DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF NAVAL RECORDS
2 NAVY ANNEX
WASHINGTON DC 20370-5100

JRE
Docket No. 05684-05
6 November 2006

This is in reference to your application for correction of your naval record pursuant to the provisions of title 10 of the United States Code, section 1552.

A three-member panel of the Board for Correction of Naval Records, sitting in executive session, considered your application on 5 October 2006. Your allegations of error and injustice were reviewed in accordance with administrative regulations and procedures applicable to the proceedings of this Board. Documentary material considered by the Board consisted of your application, together with all material submitted in support thereof, your naval record and applicable statutes, regulations and policies.

After careful and conscientious consideration of the entire record, the Board found that the evidence submitted was insufficient error or injustice to establish the existence of probable material error or injustice.

The Board found that you were voluntarily released from active duty on 5 March 1993, after being found physically qualified for separation. You were assigned a reentry code of RE-lA, to indicate that you were eligible and recommended for reenlistment at that time. You apparently chose not to reenlist. There is no indication in the available records that you were significantly impaired by physical or psychiatric disorders at that time. The fact that the Department of Veterans Affairs awarded you disability ratings following your discharge does not demonstrate that your discharge from the Marine Corps was erroneous. In this
	regard, the Board noted that the VA must rate any condition it classifies as “servide connected”, i.e., incurred in or aggravated by a period of service, without regard to the issue of the veteran’s fitness for military service, or the severity of the condition. In addition, VA rating officials may raise or lower disability ratings throughout a veteran’s lifetime as the severity of rated conditions changes. Unlike the VA, the military departments are permitted to assign disability ratings only in those cases where a service member has been found unfit to reasonably perform the duties of his office, grade, rank or rating by reason of physical disability. Ratings assigned by the military departments are permanently fixed as of the service member’s date of separation or retirement. In addition, the military departments assign ratings based on objective evidence of impairment, rather than on subjective complaints, as VA rating officials appear to have done in your case. The Board concluded that had you been found unfit for duty by reason of physical disability, the objective evidence of impairment would not have warranted a combined rating in excess of 0%.

As you were accorded reconsideration for promotion to the grade of staff sergeant by officials of Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, and were not selected, there is no basis for correcting your record to show that you were promoted to that grade.

In view of the foregoing, your application has been denied. The names and votes of the members of the panel will be furnished upon request.

It is regretted that the circumstances of your case are such that favorable action cannot be taken. You are entitled to have the Board reconsider its decision upon submission of new and material evidence or other matter not previously considered by the Board. In this regard, it is important to keep in mind that a presumption of regularity attaches to all official records. Consequently, when applying for a correction of an official naval record, the burden is on the applicant to demonstrate the existence of probable material error or injustice.

Sincerely,

W.	DEAN PFEFFER
Executive Director