2.  The applicant requests that he be released from the American Express (AMEX) Card debt he accrued while he was on temporary duty (TDY).  He states, in effect, that these expenses were accrued while properly executing his reassignment orders and that he had made more than sufficient inquiries prior to executing them to ensure that all expenses were within Army regulations.  He also was never reimbursed for the expenses he paid out of pocket, but now is more concerned with having to pay out even more for the AMEX bill.

3.  On 30 March 1995, the applicant received orders reassigning him from Panama to Fort Bragg, NC, with TDY at the Operations and Intelligence Course (O & I) at Fort Bragg prior to reporting to his new unit.  (The period of TDY for the O & I Course was 12 June - 22 August 1995; the report date to his new Fort Bragg unit was 25 August 1995.)  Prior to departing Panama, he inquired of the Fort Davis, Panama Finance Office if he would be receiving full per diem.  A master sergeant informed the applicant he would be eligible for full per diem and that if he wanted, he could receive an advance payment.  He decided not to draw an advance.  

4.  When the applicant arrived at Fort Bragg, the non-commissioned officer in charge (NCOIC) of the S-1 (Personnel Office), 7th  Special Forces Group
informed him he must sign in to his gaining unit first.  This was because Fort Davis was closing and his family needed to be out of housing before the completion of the O & I Course.  But he also informed him that if he signed in to the unit first, he would lose his O & I slot.  He was instructed to proceed to O & I and sign in on the dates indicated on his orders.

5.  As he still had some doubt as to whether he was entitled to full per diem, he inquired at the 18th Airborne Corps Finance Office, where they verified the information given him in Panama.  They also told him he could get only a 20 per cent advance and he would have to put his other expenses on his American Express card.  He could settle all receipts at the end of his course.  

6.  After graduating from the course and while in-processing at Fort Bragg, the finance office informed him he could not be paid for his TDY expenses because the Joint Federal Travel Regulation (JFTR), part B, paragraph U4102 prohibits TDY at an individual’s permanent duty station.

7.  The Joint Federal Travel Regulation, part B, paragraph U4100, states a perdiem allowance is designed to offset the cost of lodging, meals and incidental expenses incurred in by a member while performing travel and/or TDY away from the member’s permanent duty station (PDS).  Paragraph U4102D of the  JFTR states a member is not entitled to perdiem for travel or TDY performed within the limits of his PDS.  The JFTR defines PDS as the post of duty or official station,…to which a member is assigned or attached for duty other than TDY.  The limits of such post of duty or official station should be the ship, or the corporate limits of the city or town in which the member is stationed.  If the member isn’t stationed on a ship…the official station is the reservation, station, or established area, or, in the case of large reservations, the established subdivison thereof having definite boundaries within which the designated post of duty is located.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant made every reasonable effort to obtain information from the proper finance and personnel officials at both his losing and gaining installations about how his TDY would be treated and paid for so he could properly comply with his reassignment orders.  These officials provided him with apparently erroneous information.

2.  When the applicant was told his family needed to be out of Fort Davis housing prior to the completion of his TDY, he was placed into a Catch-22 situation.  If he signed in to his assigned unit at Fort Bragg first to get his family into on-post or off-post housing, he forfeited his course seat; if he went through the course before signing in, he forfeited his right to reimbursement for off-post housing.

3.  The applicant incurred reasonable TDY expenses based upon that apparently erroneous information; however, while in-processing to his permanent unit at Fort Bragg, he was told that regulations prohibited him from being reimbursed for those expenses.

4.  The applicant’s report date to his Fort Bragg permanent unit of assignment was not until 25 August 1995, after completion of his TDY.  As the applicant did not sign in to Fort Bragg until after completion of his TDY, by definition of the JFTR his PDS was still in Panama.  As such, the provisions of the JFTR, Part B, paragraph U4102 are not applicable.

5.  In accordance with the JFTR, Part B, paragraph U4101, perdiem is authorized for periods of TDY directed in a PCS order.

6.  In view of the foregoing, it would be appropriate, to correct the applicant’s records as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing:

     a.  that the individual concerned was authorized to draw full TDY expenses while attending the O & I Course at Fort Bragg from approximately 12 June - 21 August 1995, his PDS during that time being Panama;

     b.  that the individual concerned be reimbursed for all reasonable TDY expenses incurred while attending the O & I Course:

     c  that the individual concerned reimburse the government for the temporary lodging entitlement (TLE) he received for the period 12 - 21 June 1995; and

     d  that the individual concerned is authorized and is to be paid for any TLE to which he was entitled for the period beginning 22 August 1995 as a result of his PCS.

BOARD VOTE:

                       GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

                       GRANT FORMAL HEARING

                       DENY APPLICATION

                                                                                                                  
						    CHAIRPERSON