PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:       

	BOARD DATE:            6 March 2001
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2000046658

	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. Joseph A. Adriance		Analyst	

The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Stanley Kelley		Chairperson	
	Mr. Ernest W. Lutz		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 claim for benefits under the Ready Reserve Mobilization Income Insurance Program (RRMIIP) be reviewed and that he be paid at the $5,000.00 rate in which he originally enrolled. 

3.  The applicant states, in effect, that he originally enrolled in the RRMIIP at the $5,000.00 option level but was only granted the $1,000.00 option level.  He claims that this was unjust and that other members of his unit who were mobilized in support of the same Operation in the same general timeframe were granted the $5,000.00 option benefit, which he thinks is unfair.  

4.  The applicant’s military records show that in January 1997, while serving in the pay grade of E-4 (Specialist) in a United States Army Reserve (USAR) unit (Detachment A, Company B, 35th Signal Battalion), he received orders which ordered him to active duty, effective 26 January 1997, in support of Operation Joint Endeavor.  He served on active duty until being released and returned to his unit on 7 October 1997.

5.  The applicant completed his RRMIIP enrollment application, in which he  requested the $5,000.00 coverage option, at the Fort Benning, Georgia mobilization site on 26 January 1997.  

6.  The applicant’s unit commander provided a memorandum, dated 14 July 1998, in which he confirms that the first time the unit was aware of the opportunity for soldiers to enroll in the RRMIIP was in January 1997, when they were notified of the mobilization of the unit to participate in Operation Joint Endeavor.  He further attests to the fact that he first briefed  soldiers on 
11 January 1997 and again during their in-processing for the deployment on 
26 January 1997, which is the first opportunity soldiers wishing to participate had to complete the RRMIIP enrollment forms.  He also confirms that the failure of the soldiers in his unit to enroll in the RRMIIP prior to 31 December 1996 was not their fault because they had never been made aware of or briefed on the program during the initial enrollment period. 

7.  On 21 April 1998, the Army Reserve Personnel Command (ARPERSCOM) RRMIIP Project Manager (PM) returned the applicant’s packet without action because it had been submitted outside the initial enrollment period, which had been between 1 October and 31 December 1996.  

8.  The applicant submitted an appeal which was received at ARPERSCOM on 30 June 1998.  ARPERSCOM acted on this appeal by approving RRMIIP coverage at the $1,000.00 option level.  They based the reduced coverage level decision on the fact the soldier’s application was not signed prior to the date of his date of his mobilization, 26 January 1997.  

9.  In the processing of this application a staff advisory opinion was obtained from the ARPERSCOM RRMIIP Manager.  It was opined, in effect, that the applicant should be denied the increased benefit because under Department of Defense (DoD) guidance, in effect at the time, allowed soldiers until 2359 hours the day before the date they were mobilized to be briefed and enrolled in the program.  In this case the applicant was briefed on 11 January and mobilized on 26 January 1997, and his RRMIIP enrollment packet was not dated until 26 January 1997, the date of his mobilization.  Based on the policy in effect at the time the applicant was authorized the RRMIIP coverage at the reduced $1,000.00 level.

10.  In addition, according to the ARPERSCOM RRMIIP PM, twenty-four solders of the applicant’s unit, including him, were identified as being erroneously enrolled in the program because they signed their enrollment forms after they entered active duty on 26 January 1997.  One soldier who was granted the $5,000 option upon appeal, who the applicant refers to in his application, was mobilized five days after the others and signed his enrollment forms prior to being mobilized, which resulted in his being authorized the $5,000.00 RRMIIP option benefit.  

11.  The applicant submitted a rebuttal to the ARPERSCOM advisory opinion, 
in which he asserted, in effect, that the advisory opinion was based on false information.  He claims that none of the soldiers in his unit were briefed or had the opportunity to enroll in the program until they arrived at the mobilization station at Fort Benning, Georgia.  In addition, he indicates that all the unit members arrived at the mobilization station and were activated at the same time. He concludes that it is unfair and unjust that of the thirty-two members of the unit only seven received the total RRMIIP benefit while twenty-five did not.  

12.  The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996, dated 
10 February 1996, authorized the RRMIIP with an initial start date of 1 October 1996.  The RRMIIP was designed to provide income insurance for most Reserve Component members who were involuntarily ordered to active duty in support of military operations for over 30 days.  The initial enrollment period for active members of the Reserve Components (USAR and National Guard) was 
1 October 1996 through 31 December 1996.  Personnel who failed to enroll within 60 days after being briefed were considered to have declined.  Personnel who enlisted in a Troop Program Unit after the initial enrollment period were required to be briefed on the program within 60 days of arrival in the unit and had 60 days after being briefed to enroll or decline.

13.  The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998, effective 18 November 1997, terminated the RRMIIP coverage for those not ordered to involuntary active duty as of that date and prohibited new enrollments.  Consequently, the USAR and the Army National Guard extended the administrative appeal/errors process to offer Reserve Component soldiers who believed that they were wrongfully denied enrollment an opportunity to appeal.  All appeals had to be received in complete form as of 30 June 1998.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The Board agrees with the ARPERSCOM assertion that the applicant was awarded RRMIIP benefits at the $1,000 based on the DOD guidance they were operating under at the time; however, it does not consider this the determinate factor in this case.   

2.  The overriding issue in this case is whether or not the applicant was properly briefed on and given the opportunity to enroll in the RRMIIP during the initial enrollment period between 1 October and 31 December 1996, and based on the evidence or record the Board is convinced he was not.  

3.  The evidence shows that the applicant was initially briefed sometime in January 1997, no earlier than the 11th, and that he submitted his RRMIIP enrollment packet requesting the $5,000.00 benefit level on 26 January 1997. 

4.  The unit commander confirms that the applicant’s enrollment packet was submitted at the earliest opportunity and well within 60 days after the applicant received his RRMIIP briefing.  Further, the unit commander attests to the fact that the applicant’s failure to enroll in RRMIIP prior to 31 December 1996 was through no fault of his own because unit members had not been made aware of or briefed on the RRMIIP during the initial enrollment period. 

5.  Notwithstanding the opinion from the ARPERSCOM and the fact that the applicant did not sign his enrollment packet until the date of his mobilization, the Board accepts the applicant’s contention that it would be unjust to deny him the $5,000.00 RRMIIP benefit option.  

6.  Accordingly, it would be in the interest of justice to enroll the applicant in the RRMIIP under the $5,000 option, effective 25 January 1997, the day prior to his being mobilized and a day prior to his signing his initial enrollment packet, as an exception to policy.  

7.  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 showing that the individual concerned was enrolled in the RRMIIP effective 25 January 1997, under the $5,000 option, as an exception to policy.

2.  That the individual concerned be afforded the opportunity to submit a 
DFAS-CL Form 1241/3 (RRMIIP Claim for Mobilization Insurance Benefits) and supporting documents for retroactive payment of the difference between the $1,000.00 and $5,000.00 RRMIIP benefit options, for the period 26 January 1997 to 7 October 1997, minus the difference and any premiums he would have paid had he been properly enrolled on 25 January 1997.

BOARD VOTE:  

___sk___  ___ewl __  __hbo___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		_____Stanley Kelley______
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2000046658	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	2001/03/06	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	N/A	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	N/A	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	N/A	
DISCHARGE REASON	N/A	
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.  13	101.0000	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.