PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:      

	BOARD DATE:           8 August 2002                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2002071213

	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. Raymond J. Wagner		Chairperson	
	Mr. Lester Echols		Member	
	Ms. Margaret V. Thompson		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 her DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, be corrected to show that she had not received complete dental care prior to her discharge.

3.  She states that she had not received complete dental care prior to her discharge.

4.  In support of her request, she submits a letter from the chief of the transition point where she was separated to the Commander, US Army Reserve Personnel Command requesting that the applicant’s DD Form 214, item 17, be corrected from reading “Yes” to reading “No.”  She also submits a memorandum from the officer in charge of the dental clinic, which had been treating her stating, “This memorandum serves to verify that all appropriate dental services and treatment were not completed on [the applicant] prior to her separation from active Army service.” 

5.  The applicant’s military records show that she enlisted in the Regular Army on 22 May 1998, was awarded the military occupational specialty of unmanned aerial vehicle operator, and was promoted to pay grade E-4.  She was honorably discharged prior to the expiration of her term of service on 14 January 2002 to attend school.  The DD Form 214 she was issued, Item 17, “Member was provided complete dental examination and all appropriate dental services and treatment within 90 days prior to separation” was marked “Yes.”

6.  Army Regulation 635-5, as changed, the governing Army regulation for the preparation of the DD Form 214 states that block 17 of the DD Form 214 is applicable to soldiers who had completed at least 180 days of continuous active service at the time of separation.  If the soldier had been provided a complete dental examination, and all appropriate dental services and treatment had been completed within 90 days prior to separation, the DD Form 214, item 17, “Member was provided complete dental examination and all appropriate dental services and treatment within 90 days prior to separation” will be marked “Yes.”  For soldiers being separated prior to completing 180 days continuous active duty “NA” is to be shown in both “Yes” and “No” boxes.

7.  The Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), operating under its own laws and regulations, may provide one-time outpatient treatment, consisting of a full spectrum of diagnostic, surgical, restorative and preventive techniques for service connected dental conditions or disabilities that are not compensable in degree, if a condition can be shown to have existed at separation from active duty.  Other factors are also considered by the DVA in determining a veteran’s entitlement to this service, such as his characterization of service.  The veteran must apply to the DVA for care within 90 days of his separation or, in instances where the Board corrects a veteran’s records, within 90 days following that correction.
CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The documents submitted by the applicant in support of her request show that her dental treatment was not complete and final at the time of her discharge from the Army.

2.  Accordingly, item 17, of her DD Form 214, should be corrected to read “No” rather than “Yes.”

3.  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 DD Form 214 of the individual concerned covering the period ending 14 January 2002 have item 17, “Member was provided complete dental examination and all appropriate dental services and treatment within 90 days prior to separation”, corrected from “Yes” to “No.”

BOARD VOTE:  

___mvt__  ____le___  ___rjw___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		___Raymond J. Wagner________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2002071213  	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20020808	
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.		
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.