PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:      

	BOARD DATE:           6 March 2001                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2000045159

	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 that he be paid his enlistment bonus.

3.  The applicant states, in effect, that he had enlisted based on the promise of receiving a cash bonus.  He has now discovered that an error was made, that although his Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) had been approved as a bonus skill by the Assistant Secretary of the Army (ASA), his MOS had inadvertently been left off the list of the skills approved for a bonus. 

4.  In support of his application he submits a copy of an e-mail response from Department of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel (DA DCSPER) to the Recruiting Command Inspector General (USAREC IG).  The DA DCSPER stated that the applicant’s MOS “. . . was not on the list approved by the Assistant Secretary of the Army . . . the USAR overtly forgot to include the skill on the list request that was approved by the ASA.”  The applicant also submits a copy of an endorsement from the DA DCSPER through the Chief, Army Reserve to the Army Reserve Command.  In that endorsement the DA DCSPER stated that “At the time of the soldier’s enlistment, MOS 57E was not authorized an incentive neither was the unit of [the applicant’s] assignment.”

5.  The applicant’s military records show that he enlisted in the USAR for 8 years in pay grade E-1 on 22 February 1999.  In conjunction with his enlistment he executed a bonus addendum for $3,000.00 based on his enlisting for both a critical skill (Laundry and Bath Specialist) and a critical unit.

6.  Army Regulation 135-7, paragraph 2-3, authorizes a cash bonus for non-prior service Reservists who enlist in either a critical MOS or a critical unit, as designated by the Department of the Army. 

7.  Army Regulation 135-178 sets forth the basic authority for the separation of reserve enlisted personnel.  Chapter 9 provides for individuals who were promised a benefit in conjunction with their enlistment or reenlistment which the Army cannot honor.  These individuals have the option of either requesting immediate discharge or waiving the benefit and remaining in the USAR.

8.  On 1 December 1999, the DA DCSPER informed the Board that the USAR, in error, had left the critical skill 57E off the critical shortage list the ASA approved twice a year.  Although the MOS was not on the list, it was still on the computer and bonus control numbers were provided for this specialty.  The time line in question is from 1 November 1998 to 31 May 1999.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The error in this case is the omission of a critical shortage skill from the list of those skills approved for cash bonuses.  All of the automated recruiting and retention systems had been inputted with the proper information.  However, without the MOS appearing on the list approved by the ASA for a bonus, finance couldn’t and can’t pay any soldier who enlisted for MOS 57E between 1 November 1988 and 31 May 1999 a bonus.

2.  While Army regulations provide the option of discharge to soldiers who are offered an enlistment option the Army can’t provide, in this case the applicant enlisted for a critical skill which was intended to be bonus eligible.  It does not appear fair or equitable to require the applicant to go through the process of being discharged and reenlisting to obtain the bonus which the Army had originally intended to be given to soldiers who enlisted for MOS 57E.

3.  In view of the foregoing and as an exception to policy, 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 paying to the individual concerned, as an exception to policy, the reenlistment bonus that would have been due him had MOS 57E been included on the November 1998 – March 1999 critical shortage list. 

BOARD VOTE:  

___sk___  ____ewl _  ____hbo_  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		__________Stanley Kelley________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR	
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.		
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.