MEMORANDUM OF CONSIDERATION

	IN THE CASE OF:      

	BOARD DATE:           19 May 1999                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AC98-05522
				   AR1999018400

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

	Mr. Loren G. Harrell		Director	
	Mr. Kenneth Aucock		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. John N. Slone		Chairperson	
	Mr. Robert G. Hinkle		Member	
	Mr. Roger W. Able		Member	

	The Board, established pursuant to authority contained in 10 U.S.C. 1552, convened at the call of the Chairperson on the above date.  In accordance with Army Regulation 15-185, the application and the available military records pertinent to the corrective action requested were reviewed to determine whether to authorize a formal hearing, recommend that the records be corrected without a formal hearing, or to deny the application without a formal hearing if it is determined that insufficient relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the existence of probable material error or injustice.

	The applicant requests correction of military records as stated in the application to the Board and as restated herein.

	The Board considered the following evidence:

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

APPLICANT REQUESTS:  In effect, that he be awarded constructive credit in order to have an additional four years time in service/grade for promotion to lieutenant colonel.  

APPLICANT STATES:  That the DOD pay manual (DODPM) states that medical officers were given four years of constructive credit for medical school prior to    15 September 1981, and that military medical officers may be credited with constructive credit if on or before 14 September 1981 the member had at any time been credited with constructive credit as an officer, not withstanding any subsequent break in service.  He states that he was initially commissioned as an infantry officer in March 1979, branch transferred to the Army Nurse Corps in December 1981, and his appointment letter, dated 31 December 1981, appointed him a second lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps with 3 months and 23 days of constructive service, going back to 10 September 1981.  He therefore had four years constructive credit prior to 14 September 1981 and should have been given four years constructive credit for medical school, making him eligible for promotion to lieutenant colonel four years ago. 

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

The applicant served as an enlisted man from March 1969 to March 1979. He was appointed a second lieutenant on 5 March 1979.  He was a Reserve commissioned officer in an inactive status from 1979 to 20 June 1986, served in an active status from 21 June 1986 to 30 June 1989, reverting to an inactive status on 1 July 1989.  The applicant was in medical school from 12 August 1982  to 8 June 1986. 

On 29 December 1981 the Army Reserve Components Personnel and Administration Center appointed the applicant a Reserve commissioned officer in the Army Nurse Corps in the grade of second lieutenant.  He was awarded         3 months and 23 days of constructive service credit as of 31 December 1981.  The appointment letter stated that he had been credited with those “years of service in an active status”, that it was not a valid for pay entry basic date, and was not the result of prior military service.   He accepted the appointment on       3 March 1982.

The applicant’s DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty) shows that he entered active duty on 21 June 1986 and was released from active duty on completion of his term of service on 30 June 1989.  His pay grade was Captain with a date of rank of 8 June 1986.  He was released to a Reserve unit at Hamilton Air Force Base in California.  

On 13 May 1993 the Total Army Personnel Command (PERSCOM) at St. Louis promoted the applicant to Major in the Medical Corps effective 7 June 1993. 

A 31 March 1995 Record of Award of Entry Grade Credit (Medical and Dental Officers), DA Form 5074-R, indicates that the applicant was awarded constructive service credit of 4 years for completion of medical school, 1 year for internship, 3 years of graduate professional education (GPE), 1½ years for professional experience; and awarded prior active commissioned service credit of 2 years, for 11½  year of total entry grade credit.

On 25 April 1995 the applicant was ordered to active duty for 4 years in the grade of Major with a reporting date (temporary duty station) of 5 July 1995 and a reporting date to Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii of 10 July 1995.  The order indicated that his date of rank was 7June 1993.
 
On 19 October 1998 an advisory opinion (COPY ATTACHED) was obtained from the office of the Surgeon General.  An official of that agency stated that the applicant had entered active duty in June 1986 to begin an Army first year graduate medical education (FYGME) training program, completing the program on 30 June 1987, and was released from active duty in 1989 after he fulfilled his active duty obligation.  He was then selected to participate in the Armed Forces Financial Assistance Program as a civilian resident in emergency medicine, and after completion of training on 30 June 1995, required to reenter active duty to fulfill a four year active duty service obligation incurred as a result of that training. That official did a numerical calculation showing that he had 11.5 years of entry grade credit; and stated that had this numerical calculation been used to determine his entry grade credit, rather than his current Reserve rank [and date of rank], he would have been brought on active duty as a Major with less time in grade.  She stated that it was to the applicant’s advantage to enter on active duty in his current rank with a date of rank of 7 June 1993.  She went on to say that an additional advance degree did not automatically result in the award of constructive service credit, and that additional advanced degrees must add adjunctive skills to the primary specialty and contribute directly to performance in an anticipated duty position.  Since a nursing degree is not a prerequisite for the Medical Corps nor for the specialty of emergency medicine, no further entry grade credit could be awarded.

On 4 February 1999 the applicant was informed that an official of the Health Services Division Promotion Section stated that if his date of rank as a major had been calculated as indicated in the office of the Surgeon General memorandum, his date of rank would be a date in January 1994.  The applicant was furnished this information and a copy of the advisory opinion from the office of the Surgeon General for information and possible rebuttal.  He has not responded.  

Army Regulation 135-101 prescribes the policy, procedures, and eligibility criteria for appointment in the Reserve components of the Army, with or without concurrent active duty, in the six branches of the Army Medical Department (AMEDD).  Paragraph 1-3 states in pertinent part that commissioned officers of any Reserve Component of the Army who have served satisfactorily in the specialty for which they are applying may be appointed and/or called to active duty in the grade currently held if serving the specialty for which applying or in the highest grade for which they can fully qualify by education and experience, gained after becoming professionally qualified.  This is indicated in Chapter 3.

Chapter 3 provides for grade and date of rank upon appointment.  Paragraph 3-1 states that grade and date of rank upon original appointment and assignment to an AMEDD branch will be determined by the number of years of entry grade credit awarded.  Entry grade credit granted will be the sum of constructive service credit and credit for prior active commissioned service.  Entry grade credit upon appointment or assignment will be recorded on DA Form 5074-R for medical and dental officers.  A period of time will be counted only once when computing entry grade credit.  Constructive service credit will be granted for periods of professional training and experience accrued after receipt of the basic qualifying degree (See tables 3-1, 3-3, 3-4, and 3-5).  Credit for prior active commissioned service will be computed as shown in table 3-2.  

Table 3-1 provides for constructive service credit and states that periods of time spent as a commissioned officer either in an active status or on active duty will not be counted.  That table shows that 4 years of constructive service credit is awarded for a basic qualifying degree, i.e., M.D., one year for successful completion of graduate military  education (GME), and one year for each year of successful completion of graduate professional education (GPE).  In addition, ½ 
year is awarded for each year of full-time experience, not otherwise credited, as a practicing physician.  That table indicates that credit for additional advanced degrees must add adjunctive skills to primary specialty and must contribute directly to performance in anticipated duty position.  Periods of time spent as a commissioned officer either in an active status or on active duty will not be counted.         

Table 3-2 provides for computation of prior active commissioned service credit and states that one year of credit is awarded for each year of extended active commissioned service in the specialty in which being appointed.

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

1.  The applicant’s document appointing him a Reserve commissioned officer in the Medical Corps in the grade of Captain is not available; however, the applicant’s DD Form 214 of 30 June 1989 relieving him from active duty at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, shows the effective date of his pay grade as 8 June 1986. That date and the information provided in his DA Form 5074-R, indicates that     8 June 1986 would logically be the date of his appointment. 

2.  He was promoted to the grade of Major on 7 June 1993.  Based on the entry level credit awarded as indicated on his DA Form 5074-R and as authorized in Army Regulation 135-101, his date of rank, had the numerical calculation been used (11.5 years of credit), would have been a date in January of 1994 (depending on what date he actually reported for active duty).

3.  He is not authorized constructive service credit for his service as an Army Nurse Corps officer nor any credit for a degree in nursing.  The applicant was given 4 years of constructive service credit for completion of medical school, allowing him to be appointed a Captain in 1986. 

4.  Nor is the applicant authorized any additional constructive service credit.      

5.	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

___jns__  ___rgh__  ___rwa__  DENY APPLICATION

						Loren G. Harrell
						Director

INDEX

CASE ID	AC98-05522/AR1999018400	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	19990519	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR .  .  .  .  .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(DENY)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.102.08		
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.