RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS IN THE MATTER OF: DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2014-05085 XXXXXXXXXX COUNSEL: NONE HEARING DESIRED: NO APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: His mobilization travel orders ending on 4 February 2014, be extended to 19 February 2014. APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: Due to circumstances beyond his control, an amendment to his orders was not completed, which prevented his orders from being extended. A correction will grant him entitlements to all pay owed and a correct DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. The applicant’s complete submission, with attachments, is at Exhibit A. STATEMENT OF FACTS: The applicant is currently serving as a member of the Air Force Reserve in the grade of staff sergeant (E-5). According to Reserve Order A5GB1V dated 13 March 2013, the applicant was mobilized under Title 10 United States Code, Section 12302, Ready Reserve, in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, from 31 August 2013 to 4 February 2014. According to the applicant’s Leave Record as of 31 January 2015, for the period of 5 August 2013 to 4 February 2014, his leave balance was 15.5 days. According to the applicant’s Point Credit Accounting and Reporting System (PCARS) printout dated 1 April 2016, he did not perform active duty during the period of 5-19 February 2014. AIR FORCE EVALUATION: AFRC/A1R recommends approval. The applicant [and other similarly situated personnel] was mobilized and deployed in support of ongoing operations; unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond his control, the mobilization authority in which he was activated expired prior to his orders being extended. This situation occurred due to personnel not leaving the deployed location when originally scheduled. The majority of these delays were attributed to transportation delays. This left him in a hardship and unable to complete final travel vouchers or receive pay and allowances for the additional days warranted for this activation. It was through no fault of the applicant the request to extend his orders was not approved. Problems with extending orders were not encountered until mid- to-late August 2013. Around that time, it was determined requests for mobilization extensions could not be processed on personnel whose Partial Mobilization (PM) authority would expire prior to the extension being approved. However, it took a minimum of 3 weeks to process extension requests of 15 days or more and 10 days to process request less than 15 days. Based on this timeline, any extension request whose PM Message authority has/will expire, would have to be submitted as an Exception to Policy (ETP). AFRC/A1R was not aware of this policy, nor did they know what was required to submit a request for ETP. After much discussion, and a series of policy memorandums regarding the ETP procedures, it was determined an AFBCMR review would be the best course of action to correct his record. A complete copy of the AFRC/A1R evaluation is at Exhibit C. APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION: On 3 March 2015, a copy of the Air Force evaluation was forwarded to the applicant for review and comment within 30 days. As of this date, no response has been received by this office (Exhibit D). ADDITIONAL AIR FORCE EVALUATION: SAF/MRM recommends granting the applicant’s request, indicating there was an error or injustice. SAF/MR Memorandum, Exception to Policy (ETP) for Military Personnel Appropriation (MPA) Tours for Air Reserve Component (ARC) Airmen Involuntarily Held in the AFCENT AOR, dated 19 December 2013, approved a temporary ETP to allow Air Reserve Component members on an MPA tour to exercise the leave days they were unable to use due to a delay in returning from the USAFCENT area of responsibility. However, the ETP expired on 30 March 2014, several months prior to this request for the same authority. Based upon the submitted information, leave was lost through no fault of the applicant. Therefore, SAF/MRM recommends the lost leave he earned be restored, however, the days requested must be verified with AFRC/A1. A complete copy of the SAF/MRM evaluation, with attachments, is at Exhibit E. APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF ADDITIONAL AIR FORCE EVALUATION: On 27 January 2016, a copy of the Air Force evaluation was forwarded to the applicant for review and comment within 30 days. As of this date, no response has been received by this office (Exhibit F). 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 an error or injustice. We took notice of the applicant's complete submission in judging the merits of the case and agree with the opinion and recommendation of the Air Force OPR and adopt some of its rationale as the basis for our conclusion the applicant has been the victim of an error or injustice. We note that SAF/MRM recommends the lost leave the applicant earned be restored; however, according to the applicant’s Leave Record as of 31 January 2015, he had a leave balance of 15.5 days with zero days leave lost. Therefore we find no evidence that he lost any leave. We believe correcting the applicant’s record to extend his orders allows the applicant to receive compensation of military pay, points, and applicable benefits for the 15.5 days of leave and provides the applicant full and fitting relief. We also believe it is appropriate to further correct the applicant’s records to reflect that said period was classified as ordinary leave to ensure the applicant is actually charged for the leave and preclude the possibility of an unearned windfall. Accordingly, we recommend the applicant's records be corrected as set forth below. THE BOARD RECOMMENDS THAT: The pertinent military records of the Department of the Air Force relating to the APPLICANT be corrected to show that he was not relieved from mobilization under Title 10, United States Code, Section 12302, Ready Reserve, in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM on 4 February 2014, but continued to serve on active duty, in an ordinary leave status, until 19 February 2014. The following members of the Board considered this application in Executive Session on 1 September 2015 and 15 April 2016, under the provisions of AFI 36-2603: , Panel Chair , Member , Member All members voted to correct the records as recommended. The following documentary evidence pertaining to AFBCMR Docket Number BC-2014-05085 was considered: Exhibit A. DD Form 149, dated 14 September 2014, w/atchs. Exhibit B. Applicant’s Master Personnel Records. Exhibit C. Memorandum, AFRC/A1R, dated 26 November 2014. Exhibit D. Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 3 March 2015. Exhibit E. Memorandum, SAF/MRM dated 22 September 2015. Exhibit F. Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 27 January 2016. 1 2