PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:      

	BOARD DATE:           16 August 2001                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2001056230

	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. W. E. Schnupp		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. June Hajjar		Chairperson	
	Mr. Thomas F. Baxter		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 awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB).

3.  The applicant states, in effect, that he did not know he was eligible for the CIB.

4.  The applicant’s military record shows that he was appointed a commissioned officer after nine months of enlisted service and upon completion of Artillery Officer Candidate School on 12 September 1967.  He served two tours of duty in Vietnam, the first with the 27th Field Artillery, I Field Force Vietnam Artillery from 14 November 1968 to 13 November 1969, and the second tour as a Regional Force/Popular Force Advisor from 10 March 1971 to 4 May 1971.  He was permanently retired by reason of physical disability on 21 February 1973 in the grade of captain with 6 years, 3 months and 6 days service.

5.  His awards include the National Defense Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with 1st Oak Leaf Cluster (OLC), the Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal with 1960 device, the Bronze Star Medal with 2nd OLC and “V” device, the Silver Star, the Purple Heart with 1st OLC, the Air Medal, the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star and the Expert Badge with Rifle Bar.

6.  His record contains orders showing that on 12 March 1971 the applicant was assigned to the US Military Assistance Command Vietnam, Advisory Team 17, as Senior Advisor in an infantry duty position (military occupational specialty (MOS) G1542).  (On 19 April 1971 he stepped on a mine, was listed as wounded in action and was medically evacuated from Vietnam.  He eventually retired for physical disabilities resulting from this and other injuries sustained in his previous tour of duty in Vietnam.)

7.  Army Regulation (AR) 600-8-22, Military Awards, provides, in pertinent part, that to be eligible for the CIB, an individual must be an infantryman with an infantry MOS and must perform primary duty as an infantryman, as a member of an infantry unit of brigade or smaller size, during any period in which that unit was engaged in ground combat.  However, special provisions for service in the Republic of Vietnam provide that any officer, warrant officer or enlisted man whose branch is other than infantry, who under appropriate orders was assigned to advise a unit listed below will be eligible for award of the CIB provided all other requirements have been met.  Subsequent to 1 March 1961, a soldier must have been - 

	a.  Assigned as an advisor to an infantry unit or infantry type unit of the civil guard and/or infantry-type unit of the self-defense corps of regimental or smaller size of the Vietnamese government during any period such unit was engaged in actual combat.

b.  Assigned as an advisor of an irregular force comparable to the above infantry units under similar conditions.

	c.  Personally present and under fire while serving in an assigned primary duty as a member of a tactical advisory team while the unit participated in ground combat.

8.  United States Army Vietnam Regulation 672-1, Military Awards, Appendix V, then in effect, provided in pertinent part, that the following are considered infantry positions for which the CIB is normally authorized: Province and District Senior Advisors, Subsector Advisors, Regimental and Battalion Advisors, RF/PF Advisors, Mobile Advisory Team Advisors and Village/Hamlet Security Advisors.

9.  AR 611-101, Commissioned Officer Specialty Classification System, then in effect, shows that MOS 1542 was the title for an Infantry Unit Commander.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The evidence of record shows that the applicant although an artilleryman by branch was assigned to the duty position of an infantry senior advisor to a Vietnamese civil guard unit at the time he was wounded in action.  It appears therefore, he has met all of the special provisions of the regulation for award of the CIB to other than infantry officers who were assigned to Vietnam advisory team positions, i.e. he was assigned to an infantry duty position in an infantryman’s MOS (1542) and was performing duty as an infantryman as a member of an infantry unit of regiment or smaller size during a period in which that unit was engaged in ground combat.

2.  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 

by showing that the individual concerned was awarded the CIB for duty in Vietnam in March 1971.

BOARD VOTE:  

___tfb_ _  ____jtm _  ____jh___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		_________June Hajjar__________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2001056230	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20010816	
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.  107.00		
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.