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

JRE
Docket No. 06628-06
7 December 2007

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 6 December 2007. 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 to establish the existence of probable material error or injustice. In this regard, the Board concurred with the findings made in your case on 27 June 2006, by the Combat Related Special Compensation Branch, Secretary of the Navy Council of Review Boards, that you have not demonstrated that your hearing loss, hypertension, hearing loss, hip disorder, asthma, residual of lumbar fractures and left hip arthritis were caused by your exposure to Agent Orange. It noted that your cardiovascular disease existed before you became diabetic, and that the Department of Veterans Affairs concluded that the former condition was not caused by your exposure to Agent Orange. In addition, the Board found that there is no presumptive connection between any of those conditions and exposure to Agent Orange, and no other indication in your naval record that any of those conditions were caused by a combat related event. Accordingly, so much of your application as pertains to those conditions has been denied. The names and votes of the members of the panel will be furnished upon request.

As there is a presumptive link between exposure to Agent Orange and the development of diabetes mellitus, your request for combat-related special compensation for diabetes and related conditions will be returned to the Combat Related Special Compensation Branch for further review.

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.

							W. DEAN PFEIFFER
   Executive Director