PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:       

	BOARD DATE:           6 March 2001                 
	DOCKET NUMBER:  AR2000044191

	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. Edmund P. Mercanti.		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Stanley Kelley		Chairperson	
	Mr. Ernest W. Lutz, Jr.		Member	
	Mr. Harry B. Oberg		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 student loans be paid in accordance with the Student Loan Repayment Program (SLRP) addendum to his reenlistment contract.

3.  The applicant states, in effect, that he has completed his part of the agreement by fulfilling his enlistment and has now reenlisted.  He would like the Army to fulfill its portion of that contract.

4.  The applicant’s military records could not be located.  The following information was derived from documents provided by the applicant himself and in a telephone conversation with the applicant’s unit.

5.  The applicant enlisted in pay grade E-4 as prior service in the USAR on 24 April 1992.  In conjunction with that enlistment he completed an SLRP addendum.

6.  On 31 December 1996 the applicant enlisted in the USAR for assignment to the USAR Control Group (Reinforcement).  He remained assigned to the USAR Control Group until his assignment to a USAR Troop Program Unit on 14 February 1997.

7.  On 2 July 1998 the applicant’s supporting finance and accounting office informed his command that the applicant was not eligible to have his loans paid under the SLRP because his military occupational specialty (MOS) was not on the list of those skills approved for that incentive.

8.  Army Regulation 135-7 provides guidance on the SLRP.  The SLRP is an educational program administered by the Department of the Army for reservists who enlist, reenlist or extend their enlistments in the Selected Reserve (USAR unit or individual mobilization augmentee) for 3 or more years.  The SLRP pays 15 percent of the original balance of the loan plus accrued interest not paid by the Department of Education, or $500.00 plus the accrued interest not paid by the Department of Education, whichever is greater, for each year of satisfactory service in the Selected Reserve.  Payments are made on the anniversary date of the soldier’s reenlistment or extension in the Selected Reserve that qualified him or her for the SLRP, and the payment will not be made unless the soldier satisfactorily performed in his or her Selected Reserve assignment during that year.  Benefits are terminated if the soldier is separated from the Selected Reserve.  In addition, SLRP payments may only be made to lending institutions that made the student loans.  The Army will not pay off defaulted student loans or reimburse a soldier or an alternate lending institution for student loans that have been paid in full.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  It is apparent that the applicant was offered an enlistment incentive he was not eligible to receive.

2.  It is the opinion of the Board that it is inequitable to secure the enlistment of a soldier with an incentive that the Army is incapable of providing.  While the error was surely based on misinformation, the fact remains it occurred and requires the authority of the Board to correct.

3.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, the applicant was transferred to the USAR Control Group (Reinforcement) on 31 December 1996.  Since the USAR Control Group (Reinforcement) is not part of the Selected Reserve, the applicant’s SLRP benefits would have terminated on 31 December 1996.  This means that if the Board corrects the applicant’s records to show that his MOS was eligible for the SLRP when he enlisted on 24 February 1992, he would only be eligible for anniversary payments that would have become due on 24 February 1993, 1994, and 1995

4.  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:

	a.  showing that the MOS of the individual concerned was eligible for the $10,000.00 SLRP when he enlisted on 24 April 1992, as an exception to policy; and

	b.  paying to his lending institutions the three anniversary payments he will become entitled to as a result of this correction, calculating the amount of payment based on the loans which existed at the time the anniversary payments became due.

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

BOARD VOTE:  

__sk____  ___ewl __  ____hob_  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		_________Stanley Kelley_____
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000044191	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20010306	
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.	128.05	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.