RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS

IN THE MATTER OF: 			DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2016-00959 

 						COUNSEL:  NONE

						HEARING DESIRED:  NO

APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT:

Seventeen (17) days of lost leave be restored.

APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT:

In August 2015, he submitted a Special Leave Accrual (SLA) package with his commander’s concurrence for leave lost in FY15 as he believed it was the appropriate process for requesting restoration of his lost leave. He was advised after discussion with AFPC that his case did not meet the restrictive guidelines for SLA.  However, his SLA application was not officially disapproved until 8 March 2016.  

The basis of the SLA was his inability to use 17 days of leave in FY15 because of ongoing support to contingency military operations and extenuating medical circumstances for his son who had his leg amputated in January 2015 as a result of cancer and other substantial medical issues.

AF/A1 recently provided updated, significantly more restrictive, guidance after the fact to AFPC that caused his SLA to be disapproved.  In FY14, he had very similar operational (not medical) circumstances whereby SLA was approved. 

A complete copy of the applicant’s complete submission, with attachments, is at Exhibit A.   

STATEMENT OF FACTS:

The applicant entered the Regular Air Force on 15 September 1988 and retired on 1 September 2016 in the grade of colonel (O-6).  He was credited with 27 years, 11 months and 16 days of active duty service.  

The applicant provides a letter of support from his vice wing commander dated 17 July 2015 to the 88th Force Support Squadron (88 FSS) approving 24 days of SLA for FY15.  The letter states that the applicant had unique circumstances related to the medical care for his oldest son which prevented him from being able to use all of his use or lose leave in FY15.  In January 2015, his son had his leg amputated as a result of long term effects of cancer and over 70 surgeries in attempt to reconstruct his leg.  The medical plan had been for him to recover from the amputation and travel to Walter Reed Medical Center in late summer 2015 to receive a prosthetic and begin extensive therapy.  The applicant retained a significant amount of his FY15 and previous leave anticipating he would use it in support of his son’s medical recovery.  Unfortunately, his son was not sufficiently recovered from the surgery to transition to Walter Reed and they would have to wait several more months before going to Walter Reed.  As a result, the applicant was unable to use his leave before the end of FY15 without significant impact to his job.  The applicant’s work directly involved foreign military sales programs delivering needed capabilities for countries engaged in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations.  

The applicant provides a letter of support from the F-16 System Program Manager dated 7 March 2016 which states the applicant’s work directly supported national objectives and operational missions around the world.  During the latter part of FY15, his team was directly responsible for delivering F-16 aircraft in support of anti-terrorism missions in the Middle East.  As a result, despite an abundance of leave his work related duties prevented him from taking all of his leave.  Additionally, the applicant believed based on the SLA criteria in-place, he would qualify for SLA to carry over his leave into FY16 and an SLA application was processed which was denied in March 2016.  

AFI 36-3003, Military Leave Program, paragraph 6.1.9 states, Members not eligible for SLA can request recovery of days lost by submitting a DD Form 149, Application for Correction of Military Records, to the AFBCMR.    

Per 37 U.S.C. § 501, effective 10 February 1976, payment for accrued leave is limited to 60 days in a military career.  

The applicant’s Master Pay Records reflect he sold 23.5 days of leave in his career.  

The remaining relevant facts pertaining to this application are contained in the memorandum prepared by the Air Force office of primary responsibility (OPR), which is attached at Exhibit C.  

AIR FORCE EVALUATION:

AFPC/DP2SSM recommends denial due to insufficient evidence.  The applicant failed to provide supporting documents, such as medical Temporary Duty (TDY) orders.  In accordance with AFI 36-3003, Military Leave Program, paragraph 10.9, Member’s applications must clearly establish that an error or injustice by the Air Force caused the member’s lost leave.  The applicant did not meet the eligibility requirements per AFI 36-3003, paragraph 10.2.2, “Members not assigned to Hazardous Fire Pay (HFP)/Imminent Danger Pay (IDP) area for a continuous period of at least 120 days are authorized to retain such leave up to 120 days but not to exceed the total number of continuous days assigned to the unit or qualifying duty until the end of the second fiscal year in which the duty assignment is terminated.”

Per the applicant and his commander’s interpretation of AFI 36-3003, a SLA package was submitted via the Case Management System (CMS) to AFPC/DP2SS for processing.  The applicant was unable to use 17 days of leave due to ongoing support to contingency military operations and extenuating medical circumstances for his son in January 2015.  The SLA CMS was disapproved. 

A complete copy of the AFPC/DP2SSM evaluation is at Exhibit C. 

APPLICANT’S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION:

After reviewing his AFBCMR submittal and application for SLA, he did not clearly articulate the rationale for consideration. It appears to be based more on the circumstances related to his son’s medical issues; however, it is an aggregate combination of medical issues, support to his military coalitions operations in his role as Chief, F-16 Foreign Military Sales, lack of clarity in AFI 36-3003 with regard to SLA approvals and the challenge associated with the reduction in carryover leave in FY15 from 75 days to 60 days.  All of these issues combined led to him lose 17 days of leave in FY15.

In February 2014, at the time of his SLA disapproval, AFI 36-3003, paragraph 10.2.2, dated 26 February 2009, permitted members not assigned to a HFP/IDP area for a continuous period of at least 120 days to retain leave under SLA.   

He provides a chronology of FY15 leave and TDY dates and travel vouchers.   

A complete copy of the applicant’s submission, with attachments, is at Exhibit E.  

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.  While we note AFPC/DP2SSM recommends the applicant’s request be denied because he failed to provide supporting documents such as medical TDY orders and was not deployed to a HFP/IDP area, we believe based on the preponderance of the evidence relief is warranted.  In this respect, we find the applicant’s additional submission to include copies of travel vouchers substantiating his TDY assignments in support of national defense and his son’s medical treatment sufficient to find he was not able to use his all of his accrued leave.  Additionally, we find the letters of support from his vice wing commander and the F-16 Systems Program Manager dated 17 July 2015 and 7 March 2016, respectively, sufficient to find he was unable to use all of his accrued leave as a result of his military duties in support of ongoing counter-terrorism missions.  Furthermore, we are persuaded the letters of support also substantiate the applicant was not properly counseled in a timely manner regarding SLA eligibility.  Therefore, we find it is in the interest of justice to grant the applicant’s request for restoration of 17 days of lost leave.  Since the applicant retired on 1 September 2016, we recommend he be paid for 17 days of leave at the leave settlement rate.  Therefore, we recommend the applicant’s records be corrected as indicated 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 17 days of leave was restored to his leave account commencing 2 October 2015.     

The following members of the Board considered AFBCMR Docket Number BC-2016-00959 in Executive Session on 1 June 2017 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-2016-00959 was considered:

	Exhibit A.  DD Form 149, dated 8 March 2016, w/atchs.
	Exhibit B.  Applicant’s Master Personnel Records
	Exhibit C.  Memorandum, AFPC/DP2SSM, dated 18 July 2016.
	Exhibit D.  Letter, AFBCMR, dated 2 March 2017.
	Exhibit E.  Letter, Applicant, undated, w/atchs.