PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:            1 February 2001   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2000041772

	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. Luther L. Santiful		Chairperson	
	Ms. Barbara J. Lutz		Member	
	Mr. James E. Anderholm		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, in effect, that her records be corrected to reflect that she was separated by reason of physical disability and entitled to severance pay. She states that after she was released from active duty officials at the U.S. Army Physical Disability Agency reversed the findings of her Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) and found her unfit for continued military duty with a disability rating of 20 percent.

3.  Records available to the Board indicate the applicant enlisted and entered active duty on 1 March 1994 for a period of 6 years.  According to information contained in an 8 March 2000 letter to the applicant from the U.S. Army Physical Disability Agency, a 4 January 2000 PEB found the applicant unfit for further military duty but also found that her disability was neither incurred nor aggravated by her military service.

4.  The applicant was subsequently released from active duty on 29 February 2000 at the conclusion of her enlistment contract.

5.  The 8 March 2000 letter from the Disability Agency further noted that the 
4 January 2000 PEB findings were incorrect and that she should have been awarded a 20 percent disability rating and separated with severance pay.  Because the applicant had already been separated from active duty the letter recommended the applicant apply to this Board for relief.

6.  Title 10, USC, section 1203 states that the Secretary concerned may separate a member, with severance pay if he/she determines that the unfitting disability is based upon accepted medical principles, the disability is of a permanent nature and stable, the disability is not the result of the member’s intentional misconduct or willful neglect, and it was not incurred during a period of unauthorized absence, and either the member has less than 20 years of service or the disability is less than 30 percent under the standard schedule of rating disabilities used by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VASRD) at the time of the determination; and either the member has at least eight years of service, the disability is the proximate result of performing active duty; the disability was incurred in line of duty in time of war or national emergency; or the disability was incurred in line of duty after 14 September 1978.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The evidence confirms that the applicant should have been separated by reason of physical disability with entitlement to severance pay and a 20 percent disability rating.  It would be appropriate, and in the interest of justice, to correct her record accordingly.

2.  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:

a.  by showing that the action separating the individual concerned from active duty on 29 February 2000 is void and of no force or effect; and

b.  by showing that she was discharged from active duty on 29 February 2000 by reason of physical disability, with a 20 percent disabling in accordance with the VASRD under the provisions of Title 10, United States Code, section 1203, and entitled to severance pay.

BOARD VOTE:  

__lls___  ___bjl__  __jea___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000041772	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20010201	
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.	108.00	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.