PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF: 

	BOARD DATE:            18 January 2001   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2000041318

	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	
	Ms. Deborah L. Brantley		Senior Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. John N. Slone		Chairperson	
	Mr. John t. Meixell		Member	
	Mr. Melvin H. Meyer		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 correction of his military records to show his retired pay computed on the grade of W-4 instead of O-3.  He states that he recently read an article that “seems to indicate that [he] may be missing out on retired pay.”  He notes that while pay grade O-3 was the highest grade he held, he served nearly as long as Warrant Officer and had every expectation of being retired as a Chief Warrant Officer Four (CW4).  

3.  Records available to the Board indicate the applicant served in the Army Air Corps, Air Corps Reserve and Air Force Reserve as a commissioned officer until 1951 when he transferred to the Pennsylvania Army National Guard where he was promoted to the grade of captain in April 1958.  In March 1966 he accepted an appointment as a Warrant Officer and in June 1978 was promoted to the grade of CW4.

4.  On 31 March 1985 he was discharged from the Army National Guard and transferred to the Retired Reserve in pay grade CW4 having reached the age of 60.  His 10 April 1985 application for retired pay under Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1331-1337 and section 1401, however, was computed for pay grade O-3, the highest grade he attained during his military service.

5.  Title 10, United States Code, provides that a person entitled to retire, under section 1331 of that title, shall have his retired pay computed on the monthly basic pay of the highest grade satisfactorily held at any time.  However, under section 1401 of the same statute, if entitled to retired pay computed under more than one pay formula or under any other provision of law, he is entitled to be paid under the applicable formula that is most favorable to him.

6.  The retired pay of an W-4 is higher than that of an O-3 with the same amount of service.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  In providing that an individual be retired in the highest grade satisfactorily held, Congress clearly intended to provide for the highest amount of retired pay.

2.  In providing that he should receive retired pay based on the pay grade most favorable to him, it is not intended that he must forfeit those other rights and privileges vested in or enjoyed by commissioned or warrant officers.

3.  The determination that the highest grade satisfactorily held by the applicant was unjust in that it has deprived him, and will continue to deprive him, of the increased pay which he would have received if he had been retired in pay grade  W-4.
RECOMMENDATION:

That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing that notwithstanding his calculation of retired pay in the grade of O-3, as provided by title 10, United States Code, sections 1331-1337, the retired pay of the individual concerned will be calculated on pay grade W-4, a grade in which he also satisfactorily served, and the formula most favorable to him, as provided by title 10, United States Code, section 1401.

BOARD VOTE:  

__jns___  ___jtm__  ___mhm__  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AC2000041318	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20010118	
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.	129.00	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.