RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS

IN THE MATTER OF:	DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2016-01525

(b) (6), (b) (7)(C) 	

COUNSEL:	NONE HEARING DESIRED:	YES

APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT:
Fourteen and a half (14.5) days of lost leave be restored.

APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT:
While assigned to Osan AB, Korea, his commander had a policy restricting leave in excess of 30 days. The policy changed making the maximum days that could be carried over went from 75 days to
60 days. Leave in excess of 30 days was attempted, to reduce use/lose balance, but was denied. Due to manning and training requirement at his follow-on location in Germany, his 12-month tour in Korea was shortened to 11 months because of limited training for his specialty. He was given 12 days to complete in- processing, house hunting, and complete his Permanent Change of Station (PCS) before going to training for the rest of the Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15) into the beginning of calendar year 2016.

The applicant’s complete submission, with attachments, is at Exhibit A.

STATEMENT OF FACTS:
The applicant is currently serving in the Regular Air Force in the grade of Master Sergeant Select.

According to the applicant’s Defense Finance and Accounting Service Military Leave and Earnings (LES) for the period of 1-
31 October 2015, he lost 14.5 days of leave.
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.

(b) (6), (b) (7)(C) 	

AIR FORCE EVALUATION:
AFPC/DP2SSM recommends denial. The applicant was authorized to take leave from September 2014 through August 2015 (not in excess of
30 days). The applicant took leave for 15 days while assigned to Osan AB; however, he failed to provide the circumstances that prevented him for taking leave while assigned to Korea for 11 months.

By way of background, while the applicant was assigned to Osan AB, Korea, the commander had a policy restricting leave in excess of
30 days. During the assignment, the leave policy changed for the maximum leave carryover from 75 to 60 days of leave. Leave in excess of 30 days was attempted, but the applicant was unable to reduce his Use or Lose leave balance. Due to manning at the applicant’s follow on assignment to Germany, the applicant was unable to use leave and was only provided 12 days to complete in-processing and house hunting before attending training for the remainder of FY15. In this case, the applicant did not meet the eligibility requirement in accordance with the governing instructions that states “Members not assigned to a HFP/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.”

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

APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION:
The documents provided have shown leave in excess 30 days was denied due to military necessity causing an injustice to him, but was in the best interest of the Air Force. The following points below are areas that represent a misunderstanding during the AFPC/DP2SSM review of his application, which potentially influenced the recommendation. He makes the following key points:

Advisory point 1 (excerpt from attachment 1): “We recommend denying relief sought by applicant as a result of applicant did not meet the eligibility requirements by deploying for more than
120 days.” Response: He is not eligible for SLA, per his original request (see attachment 2); he is seeking restoration IAW AFI 36-3003, Paragraph 3.4.2, dated 11 May 2016 (Original request, attachment 2 cited AFI 36-3003, Paragraph 10.9, dated 2 March 2016), that the leave was lost as a result of an injustice by the Air Force due to military necessity.

Advisory Point 2 (excerpt from attachment 1): “Applicant was authorized to take leave from Sept 2014 through Aug 2015 (not in excess of 30 days). Applicant took leave for 15 days while assigned to Osan AB.” Response: This portion of the advisory is inaccurate , he took 30 days of leave in the 11 months

he was assigned to Korea (see attachments 3 and 4) 5 May 15 to
20 May 2015 and 6 June 2015 to 19 June 2015.
Advisory Point 3 (excerpt from attachment 1): “Applicant failed to provide the circumstances that prevented him for taking leave while assigned to Korea for 11 months.” Response: After already taking 30 days of leave during his tour, on 22 July 2015 he attempted to take 15 additional days of leave, but was denied in Leave Web (see attachment 5) because of his Commander’s policy, which mirrored the 51 Fighter Wing, Osan AB, policy (see attachment 6) in not allowing anyone to take more than 30 days of leave during a one-year tour. Despite verbal attempts to convince his leadership to take leave because of the potential to lose it, he was directed to stop because of the policy in place.

He was assigned to Korea for a total of 307 days in FY15 and temporary duty to the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) Specialty Training for 46 days in FY15, totaling 353 days. The other 12 days were used to PCS to Vogelweh Cantonment, Germany, and to in-process. He reiterates the fact that the Air Force reduced maximum carry over leave from 75 to 60 days during his tour in Korea. He used the maximum amount of 30 days of leave authorized by his commander in Korea and attempted multiple times to take the other 14.5 days of leave to avoid losing days, but was denied multiple times.

The applicant’s complete 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 injustice. After a thorough review of the evidence of record and the applicant’s complete submission, we believe the applicant is the victim of an injustice. While we note the comments of AFPC/DP2SSM indicating that relief should be denied because the applicant did not meet the eligibility requirements by deploying for more than 120 days, we disagree. The applicant was prevented from lowering his leave balance due to a leave policy change, which only allowed 60 days of leave to be carried over, rather than 75 days, and the fact that his commander at the time only allowed 30 days to be taken in one year. Fourteen and a half(14.5) days of leave should be restored as the number of days he earned that he was unable to use in FY15. Therefore, we recommend the applicant’s records be corrected as indicated below.
1.	

4.	The applicant’s case is adequately documented and it has not been shown that a personal appearance with or without counsel will materially add to our understanding of the issue involved. Therefore, the request for a hearing is not favorably considered.

THE BOARD RECOMMENDS THAT:
The pertinent military records of the Department of the Air Force relating to the APPLICANT be corrected to show that 14.5 days of leave be restored to his current leave account.

The following members of the Board considered AFBCMR Docket Number BC-2016-01525 in Executive Session on 20 June 2017 under the provisions of AFI 36-2603:

Mr. XXXXXXXXXxxxxx, Panel Chair Ms. MXXXXXXXXXXXxxXXXX, Member Mr. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, Member

All members voted to correct the records as recommended. The following documentary evidence was considered:

Exhibit A.	DD Form 149, dated 25 Mar 16, w/atchs. Exhibit B.	Applicant's Master Personnel Records. Exhibit C.	Memorandum, AFPC/DP2SSM, dated 15 Jul 16. Exhibit D.	Letter, AFBCMR, dated 21 Oct 16.
Exhibit E.	Letter from Applicant, dated 12 Dec 16, w/atchs.
Pursuant to paragraph 1 of AFI 36-2603 (Title 32 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 865.1), it is certified that a quorum was present at the Board's review and deliberations, and that the foregoing is a true and complete record of the Board's proceedings in the above entitled matter.

7)(C)

X (b) (6), (b) ((b) (6),
(b) (7)

11/16/2017

(b) (6), (b) (7)	(C) (PCan) el Chair
Signed by: S