PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF: 

	BOARD DATE:            13 March 2001
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2000046625

	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. Robert J. McGowan		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. June Hajjar 		Chairperson	
	Mr. Donald P. Hupman		Member	
	Mr. John T. Meixell 		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 granted 4 years’ constructive service credit for longevity pay purposes for his attendance at the USUHS (Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences), Class of 1987, from August 1983 to May 1987.

3.  The applicant states, in effect, that all of his USUHS classmates who were also members of the United States Military Academy (USMA), Class of 1983, were granted constructive service credit based upon their receipt of erroneous information during a briefing at the USMA.  In that briefing, USMA officials told the cadets that they would receive constructive service credit for longevity pay purposes for their 4 years of medical school.  The Board, citing the fact that the USMA cadets made irrevocable career decisions based upon the misinformation, voted to grant relief.  The applicant contends that he, too, was misinformed and made similar career choices based upon the same misinformation.

4.  In support of his application, the applicant submits:  a copy of a 29 September 1998 letter from the USUHS General Counsel to the Office of The Secretary of Defense admitting that the university may have misinformed students of the Class of 1987 concerning the issue of constructive service credit; a copy of a 26 December 1985 letter from the Dean of the Medical School to the Air Force Corrections Board admitting that the USUHS School of Medicine Bulletin for 1983-1984, which was written in December 1982, did not include revisions concerning constructive service credit which were mandated by the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act (DOPMA), and that certain briefing officials did not clarify the issue for prospective students; a copy of a 5 December 1986 letter from the Dean of the Medical School to the Board for Correction of Naval Records reiterating his belief that applicants from the Class of 1987 who either were not informed, or misinformed, about constructive service credit be given constructive service credit for attendance at USUHS; a copy of an 18 April 1985 letter from the Director of Admissions/Registrar of the Medical School admitting that segments of the Class of 1987 which he did not personally brief could have been misled on the issue of constructive service credit; and a copy of the pertinent pages of the Bulletin of The School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences  1983-1984 which states, “Longevity credit for pay purposes accrues for students for time spent in school . . ."

5.  The applicant’s military records show that he is a lieutenant colonel serving on active duty in the Army Medical Corps.  He was a member of the USUHS Class of 1987, graduating with a Doctor of Medicine degree in May 1987.

6.  On 9 December 1982, the applicant, as a prospective student, attended a briefing at the USUHS.  The briefing was given by an Assistant to the Registrar, not by the Dean of Admissions/Registrar.  This fact is borne out by attendance rosters for the briefing.  The Assistant to the Registrar did not address the issue of constructive service credit or the fact that DOPMA had rescinded it.  However, each prospective student was given a copy of the Bulletin of The School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences  1983-1984 which affirmed that students would receive 4 years’ constructive service credit for longevity pay purposes for their successful completion of medical school at the USUHS.

7.  After foregoing all other opportunities to attend civilian medical schools (under various scholarship programs) and enrolling in the USUHS, the applicant and his classmates were informed that constructive service credit would not accrue for time spent in school.  Students appealed to their respective service’s Boards for Correction of Military Records.  This Board granted relief to all USUHS students who graduated from the USMA, Class of 1983, based upon a briefing presented at the USMA in which prospective students were told that constructive service credit would accrue for attendance at the USUHS.  The Board reasoned that the cadets were misinformed concerning the issue of constructive service credit; that each cadet then made a career decision (to resign a Regular Army commission and accept a US Army Reserve commission) based upon erroneous information; and that it would be unjust to withhold constructive service credit after the cadets had been told they would receive it.  Similarly, the Board has granted relief to several USUHS Class of 1987 graduates who were not members of the USMA Class of 1983, but were able to prove that they, too, had received misinformation concerning constructive service credit.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant has submitted evidence that he was briefed at the USUHS by an Assistant to the Registrar on 9 December 1982.  In a letter dated 18 April 1985, the Dean of Admissions/Registrar admitted that he did not personally brief every prospective student and that those staff who conducted briefings on his behalf provided “. . . inaccurate or incomplete information . . . concerning the effects upon entitlements (pay purposes at the time of graduation and retirement) due to the DOPMA legislation.”

2.  The briefing for prospective USUHS students which the applicant attended did not address the issue of constructive service credit; however, the applicant was provided a copy of the official Bulletin of the Medical School which emphatically stated that students accrued constructive service credit for attendance at the USUHS.

3.  The applicant was misinformed about the issue of constructive service credit and used that misinformation to make a career decision about which medical school program to accept.  Only after he had made his irrevocable decision to attend the USUHS, did he discover that he would not receive constructive service credit.

4.  All of the applicant’s USUHS classmates who graduated from the USMA in 1983, and several who were not USMA graduates, have been granted relief by this Board based upon their receipt of similar misinformation.  It would, therefore, be unjust and inequitable to deny the applicant the same level of relief.

5.  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 to show:

	a.  That the individual concerned was enrolled in the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences on 14 September 1981; and

	b.  That he was awarded constructive service credit for longevity pay purposes only while attending the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences at Bethesda, Maryland, from 15 August 1983 to 16 May 1987.

BOARD VOTE:  

__jh____  ___dph__  __jtm____  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		    __June Hajjar______
		          CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000046625	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20010313	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY	DASA	
ISSUES         1.	102.0800	
2.	128.0000	
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.