1. Applicant's Name: a. Application Date: 18 August 2016 b. Date Received: 25 August 2016 c. Counsel: None 2. REQUEST, ISSUES, BOARD TYPE, AND DECISION: The applicant requests an upgrade of the characterization of service from general (under honorable conditions) to honorable. The applicant seeks relief contending, in effect, he wanted to take a second urine exam and he was denied. His superiors proceeded to take action to discharge him from the Army without any further interactions with him. Per the Board's Medical Officer, based on the information available for review at the time, the applicant's AHLTA diagnoses include Alcoholism in Remission and Alcohol Disorders. He had a total of 4 visit, all in 2009, to ASAP showing in AHLTA. His ASAP case was closed on 11 July 2009. He had his Separation MSE on 31 July 2009 and was cleared for discharge. He claimed his drinking emerged after a deployment that traumatized him when he was the sole Medic in a MASCAL situation. He had negative screen for PTSD and mTBI on this MSE. JLV showed him having a VA service-connected disability rating of 100%. VA problem list diagnoses include Other psychoactive substance use (unspecified, uncomplicated), PTSD (chronic), Alcohol Abuse (uncomplicated), Anxiety Disorder, Unspecified, Major Depressive Disorder, (recurrent, moderate), and Alcohol Dependence. He also had an outpatient for Homelessness in September 2016. VA use of PTSD diagnoses occurs as early as 2010. The timing of the applicant's complaints of traumata during a Separation exam raises concerns about secondary gains; however, the use of the diagnosis begins in 2010 at the VA and is now well established, though the drug problems continue to bedevil this patient. In a records review conducted at Arlington, VA on 3 November 2017, and by a 5-0 vote, the Board determined that the discharge was too harsh based on the applicant's length and quality of service, to include combat service, a prior period of honorable service, homelessness and the circumstances surrounding the discharge (i.e. VA post-service diagnosis of PTSD with a 100% service-connected disability rating) and as a result it is inequitable. Accordingly, the Board voted to grant relief in the form of an upgrade of the characterization of service to honorable and changed to the separation authority to AR 635-200, Chapter 14-12a, the narrative reason for separation to Misconduct (Minor Infractions), the separation code to JKN, and the reentry code to RE-3. (Board member names available upon request) 3. DISCHARGE DETAILS: a. Reason / Authority / Codes / Characterization: Misconduct (Drug Abuse) / AR 635- 200, Paragraph 14-12c(2) / JKK / RE-4 / General (Under Honorable Conditions) b. Date of Discharge: 2 October 2009 c. Separation Facts: Yes (1) Date of Notification of Intent to Separate: 9 September 2009 (2) Basis for Separation: The applicant was informed of the following reason for his discharge; he wrongfully used cocaine. (3) Recommended Characterization: General (Under Honorable Conditions) (4) Legal Consultation Date: 9 September 2009 (5) Administrative Separation Board: The applicant waived his right to have his case heard by an administrative separation board. (6) Separation Decision Date / Characterization: 16 September 2009 / General (Under Honorable Conditions) 4. SERVICE DETAILS: a. Date / Period of Enlistment: 27 February 2008 / 5 years b. Age at Enlistment / Education / GT Score: 39 years / HS Graduate / 101 c. Highest Grade Achieved / MOS / Total Service: E-4 / 68W10, Health Care Specialist / 10 years, 9 months, 12 days d. Prior Service / Characterizations: RA, 10 July 1987 to 31 May 1990 / HD USARCG, 1 June 1990 to 6 July 1995 / HD (Break in Service) USAR, 11 December 1998 to 30 January 2001 / NA USARCG, 1 February 2001 to 10 December 2004 / NA (Break in Service) RA, 18 December 2006 to 26 February 2008 / HD e. Overseas Service / Combat Service: SWA / Iraq, 28 August 2007 to 24 November 2008 f. Awards and Decorations: ARCOM, NDSM-2, ICM-ARRWHD, GWOTSM, ASR, OSR, CMB g. Performance Ratings: NA h. Disciplinary Action(s) / Evidentiary Record: Positive urinalysis test coded IR (Inspection Random), dated 1 July 2009, for cocaine. Report of Mental Status Evaluation, dated 30 July 2009, relates that the applicant was screened for PTSD and mTBI in accordance with OTSG/MEDCOM Memo Policy 08-18, with negative results. FG Article 15, dated 12 August 2009, for wrongfully using cocaine between (24 June 2009 and 1 July 2009); reduction to PVT / E-1, forfeiture of $699 pay for two months, extra duty and restriction for 45 days. CID Report of Investigation, dated 29 August 2009, revealed the applicant was under investigation for wrongful use of cocaine. Several negative counseling statements for various acts of misconduct; marriage counseling; initial and monthly counseling and out of service debt. i. Lost Time / Mode of Return: None j. Diagnosed PTSD / TBI / Behavioral Health: Report of Medical Examination, dated 10 August 2009, recommended that the applicant be further evaluated inside or outside the VA system for psychiatric / behavioral causes of sleep disturbance. 5. APPLICANT-PROVIDED EVIDENCE: DD Form 293 (two pages); three DD Forms 214; two Department of Primary Care and Community Medicine memoranda; work ethic and skill set of the applicant memorandum; support statement; MUC Orders 113-01; CMB Orders 310-121; and two VA documents he was granted a combined service connected evaluation of 100 percent. These documents did not state the nature of the rating. 6. POST SERVICE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: None submitted with the application. 7. REGULATORY CITATION(S): Army Regulation 635-200 sets forth the basic authority for the separation of enlisted personnel. Chapter 14 establishes policy and prescribes procedures for separating members for misconduct. Specific categories include minor disciplinary infractions, a pattern of misconduct, and commission of a serious offense, to include abuse of illegal drugs, convictions by civil authorities and desertion or being absent without leave. Action will be taken to separate a member for misconduct when it is clearly established that rehabilitation is impractical or unlikely to succeed. Paragraph 14-12c(2) terms abuse of illegal drugs as serious misconduct. It continues; however, by recognizing relevant facts may mitigate the nature of the offense. Therefore, a single drug abuse offense may be combined with one or more minor disciplinary infractions or incidents of other misconduct and processed for separation under paragraph 14-12a or 14-12b as appropriate. Army policy states that an under other than honorable conditions discharge is normally considered appropriate; however, a general (under honorable conditions) or an honorable discharge may be granted. National Defense Authorization Act 2017 provided specific guidance to the Military Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records and Discharge Review Boards when considering discharge upgrade requests by Veterans claiming Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in connection with combat or sexual assault or sexual harassment as a basis for discharge review. Further, it provided that Boards will include, as a voting board member, a physician trained in mental health disorders, a clinical psychologist, or a psychiatrist when the discharge upgrade claim asserts a mental health condition, including PTSD; TBI; as a basis for the discharge. In August 2017, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness provided further clarifying guidance to the Military Discharge Review Boards and Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records when considering requests by Veterans for modification of their discharge due to mental health conditions, including PTSD; TBI; sexual assault; or sexual harassment. Liberal consideration will be given to Veterans petitioning for discharge relief when the application for relief is based in whole or in part on matters relating to mental health conditions, including PTSD; TBI; sexual assault; or sexual harassment. Special consideration will be given to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) determinations that document a mental health condition, including PTSD; TBI; or sexual assault/harassment potentially contributed to the circumstances resulting in a less than honorable discharge characterization. Special consideration will also be given in cases where a civilian provider confers diagnoses of a mental health condition, including PTSD; TBI; or sexual assault/harassment if the case records contain narratives supporting symptomatology at the time of service or when any other evidence which may reasonably indicate that a mental health condition, including PTSD; TBI; or sexual assault/harassment existed at the time of discharge might have mitigated the misconduct that caused a discharge of lesser characterization. Conditions documented in the service record that can reasonably be determined to have existed at the time of discharge will be considered to have existed at the time of discharge. In cases in which a mental health condition, including PTSD; TBI; or sexual assault/harassment may be reasonably determined to have existed at the time of discharge, those conditions will be considered potential mitigating factors in the misconduct that caused the characterization of service in question. All Boards will exercise caution in weighing evidence of mitigation in cases in which serious misconduct precipitated a discharge with a less than Honorable characterization of service. Potentially mitigating evidence of the existence of undiagnosed combat related PTSD, PTSD-related conditions due to TBI or sexual assault/harassment as causative factors in the misconduct resulting in discharge will be carefully weighed against the severity of the misconduct. PTSD is not a likely cause of premeditated misconduct. Caution shall be exercised in weighing evidence of mitigation in all cases of misconduct by carefully considering the likely causal relationship of symptoms to the misconduct. 8. DISCUSSION OF FACT(S): The applicant requests an upgrade of the characterization of service from general (under honorable conditions) to honorable. The applicant's record of service, the issues and documents submitted with his application were carefully reviewed. The record confirms the applicant's discharge was appropriate because the quality of his service was not consistent with the Army's standards for acceptable personal conduct and performance of duty by military personnel. It brought discredit on the Army, and was prejudicial to good order and discipline. The applicant, by violating the Army's policy not to possess or use illegal drugs, compromised the trust and confidence placed in a Soldier. The applicant, as a Soldier, had the duty to support and abide by the Army's drug policies. By abusing illegal drugs, the applicant knowingly risked a military career and diminished the quality of his service below that meriting an honorable discharge at the time of separation. The applicant provided no independent corroborating evidence demonstrating that either the command's action was erroneous or that the applicant's service mitigated the misconduct or poor duty performance, such that he should have been retained on Active Duty. The applicant seeks relief contending, he wanted to take a second urine exam and he was denied; and his superiors proceeded to take action to discharge him from the Army without any further interactions with him. The record does not contain any indication or evidence of arbitrary or capricious actions by the command and all requirements of law and regulation were met and the rights of the applicant were fully protected throughout the separation process. The discharge was consistent with the procedural and substantive requirements of the regulation, was within the discretion of the separation authority, and the applicant was provided full administrative due process. 9. BOARD DETERMINATION: In a records review conducted at Arlington, VA on 3 November 2017, and by a 5-0 vote, the Board determined that the discharge was too harsh based on the applicant's length and quality of service, to include combat service, a prior period of honorable service, homelessness and the circumstances surrounding the discharge (i.e. VA post-service diagnosis of PTSD with a 100% service-connected disability rating) and as a result it is inequitable. Accordingly, the Board voted to grant relief in the form of an upgrade of the characterization of service to honorable and changed to the separation authority to AR 635-200, Chapter 14-12a, the narrative reason for separation to Misconduct (Minor Infractions), the separation code to JKN, and the reentry code to RE-3. 10. BOARD ACTION DIRECTED: a. Issue a New DD-214: Yes b. Change Characterization to: Honorable c. Change Reason to: Misconduct (Minor Infractions) d. Change Authority to: AR 635-200, Chapter 14-12a e. Change SPD/RE Code to: Change SPD to JKN / Change to RE code to 3 f. Restore Grade to: No Change Authenticating Official: Legend: AWOL - Absent Without Leave GD - General Discharge NCO - Noncommissioned Officer SCM - Summary Court Martial BCD - Bad Conduct Discharge HS - High School NIF - Not in File SPCM - Special Court Martial BH - Behavioral Health HD - Honorable Discharge NOS - Not Otherwise Specified SPD - Separation Program Designator CG - Company Grade Article 15 IADT - Initial Active Duty Training OAD - Ordered to Active Duty TBI - Traumatic Brain Injury CID - Criminal Investigation Division MP - Military Police OMPF - Official Military Personnel File UNC - Uncharacterized Discharge ELS - Entry Level Status MST - Military Sexual Trauma PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder UOTHC - Under Other Than Honorable Conditions FG - Field Grade Article 15 NA - Not applicable RE - Reentry VA - Veterans Affairs ARMY DISCHARGE REVIEW BOARD CASE REPORT AND DIRECTIVE AR20160015007 4