PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:   

	BOARD DATE:        21 January 1999                      
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999015144

	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	
	Ms. Deborah L. Brantley		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. Karen J. Newsome		Chairperson	
	Mr. Fred N. Eichorn		Member	
	Mr. John P. Infante		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 that his military records be corrected to reflect award of the Combat Medical Badge and a Bronze Star Medal.  He states that his records currently reflect that he was awarded a Combat Infantryman Badge although he was a medical assistant.

3.  Records available to the Board indicate the applicant served an initial period of active duty between 1963 and 1965.  He reenlisted and returned to active duty on 28 October 1966.  Following successful completion of basic and advanced individual training he was initially assigned to Fort Campbell, Kentucky and then reassigned to Vietnam as a medical specialist in December 1967.

4.  On 22 May 1968 he was awarded the Combat Medical Badge.  Orders published by the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam confirmed the award.

5.   The applicant returned to the United States in October 1968 and on 
18 October 1968 he was released from active duty.  His DD Form 214 reflects entitlement to the Combat Infantryman Badge but not the Combat Medical Badge.  The separation document does not indicate he was ever awarded a Bronze Star Medal.

6.  The Bronze Star Medal is an individual decoration.  Like all individual decorations a recommendation, approval through the chain of command and announcement in orders are required.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The evidence confirms the applicant, as a medical specialist, was awarded the Combat Medical Badge and not the Combat Infantryman Badge.  It appears that a typographical error was made when his separation document was prepared.

2.  There is no evidence, and the applicant has not provided any, which confirms he was ever recommended for, or awarded, a Bronze Star Medal.

3.  In view of the foregoing, the applicant’s records should be corrected as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing that the individual concerned was awarded the Combat Medical Badge vice the Combat Infantryman Badge.
2.  That so much of the application as is in excess of the foregoing be denied 

BOARD VOTE:  

_kjn_____  __fne___  __jpi___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON