating oaths; however, SAF/GCM and the AFBCMR determined that the AFBCMR has the authority to adjust the DOS for these officers to prevent a break in service. The Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) General Counsel determined the appointment date is the date the SecDef approves the appointment or the date the oath was administered, whichever is later. The applicant was granted appointment in accordance with the OSD directive. Therefore, they recommend approval of the applicant’s request to reflect no break in service. The complete ARPC/DPA evaluation is at Exhibit C. ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION: A copy of the Air Force evaluation was forwarded to the applicant on 5 August 2013 for review and comment within 30 days (Exhibit D). To date, a response has not been received by this office. ________________________________________________________________ THE BOARD CONCLUDES THAT: 1. The applicant has exhausted all remedies provided by existing law or regulations. 2. The application was timely filed. 3. Sufficient relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the existence of error or injustice. After a thorough review of the evidence, we believe corrective action is warranted. The applicant contends that a delay in processing his reassignment from the Regular Air Force to the Air Force Reserve caused a break-in-service. In this respect, the applicant’s name was scrolled on 25 February 2013; yet his appointment was not approved until 8 March 2013. This delay caused a break in his service. Therefore, we agree with the opinion and recommendation of the Air Force office of primary responsibility (OPR) and adopt its rationale as the basis for our conclusion that the applicant’s service dates should be corrected as a result. Additionally, the applicant requests his Transitional Assistance Management Program (TAMP) benefits be reinstated. We have been advised by the OPR that with the correction of the service dates the TAMP benefits will be administratively corrected. Accordingly, we recommend the applicant’s record be corrected as indicated below. ________________________________________________________________ THE BOARD RECOMMENDS THAT: The pertinent military records of the Department of the Air Force relating to APPLICANT be corrected to show he was not released from active duty effective 1 March 2013, but on that date, he was continued on active duty through 7 March 2013. _______________________________________________________________ The following members of the Board considered this application in Executive Session on 18 February 2014, under the provisions of AFI 36-2603: , Panel Chair , Member , Member The following documentary evidence pertaining to AFBCMR Docket Number BC-2013-02630 was considered: Exhibit A. DD Form 149, dated 24 May 2013, w/atchs. Exhibit C. Letter, ARPC/DPA, dated 10 July 2013. Exhibit D. Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 5 August 2013. 1