PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:	BOARD DATE:            7 October 1998                                    
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AC98-10633

	I certify that hereinafter is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in the case of the above-named individual.  

	Mr. Loren G. Harrell		Director	
	Mrs. Nancy Amos		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Samuel A. Crumpler		Chairperson	
	Mr. James E. Vick		Member	
	Mr. Luther L. Santiful		Member	

	The applicant and counsel if any, did not appear before the Board.

	The Board considered the following evidence:

	Exhibit A - Application for correction of military 
                records
	Exhibit B - Military Personnel Records (including
	            advisory opinion, if any)

FINDINGS:

1.  The applicant has exhausted or the Board has waived the requirement for exhaustion of all administrative remedies afforded by existing law or regulations.

2.  The applicant requests correction of her military records to credit her with an additional 2 years and 4 months time in service.

3.  The applicant states that, upon her move from Missouri to Florida in January 1986, the unit clerk at her Missouri unit sat on her request to transfer her out of that unit back to the U. S. Army Reserve Control Group for over two years.  This prevented her from joining a National Guard unit in Florida.  In March 1988, the clerk’s unit discovered five year’s worth of paperwork stuffed throughout his desk drawers.  Her paperwork was found, processed, and she was then able to enlist in the National Guard.

4.  The applicant’s military records show that she enlisted in the Regular Army on 12 July 1977 and was separated on 31 December 1984.  

5.  On 1 January 1985, she enlisted in the U. S. Army Reserve, for one year, for assignment to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 91st Division (Training), Fort Baker, CA.

6.  On 12 August 1985, she requested release from assignment to the 91st Division and reassignment to the U. S. Army Reserve Control Group (Reinforcement).

7.  On 4 November 1985, she was reassigned from the U. S. Army Reserve Control Group (Reinforcement) to the 307th Psychological Operations Company, St. Louis, MO.  On 12 November 1985, she reenlisted for three years with concurrent assignment to that unit.

8.  The applicant apparently moved to Florida in January 1986 and requested reassignment back to the U. S. Army Reserve Control Group (Reinforcement).  

9.  On 15 January 1986, the U. S. Army Reserve Personnel Center (ARPERCEN) discharged the applicant from the Ready Reserve, apparently due expiration of her January 1985 one-year enlistment contract.  Apparently, her three-year enlistment contract of November 1985 never arrived at ARPERCEN or her new expiration term of service (ETS) date was never entered in any personnel data system.

10.  On 22 September 1987, ARPERCEN voided the erroneous discharge order.

11.  On 21 March 1988, the 90th U. S. Army Reserve Command published orders releasing the applicant from the 307th Psychological Operations Company and assigning her to the U. S. Army Reserve Control Group (Reinforcement).

12.  On 29 September 1988, the applicant enlisted in the Florida National Guard. She is currently on an Active Guard/Reserve (AGR) assignment.

13.  The applicant’s Retirement Points History Statement shows that she has attempted to serve out a military career in either the active or reserve component forces for almost every year since 1977.

14.  Army Regulation 140-10 covers policy and procedures for assigning, attaching, removing and transferring U. S. Army Reserve soldiers.  Paragraph   4-9 of that regulation states that a Troop Program Unit soldier may be voluntarily reassigned to an appropriate control group of the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) when the soldier has a change of address to an area beyond reasonable commuting distance of a U. S. Army Reserve training center.  Paragraph 5-1 states an IRR soldier may be enlisted in the Army National Guard without a conditional release.

15.  Sections 12731 through 12738 of Title 10, U.S. Code, authorize retired pay for Reserve component military service.  Under this law, a Reserve soldier must complete a minimum of 20 qualifying years of service to be eligible for retired pay at age 60.  The term “good years” is an unofficial term used to mean years in which 50 or more retirement points are earned during each year and which count as qualifying years of service for retirement benefits at age 60.

16.  On 30 September 1998, conversation between an analyst with this Board and one of the former unit clerks from the 307th Psychological Operations Company verified that the unit clerk mentioned by the applicant most likely did “sit” on her request for over two years.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  From the evidence provided by the applicant, by the applicant’s records and from independent verification, this Board believes that she made every effort, beginning in January 1986 when she left Missouri for Florida, to get her old unit to properly reassign her to the IRR so she could enlist in the Florida Army National Guard.  

2.  ARPERCEN first committed a government error when it erroneously discharged the applicant on 15 January 1986 and waited until 22 September 1987 to void that discharge.

3.  The government committed another error and injustice when the 307th Psychological Operations Company unit clerk “sat” on her request for reassignment to the IRR from January 1986 until March 1988, when those orders were finally published.

4.  This Board believes that if her Missouri unit had properly done its job at the time the applicant asked for reassignment orders, she would have enlisted in the Florida Army National Guard or found another reserve component assignment in January 1986 and so have been able to earn qualifying years during the time January 1986 to March 1988.

5.  The applicant is requesting that her record be corrected to give her credit for 2 years and 4 months additional service.  Her Retirement Points History Statement shows three periods of service, covering this contended time frame, that are not credited with retirement points because of an unverified status.  Because of the difficulty in breaking down the three periods of service into retirement credit for 2 years and 4 months, all doubt should be resolved in favor of the applicant.

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

RECOMMENDATION:

That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing the individual concerned is credited with 35 inactive duty training (IDT) points and 15 membership points for each of the periods 85/11/04 to 86/06/13, 86/06/14 to 87/06/13, and 87/06/14 to 88/03/20.

BOARD VOTE:  

________  ________  ________  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON