PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:     

	BOARD DATE:           25 September 2001                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2001059544

	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. John N. Slone		Chairperson	
	Mr. Lester Echols		Member	
	Mr. Ronald E. Blakely		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 active duty credit for the time he spent as a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Simultaneous Membership Program (SMP) cadet. Based on that credit, he further requests that his records be corrected to show that his Voluntary Separation Incentive (VSI) be recalculated to account for the extra 4 years of service.  In addition, he requests that his separation documents be corrected to reflect that he had been promoted to major prior to his release from active duty.

3.  The applicant states that his date of rank as a major was prior to the date he was released from active duty.  As for his ROTC credit, the SMP was modified in 1996 to allow the time served in the ROTC/SMP to count towards retirement and time in service.  Based on that change, his Basic Active Service Date (BASD) should be corrected from September 1984 to August 1980.

4.  The applicant’s military records show that he executed a non-scholarship advanced course ROTC contract on 28 August 1980.  He enlisted in the ARNG in pay grade E-1 on 29 September 1980.  On 10 June 1983 he was discharged from his status as a ROTC/SMP cadet to accept a commission in the ARNG.

5.  On 13 September 1984 the applicant entered on extended active duty as a reserve officer in a commissioned status.  He was given the area of concentration of communications officer and was promoted to the rank of captain.

6.  On 1 June 1995 the applicant was honorably released from active duty and transferred to the USAR Control Group, at his own request, with annual VSI payments of $11,037.26.  He had 10 years, 8 months and 19 days of active service during that period, and had 6 months and 23 days of prior active service.

7.  On 15 September 1996 the Army Reserve Command published orders promoting the applicant to major with an effective date of 5 June 1996, and a date of rank of 24 May 1995.

8.  Public Law (PL) 104-201, Section 507, dated 23 September 1996, amended the provisions of law to provide service credit to officers commissioned from the ROTC advanced course program who also participated in the SMP, retroactive to 1 August 1979 when the SMP was established.  The law specifies that these PEBD adjustments will not be grandfathered for pay, that any adjustment of a soldier’s PEBD will only entitle him or her to an increase in pay from the date the law was passed.  The SMP service credit affects only the PEBD for pay purposes.  It does not affect the Basic Active Duty Date (BASD), Basic Date of Appointment (BDA), or Date of Rank (DOR) for officers.

9.  The National Defense Authorization Act for FY92 established two monetary incentive programs to assist in maximizing voluntary separations during the drawdown period of military forces.  The two monetary incentives included the SSB, a lump sum payment equal to 15 percent of the soldier’s annual basic pay multiplied by his years of active service, and the VSI, an annual annuity payment equal to 2.5 percent of the soldier’s annual basic pay multiplied by his years of service and paid for twice the number of years served.  The FY92 program provided that soldiers electing the SSB would not forfeit any SSB or compensation received if they subsequently served on active duty, or on reserve duty in a pay status.  Additionally they were granted several non-monetary transition benefits including commissary and exchange privileges, employment preference in non-appropriated fund positions, and transitional health care (CHAMPUS or medical treatment facility).  Soldiers electing to receive the VSI were denied those transitional benefits during the FY92 program.  However, when the FY93 program was announced as part of the Defense Authorization Act of FY93 those disparities were equalized.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant served in the ROTC/SMP and is now entitled to have that service credited to him effective the date the law was passed, 23 September 1996.

2.  Since the applicant was released from active duty prior to the enactment of 
PL 104-201, the law did not affect how his VSI was calculated, nor does the law affect an officer’s BASD.

3.  As for the applicant’s request to have his DD Form 214 corrected to show that he was released from active duty as a major, the effective date of his promotion was well after his release from active duty.  In addition, his promotion to major was not on the Active Duty List (ADL).  Therefore, although the applicant was a reserve officer on active duty, his ADL rank was properly captain at the time he was released from active duty.

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:

a.  crediting to the individual concerned the time he served in the ROTC/SMP in accordance with PL 104-201; and

b.  paying to him the difference of pay he would have received as a result of this correction, for service performed after 23 September 1996.

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

BOARD VOTE:  

___le____  ____jns_  ___reb___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		__________John E. Denning______
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2001059544	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20010925	
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.	128.09	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.