IN THE CASE OF: BOARD DATE: 17 November 2015 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20150003351 THE BOARD CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING EVIDENCE: 1. Application for correction of military records (with supporting documents provided, if any). 2. Military Personnel Records and advisory opinions (if any). THE APPLICANT'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE: 1. The applicant requests approval of an exception to policy (ETP) to receive an Officer Accession Bonus (OAB) in the amount of $10,000.00 offered prior to his commissioning. 2. The applicant states: a.  Verbal and written confirmation of his eligibility for the OAB was made with the North Carolina Army National Guard (NCARNG) Warrant Officer Strength Manager, Chief Warrant Officer Three (CW3) C____ D. H____, prior to his commissioning and the day of his appearance before the NCARNG Federal Recognition Board (FRB) on 13 September 2013. b.  CW3 H____ was required to submit his incentive contract within 180 days prior to his commissioning date of 20 September 2014 in order to fulfill the State's incentive obligations for his commitment to the Warrant Officer Corps. c.  After graduating from the Warrant Officer Candidate School (WOCS) on 22 September 2014 and returning home, he immediately contacted CW3 H____ to inquire about and verify his incentive bonus. d.  CW3 H____ performed some quick investigative work and informed him on the same date that he had failed to submit the proper paperwork within the required time frame and that he was now ineligible for the promised incentive bonus. e.  He requested an ETP from the National Guard Bureau (NGB) and he was denied. f.  He upheld his commitment by graduating from WOCS as Honor Graduate, being commissioned as a warrant officer one (WO1), and currently being enrolled in the Warrant Officer Basic Course (WOBC). g.  He should not be held accountable for an administrative error for which he was not responsible. CW3 H____ has signed a memorandum admitting to his mistake and illustrating the improper handling of his contract. 3. The applicant provides: * NCARNG Newly-Appointed Warrant Officer Candidate (WOC) Checklist, dated 13 November 2013 * ETP request, dated 4 February 2015 * memorandum for record from the NCARNG Warrant Officer Strength Manager, dated 17 October 2014 * two self-authored memoranda for record, dated 17 October 2014 and 5 January 2015 CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE: 1. The applicant enlisted in the NCARNG on 14 May 1996. 2. On 31 October 2013, he executed an NGB Form 62E (Application for Federal Recognition as an ARNG Officer or Warrant Officer and Appointment as a Reserve Commissioned Officer or Warrant Officer of the Army in the ARNG of the United States). The remarks section shows he acknowledged the following: a.  He must submit a signed copy of his bonus contract, WOBC DA Form 1059 (Academic Evaluation Report), DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty), and State appointment order through his unit to be scanned into his interactive Personnel Records Management System (iPERMS) within 90 days of completion of WOBC. b.  He must notify Officer Strength Management once all bonus information had been entered into iPERMS by his unit. 3. On 13 November 2013, he was appointed as a WOC. 4. NCARNG Orders 086-18, dated 27 March 2014, ordered him to active duty for training on 2 May 2014 to attend WOCS Phase 2. 5. NCARNG Orders 098-068, dated 8 April 2014, revoked Orders 086-18, dated 27 March 2014. 6. On 16 April 2014, he extended his enlistment for a 1-year period. 7. On 19 September 2014, he was honorably discharged from the ARNG to accept a commission as a warrant officer. 8. On 20 September 2014, he was appointed as a Reserve WO1 in the NCARNG. 9. He provided a memorandum for record from the NCARNG Warrant Officer Strength Manager, CW3 C____ D. H____, dated 17 October 2014, wherein he states: a.  The applicant was fully eligible and he should have contracted for the OAB. He took full responsibility for the series of failures that culminated in the applicant's not being contracted for the incentive prior to accepting his commission. He verbally assured the applicant that he was eligible and he would receive a $10,000.00 bonus on 13 September 2013 when they both signed the NCARNG Newly-Appointed WOC Checklist on the same date, confirming that he was bonus eligible with the exception of being inside the 180-day window. b.  The applicant appeared before the NCARNG FRB on 13 September 2013 with favorable results and he was entered into the Army Training Requirements and Resource System for WOCS with a projected graduation/appointment date of 20 September 2014. The current incentive policy only allowed for contracting a Soldier within 180 days of accepting an appointment/commission, which would have been a contract eligibility date of 25 March 2014. c.  His normal/preferred business practice was to initiate the incentive contract on the day the Soldier was appearing and approved by the FRB. This practice was only possible if the WOCS graduation/appointment date was inside the 180-day window. When initiating the contract was not possible on the FRB date, he would normally add a reminder to his Outlook calendar to alert him on the first day inside the 180-day window. He would then initiate the contract for the Soldier, get signatures, and upload the completed documents into the iPERMS and Guard Incentive Management System. In this case, that did not happen. He failed to set a proper fail-safe in his process and it was an unfortunate oversight for which he takes full responsibility. d.  He is not attempting to negate his responsibility in ensuring that a Soldier is properly contracted for an incentive that the Soldier is fully eligible for, but he does believe that policy and system constraints make the incentive process cumbersome and very susceptible to human error. e.  He also attached a copy of the applicant's NCARNG Newly-Appointed WOC Checklist, dated 13 November 2013, which shows he verified the applicant's bonus eligibility and wrote a note on it stating: "will contract inside 180 days." 10. The applicant provided a self-authored memorandum for record, dated 17 October 2014, requesting an ETP for the $10,000.00 OAB. He stated his eligibility was verified and he had upheld his portion of the commitment, he should receive the bonus, and he should not be held accountable for an administrative mistake for which he was not responsible. 11. He also provided a self-authored memorandum for record, dated 5 January 2015, in which he states he knew of the $10,000.00 OAB and his eligibility was verified. He requested an ETP and he has upheld his portion of the commitment, he should receive the bonus, and he should not be held accountable for an administrative mistake for which he was not responsible. 12. On 4 February 2015, the NGB ARNG Deputy G-1 denied the applicant's ETP request. NGB directed the State Incentive Manager to cancel the manual control number request and stated: * the applicant never completed an agreement/bonus addendum which violated Department of Defense Instruction (DODI) 1205.21 (Reserve Component Incentive Program Procedures) * a bonus control number request was not initiated within the established time frame which violated ARNG Selected Reserve Incentive Program (SRIP) Policy Number 14-01 * the ETP and manual control number could not be approved based on the above 13. On 23 May 2015, he was ordered to active duty for training. 14. On 17 July 2015, he completed Reserve Component WOBC Phase 2. 15. DODI 1205.21, paragraph 6.2, states "Each recipient shall be required to sign a written agreement stating that the member understands the conditions under which continued entitlement to unpaid incentive amounts..." 16. ARNG Policy Memorandum 14-01, dated 2 June 2014, subject: ARNG SRIP Policy for Fiscal Year 2014, Effective 02 June 2014, provides guidance for OAB/Officer Affiliation Bonus (OAFB) agreements. It states, in part, that: a.  The ARNG offers a $10,000.00 OAB to newly-commissioned officers and newly-appointed warrant officers who agree to serve 6 years in a critical skill. Additionally, officers and warrant officers must serve in a critical area of concentration (AOC) within their chosen unit identification code (UIC) in a valid critical skill vacancy. The critical UIC OAB will be paid in a lump-sum payment upon successful completion of the Basic Officer Leaders Course/WOBC within 24 months of commissioning and upon verification of OAB non-duty AOC qualified/duty military occupational specialty qualified. b.  Eligible officers for the OAB must sign their bonus addenda on the date they accept their commissions. c.  Eligible officers for the OAFB must sign their addenda on or before their dates of affiliation. d.  The OAB/OAFB agreement must be signed no more than 90 days before the date of commissioning in the ARNG for an officer and no more than 180 days for a warrant officer. Agreements signed before the 90/180-day window or after the date of commissioning are not valid. Exceptions are not authorized. 17. National Guard Regulation 600-7 (Selected Reserve Incentive Programs), paragraph 2-5, states bonus contracts are valid only with bonus control numbers which will be issued from the State Incentive Management Office to Military Entrance Processing Station counselors and reported to NGB on a monthly basis. The State Incentive Manager will verify accessioning packets as prescribed by State policy for bonus control numbers, accuracy of contract and bonus addendum, critical skill and bonus unit eligibility, valid position vacancy, and required educational level. 18. Title 37, U.S. Code, section 308j(b), states the Secretary concerned may pay an accession bonus under this section to an eligible person who enters into an agreement with the Secretary to: (a) accept an appointment as an officer in the Armed Forces and (b) to serve in the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve in a skill designated for a period specified in the agreement. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: 1. The available evidence supports the applicant's request for approval of an ETP to receive an OAB. 2. His records show he met the requirements for an OAB and, through no fault of his own, the NCARNG Incentive Manager failed to properly process his OAB Addendum. 3. There is no law or Department of the Army policy that either requires an applicant to sign a bonus addendum on a specific date in order to be eligible for receipt of the bonus or that precludes Reserve Component officers from applying for a Selected Reserve OAB after appointment/commissioning. 4. The evidence shows the applicant fulfilled the requirements necessary for the OAB and continues to uphold his portion of the commitment. Notwithstanding the recommendations of NGB, it would serve the interest of equity and justice to correct his records to show he executed an OAB Addendum in a timely manner and pay him the OAB according to the terms of his NGB Form 62E. BOARD VOTE: ___x____ ___x____ ___x____ GRANT FULL RELIEF ________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF ________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING ________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION: The Board determined the evidence presented is sufficient to warrant a recommendation for relief. As a result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army and State ARNG records of the individual concerned be corrected by: * showing he executed an OAB Addendum for $10,000.00 on 25 March 2014 and it was signed by all appropriate officials in a timely manner * paying him the OAB according to the terms of his NGB Form 62E ___________x___________ CHAIRPERSON I certify that herein is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in this case. ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20150003351 3 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1 ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20150003351 7 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1