PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:           12 September 2000                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2000041857

	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	
	Mrs. Nancy Amos		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Calvin M. Fowler		Chairperson	
	Mr. Fred Eichorn		Member	
	Ms. Carol Jo Suiter		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 his records be reviewed by a Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) (Fitness Ruling Only).  If the board rules in his favor, he requests that the orders transferring him to the Retired Reserve be revoked and he be reinstated in the U. S. Army Reserve (USAR) Control Group Individual Mobilization Augmentee (IMA).

3.  The applicant states that he sent his request for a PEB (Fitness Ruling Only) to the Army Reserve Personnel Command (AR-PERSCOM) on 15 October 1998. He was informed that he was pending a board.  He never received a copy of the PEB findings.  On 5 April 1999, he was transferred to the Retired Reserve due to being medically disqualified.  Supporting evidence is as listed on the DD Form 149.

4.  The applicant’s military records are not available.  The information contained herein was provided by documents provided by the applicant.  

5.  After having had prior enlisted service in the Regular Army and the USAR, the applicant was commissioned in the USAR in 1978.  His notification of eligibility for retired pay (his 20-year letter) is not available but a Chronological Statement of Retirement Points, ARPC Form 249-2-E, shows that he had 27 years of qualifying service as of May 1998.

6.  Apparently, in 1998 a medical evaluation board was initiated on the applicant for a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and he was found not to meet the retention standards of Army Regulation 40-501.  At the time he was a lieutenant colonel in the Adjutant General’s Corps assigned to an IMA position as the Senior Proponency Officer at the U. S. Army Soldier Support Institute, Fort Jackson, SC.

7.  An unsigned memorandum from the Command Surgeon, AR-PERSCOM to the Officer Personnel Management Directorate dated 30 September 1998 reported that the applicant was pending a PEB (Fitness Ruling Only).  On         15 October 1998, the applicant requested a PEB (Fitness Ruling Only) and provided documents as evidence of his ability to adequately perform his military duty.  (The applicant may have initiated his request for a PEB on a date earlier that 15 October 1998.)  He emphasized that his latest Officer Evaluation Report had shown that his profile gave him no problems at all.

8.  Orders C-04-911039 dated 5 April 1999, U. S. Army Reserve Personnel Command (AR-PERSCOM) transferred the applicant to the Retired Reserve effective 5 April 1999 due to being medically disqualified.  The applicant requested a copy of the PEB (Fitness Ruling Only) on 9 April, 29 April, 12 May and 25 May 1999 but apparently never received a response.

9.  In August 1998, the Office of the Chief, Army Reserve (OCAR) established a process to refer soldiers of the Reserve Component who are pending separation for medical disqualification into the Disability Evaluation System.  The process was designed to give the soldier with a non-duty related impairment the option of requesting a PEB solely for the purpose of fitness determination but not a determination of eligibility for disability benefits.  OCAR noted that it is Department of Defense policy that Reserve Component members pending separation for medical disqualification are entitled to a fitness determination by each Service’s PEB when requested by the soldier.  

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The Board concludes that the applicant was entitled to request a PEB (Fitness Ruling Only) and that he did so within the proper time frame.  The PEB findings cannot be located and it appears that the PEB may not have been held.

2.  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 conducting a PEB (Fitness Ruling Only) on the applicant and affording him all rights normally appropriate under each phase of the disability evaluation.

2.  That if the PEB (Fitness Ruling Only) determines that the applicant is fit for duty, Orders C-04-911039 dated 5 April 1999, AR-PERSCOM be revoked.  The applicant will then be reinstated in the IMA position he held prior to his transfer to the Retired Reserve if that position is available for fill.  If that position is not available, he will be offered a new IMA position that would be mutually agreeable to the applicant and AR-PERSCOM.  

3.  That if after all phases of the PEB (Fitness Ruling Only) are completed and the applicant is determined to be not fit for duty, Orders C-04-911039 will stand and the applicant will remain in the Retired Reserve.

BOARD VOTE:  

__cmf___  __fe____  __cjs___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

			Calvin M. Fowler
		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000041857	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20000912	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(GRANT)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	108.00	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.