PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:           2 September 1999                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999020087

	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:

	Ms. Margaret K. Patterson		Chairperson	
	Mr. Thomas N. Kuhn		Member	
	Mr. James M. Alward		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 DD Form 214 be corrected to add the Army Achievement Medal (AAM), the Presidential Unit Citation (PUC), the Bronze Star Medal with oak leaf cluster, the combat patch, and campaign citation for Cease-Fire, Kuwait.

3.  The applicant states these awards were omitted from his DD Form 214.  He earned them.  He has had four mental disorders diagnosed, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) the current one.  He provides a copy of his AAM orders, DA Form 2 and 2-1 (Personnel Qualification Record), the October 1991 cover sheet of 2/11th Armored Cavalry Regiment’s newsletter, extract from medical records showing he applied for PTSD status with the VA, and a letter to the editor of the Tallassee (Alabama) Tribune.

4.  The applicant’s military records show that he enlisted in the Regular Army on 9 October 1990.  He completed basic training and advanced individual training and was awarded military occupational specialty 13B (Field Artilleryman).  

5.  While assigned to the 2/11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Germany, the applicant was sent on temporary duty to Kuwait from 31 May – 1 September 1991.  He had been awarded the Southwest Asia Service Medal (SWASM) with one bronze service star.

6.  The applicant was reassigned to Fort Lewis, WA on 24 February 1993 where he was awarded the AAM on 3 August 1993.  He was discharged on 1 April 1994. 

7.  Army Regulation 670-1, effective 1 September 1992, prescribes the authority for wear of uniforms.  It also prescribes the awards, insignia and accouterments authorized for wear on the uniform.  In pertinent part, it prescribes that the shoulder sleeve insignia – former wartime service (“combat patch”) is authorized for service in the Persian Gulf from 17 January 1991 to a date to be determined for soldiers participating in Operation Desert Storm.  Soldiers must have been assigned, attached or operationally controlled to a unit whose mission was direct support to Operation Desert Storm, they must have received imminent danger pay and been under the command and control of U. S. Army Element, Central Command.

8.  Army Regulation 600-8-2 prescribes Army policy and criteria concerning individual military awards.  In pertinent part, it states that one bronze service star will be worn on the SWASM for participation in each designated campaign.  The regulation also states that a soldier may wear a unit award temporarily if he or she was not present with the unit during the period cited but was subsequently assigned to the unit.  The unit award may only be worn while the soldier is assigned to the cited unit.

9.  Phone conversation between a Board analyst and the Total U. S. Army Personnel Command indicates that the PUC has not been awarded since the end of the Vietnam War.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The Board concludes that the applicant was awarded the AAM and it should have been included on his DD Form 214.  He was also in Southwest Asia for the Southwest Asia Cease Fire campaign.  Listing the SWASM as SWASM with one bronze service star would therefore be more appropriate by showing he was credited with one campaign.

2.  The PUC has not been awarded to a unit since the Vietnam War.  The applicant may have been required to wear the PUC on a temporary basis if he was assigned to a unit that had previously been awarded the PUC.  

3.  There is no evidence of record to show the applicant was awarded either the Bronze Star Medal or the Bronze Star Medal 1st oak leaf cluster and he has not provided any such evidence.  He may be confusing the SWASM with one bronze service medal with the Bronze Star Medal 1st oak leaf cluster.

4.  It appears the applicant is entitled to wear the shoulder sleeve insignia – former wartime service (“combat patch”).  However, this is an item of uniform wear, not a decoration, medal or badge and so is not an authorized entry on the DD Form 214.  

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

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by adding the Army Achievement Medal to the applicant’s DD Form 214 and by changing “Southwest Asia Service Medal” to read “Southwest Asia Service Medal with one bronze service star.”

2.  That so much of the application as is in excess of the foregoing be denied.

BOARD VOTE:  

__mkp___  __tnk___  __jma___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

			Margaret K. Patterson
		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999020087	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	19990902	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(GRANT)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	107.0025	
2.	107.0031	
3.	107.014	
4.		
5.		
6.