APPLICANT REQUESTS:  That he be awarded the Combat Medical Badge.

APPLICANT STATES:  That he was assigned as a combat medic to the           2d Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne and should have been awarded the Combat Medical Badge.

EVIDENCE OF RECORD:  The applicant’s military records show:

He enlisted in the Regular Army on 8 July 1966.  He arrived in Vietnam on        24 June 1968.  He served as a medical corpsman with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2d Battalion (Airborne) 506th Infantry from 17 August 1968 until he departed Vietnam on or about 17 January 1969.  The applicant’s personnel records show that he was assigned to Camp Zama as a patientHe was relieved from active duty on 24 March 1969.

The applicant’s personnel records show that hemedical records are not available and there is no evidence to show why the h

Army Regulation 600-8-22 provides, in pertinent part, that the Combat Medical Badge could be awarded to Medical Department personnel assigned or attached to infantry units of brigade or smaller size who satisfactorily perform medical duties while the unit is engaged in actual ground combat, provided they are personally present and under fire.  The award was established to recognize medical aidmen who shared the same hazards and hardships of ground combat on a daily basis with the infantry soldier.

DISCUSSION:  Considering all the evidence, allegations, and information presented by the applicant, together with the evidence of record, applicable law and regulations, it is concluded:

1.  In order to justify correction of a military record the applicant must show to the satisfaction of the Board, or it must otherwise satisfactorily appear, that the record is in error or unjust.  The applicant has failed to submit evidence that would satisfy the aforementioned requirement.

2.  While there is evidence to show the applicant served as a medical corpsman with an infantry unit, there is no evidence to show he shared their hazards and hardships by being present and under fire with them while they were engaged in actual ground combat.

3.  In view of the foregoing, there is no basis for granting the applicant’s request.

DETERMINATION:  The applicant has failed to submit sufficient relevant evidence to demonstrate the existence of probable error or injustice.

BOARD VOTE:

                       GRANT          

                       GRANT FORMAL HEARING

                       DENY APPLICATION

						Loren G. Harrell
						Director