DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF NAVAL RECORDS
2 NAVY ANNEX
WASHINGTON DC 20370~5 100

JRE
Docket No. 02955-07
19 May 2008

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 17 April 2008. 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.

The Board found that you enlisted in the Navy on 15 June 1966. You were hospitalized on 25 March 1968 and given diagnoses of an acute situational depressive reaction related to your marital situation, and an emotionally unstable personality, which existed prior to your enlistment. You were discharged from the Navy by reason of unsuitability on 15 May 1968 because of the administratively unfitting effects of the personality disorder. On 18 June 1986, you applied to the Veterans Administration (VA) for service connection and disability compensation for a mental disorder. The VA denied your request because the available evidence did not establish that you suffered from a ratable mental disorder while serving in the Navy, or at when the VA evaluated you. VA rating officials noted that your emotionally unstable personality was not a disability under the laws administered by the that department. On 6 June 2007, the VA granted you a 10% disability rating for generalized anxiety disorder with depression, effective 18 May 1986 and the rating was increased to 50% effective 25 February 2005.. You were granted service connection for anxiety and depression after VA rating officials resolved doubt in your favor and determined that although you were treated for anxiety and depression after being severely injured in a work related accident in 1986, your generalized
anxiety disorder was as least as likely as not caused by or a result of unspecified events that occurred during your period of military service.

Your receipt of a VA disability rating for a mental disorder more than twenty-eight years after you were discharged from the Navy is not considered probative of your contention that you were unfit for further service by reason of physical disability at the time of your discharge. Accordingly, and as you have not demonstrated that you were unfit by reason of physical disability in 1968, 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,

ROBERT D. ZSALMAN
Acting Executive Director