PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF: 

	BOARD DATE:           13 June 2000
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999025704

	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. Carl W. S. Chun		Director	
	Mr. David H. Keller		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. Elizabeth Buchanon 		Chairperson	
	Mr. John H. Kern		Member	
	Ms. Barbara J. Ellis 		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.  In two separate applications, the applicant requests that his DD Form 214, Report of Transfer or Discharge, be corrected to add that he was a member of the Special Forces and that he served in Vietnam, and that he be awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB).

3.  The applicant states that for years, the U.S. military has declined to include him in the ranks of a Vietnam veteran with the U.S. Special Forces, 1st Special Forces Group.  He claims that he served his country as a soldier in clandestine operations with the Central Intelligence Agency.  For this, his reward was to have any material evidence of his existence or service hidden, lost or never revealed.  After declassifying some records, the military now admits it.  He also believes that all soldiers who are assigned to combat units have their military occupational specialty (MOS) returned to 11B (Infantryman) and thus believes he should be awarded the CIB.  

4.  In support of his request, the applicant submits a letter from the U.S. Armed Services Center for Research of Unit Records stating that the 1st Special Forces was the applicant’s assigned unit in Vietnam.  He also submits a Certificate of Clearance and/or Security Determination (DA Form 873) showing a security clearance of “secret,” and a Certificate of Achievement from the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, for meritorious service from December 1968 to July 1969.

5.  The applicant’s military records show that he enlisted on 17 November 1966 and, after training as a parachute rigger (MOS 43E), was assigned to Germany.  After serving 7 months in Germany, he was reassigned to Fort Rucker, Alabama, in May 1968 for compassionate reasons.  In October 1968, he was promoted to specialist four (E-4).

6.  The applicant continued to serve at Fort Rucker until March 1969, when he was reassigned to Okinawa.  His specific unit of assignment was to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, as a parachute packer. Two months later, in May 1969, he was returned to the United States for a hardship discharge.  A review of the applicant’s official military personnel file (OMPF), to include his DA Form 20 (Enlisted Qualification Record), reveals no service in Vietnam.  

7.  The applicant was discharged on 24 June 1969 at Fort Rucker, Alabama, for personal hardship reasons under the provisions of Army Regulation 635-200.  His DD Form 214 shows his rank as specialist four, his last duty assignment as Casual Company, Fort Rucker, Alabama, and that he served 10 months and 
1 day of foreign service, with the last oversea theater shown as USARPAC (US Army, Pacific).  There is no indication that the applicant had service in Vietnam.

8.  Army Regulation 635-5, Separation Documents, then in effect, establishes standardized procedures for the preparation and distribution of separation documents, including the DD Form 214.  Instructions for item 12 (last duty assignment and major command) specify that for personnel reassigned on orders to a transfer activity or holding detachment, the losing unit of assignment as shown in the orders reassigning the individual to the transfer activity/holding detachment will be entered.

9.  The regulation also specifies that entries for item 22c (foreign and/or sea service) will reflect total active duty outside continental limits of the United States for the period covered by the DD Form 214 and the last overseas theater in which service was performed.

10.  Army Regulation 600-8-22 prescribes Army policy and procedures concerning awards.  Paragraph 8-6 provides that there are basically three requirements for the award of the CIB.  The soldier must be an infantryman satisfactorily performing infantry duties, he must be assigned to an infantry unit during such time as the unit is engaged in active ground combat, and he must actively participate in such ground combat.  Specific requirements state, in effect, that an Army enlisted soldier must have an infantry specialty, satisfactorily performed duty while assigned or attached as a member of an infantry or ranger unit of brigade, regimental, or smaller size during any period such unit was engaged in active ground combat.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant’s unit of assignment prior to his reassignment to the United States for hardship discharge was Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, and should have been entered in item 12 of his DD Form 214.

2.  The applicant served overseas in Germany from September 1967 to May 1968.  He also served on Okinawa with the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, from 3 March 1969 to 17 May 1969.  There is no evidence of record, nor has the applicant provided any, that he served in or performed duty in Vietnam during this period.

3.  The letter from US Armed Services Center for Research of Unit Records alludes to the 1st Special Forces as the applicant’s assigned unit in Vietnam; however, it also makes reference to an operational report submitted by the 
5th Special Forces Group, a unit located in Vietnam, to which the applicant was never assigned.  The letter is not substantiated by the evidence of record.

4.  The Certificate of Achievement submitted by the applicant lacks credibility in that it addresses him as sergeant, a rank which he never attained, and covers a time period, December 1968 to July 1969, which is incompatible with his service. In December 1968 the applicant was stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and in July 1969, he was no longer serving on active duty.  The Board also questions the different type fonts (typing characters) which appears on the form.

5.  The applicant was not an infantryman and never participated in active ground combat, and is therefore not entitled to the Combat Infantryman Badge.

6.  The Security Clearance Determination, in and of itself, does not support the applicant’s claim that he served in Vietnam.

7.  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 changing the applicant’s DD Form 214, item 12, for the period 
19 October 1967 to 24 June 1969 to show last duty assignment and major command as “HHC, 1st SFG (Abn), 1st SF” and “USARPAC.”

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

BOARD VOTE:  

__eb ___   __jhk___   __bje___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		__Elizabeth Buchanon__
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX
		
CASE ID	AR1999025704	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20000613	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT PARTIAL	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	107.00	
2.	110.00	
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.