PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:        

	BOARD DATE:              31 August 2000                 
	DOCKET NUMBER:      AR2000039411

	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. W. E. Schnupp		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Samuel A. Crumpler		Chairperson	
	Ms. Barbara J. Ellis		Member	
	Mr. Joe R. Schroeder		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 student loans be paid in accordance with the terms of his Student Loan Repayment Program (SLRP) addendum.

3.  The applicant states that he was induced to enlist with the SLRP and, since he has complied with the terms of his contract, so should the Army.

4.  The applicant’s military records show that he enlisted in the Army Reserve with no prior service on 2 September 1994.  In conjunction with that enlistment he completed addenda for both the $10,000.00 SLRP and the cash bonus.

5.  In a Congressional inquiry dated 15 March 2000 the applicant’s member of Congress stated that the applicant could not get his $2,500.00 student loan paid in accordance with his SLRP addendum because he did not have the proper military occupational specialty (MOS).

6.  Army Regulation 135-7, Incentive Programs, chapter 5.1, Student Loan Repayment Program, restricts the SLRP to those reservists who either enlist or reenlist for a skill or unit approved by the Department and disseminated to the field by a list of MOS’s and units which is updated every 6 months.  This educational incentive may only be elected at the time of enlistment or reenlistment.  This incentive pays a limited sum of money to a lending institution on the anniversary date of an enlistment or reenlistment.  These payments continue on a yearly basis unless the soldier loses eligibility by being separated from his or her unit.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  It is evident that the applicant was promised the SLRP at the time of his enlistment, and that incentive was a major factor in his decision to enlist.

2.  While errors do occur when the list of MOS’s and units which qualify for the SLRP change every 6 months, it would be an injustice not to give the applicant an enlistment incentive which he reasonably believed would be fulfilled.

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

RECOMMENDATION:

That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing that the MOS of the individual concerned, as an exception to policy 

and in this case only, was approved for the $10,000.00 SLRP on the date he enlisted.

BOARD VOTE:  

__sac___  __bje ___  __jrs____  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		________Samuel A. Crumpler_____
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000039411	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20000831	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR . . . . .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT 	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	108.05	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.