PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:      

	BOARD DATE:           17 JANUARY 2002
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2001058655

	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	
	Ms. Gale J. Thomas		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Ms. Jennifer L. Prater		Chairperson	
	Mr.  Christopher J. Prosser		Member	
	Mr. Kenneth W. Lapin		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 his records be corrected by adjusting his date of rank and effective date for promotion to major from 27 August 1997 to 
15 December 1996.

3.  The applicant states that he should have been considered for promotion far enough in advance of completing the time in grade requirement for promotion to major (7 years), so that upon his recommendation for promotion, he would have been promoted on his eligibility date of 15 December 1996.  He also states that he was assigned to a major's position in August 1996 and was otherwise eligible for promotion on 15 December 1996.  

4.  The applicant’s military records show that he is a Reserve officer who was promoted to captain on 15 December 1989.  As such, the applicant's actual promotion eligibility date for major was 14 December 1996, 7 years after his 
15 December 1989 promotion to captain, and not 15 December 1996 as he indicates in his request.

5.  The applicant was considered and selected for promotion to major by the
1997 Reserve Components Selection Board that recessed on 11 April 1997.  On 2 October 1997 the U.S. Total Army Personnel Command notified the applicant that he was promoted to major effective 27 August 1997, the date the President approved the promotion board.  The processing of the board results was administratively delayed.

6.  Title 10, Section 14308(a), states:  "Promotion list.  When the report of a selection board convened…is approved by the President, the Secretary of the military department concerned shall place the names of all officers selected for promotion within a competitive category on a single list for that competitive category, to be known as a promotion list…"  

7.  The Reserve Officer Personnel Management Act (ROPMA), a public law enacted by Congress on 5 October 1994, prescribes the policies and procedures to consolidate and modernize the laws that govern Reserve component officers.  The law was implemented effective 1 October 1996.  The ROPMA provides that in order to be eligible for promotion to major the time in grade is 7 years, and that an officer selected for the first time for promotion to the next higher grade may be promoted on or before the date that he/she completed the maximum service.  The ROPMA further specifies that an AGR (Active Guard Reserve) officer must be serving in a position requiring the higher grade to be promoted. 

8.  Title 10, Section 14308(c)(2) states:  "Except as specifically authorized by law, a reserve officer is not entitled to additional pay or allowance if the effective date of the officer’s promotion is adjusted to reflect a date earlier than the actual date of the officer’s promotion.”
9.  In the processing of this case an advisory opinion was received from the Total Army Personnel Command.  That opinion states, in effect, that the applicant was in a higher grade position on 14 December 1996, and therefore should be promoted with a date of rank of 14 December 1996 (his promotion eligibility date) with an effective date of 27 August 1997, the approval date of the board.  The applicant concurred with the advisory opinion.  

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant was assigned to a higher grade position when selected for promotion by the 1997 Major Promotion Board, and is entitled to an adjustment in his date of rank from 27 August 1997 to 14 December 1996.

2.  The processing of the promotion board results was administratively delayed, through no fault of the applicant, and he should not be penalized for the delay.

3.  Notwithstanding the adjustment in his date of rank, the effective date of his promotion should remain as 27 August 1997, the date the President approved the board.  

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 showing the applicant was promoted to major with a date of rank of 14 December 1996.

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

BOARD VOTE:  

__JLP___  __CJP __  __KWL__  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		____Jennifer L. Prater____
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2001058655	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20020117	
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.	131.00	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.