DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF NAVAL RECORDS 701 S. COURTHOUSE ROAD, SUITE 1001 ARLINGTON, VA 22204-2490 Docket No. 9006-18 Dear : This letter is in reference to your application for correction of your naval record pursuant to Title 10, United States Code, Section 1552. After careful and conscientious consideration of the entire record, the Board for Correction of Naval Records (Board) found that the evidence submitted was insufficient to establish the existence of probable material error or injustice. Consequently, your application has been denied. Regarding your request for a personal appearance, the Board determined that a personal appearance with or without counsel will not materially add to their understanding of the issues involved. Therefore, the Board determined that a personal appearance was not necessary and considered your case based on the evidence of record. A three-member panel of the Board, sitting in executive session, considered your application on 28 January 2020. The names and votes of the members of the panel will be furnished upon request. 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, relevant portions of your naval record, as well as applicable statutes, regulations, and policies. The Board also considered the enclosed 12 November 2019 advisory opinion (AO) furnished by the Navy Personnel Command (PERS-91), the 19 December 2019 PERS-3 AO, as well as your 15 January 2020 rebuttal. The Board carefully considered your request that you receive orders for a Reserve management billet in order to complete 20 years of active duty service, that you be retired with pay based upon points calculation, and standard time in grade based upon a set retirement date in the next 12 months, and that you be offered [re]enlistment in a rating and pay-grade in order to complete 20 years of [active] service. The Board also considered your request that the Board cancel any requirement to recoup your severance pay upon earning an active duty retirement. The Board considered your contention that you were involuntarily separated from Active Duty with 17 years 10 months and 21 days of service, in violation of a 24 December 1990 Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) memorandum. You also contend that the Commander, Navy Personnel Command (PERS-911), and (PERS-97), and (PERS-34) did not follow the CNO’s memorandum and offer to you, in writing, the option to revert to an enlisted rating and pay-grade, and enlist for a specified time period in order to achieve 20 years of active service. You assert that instead, you were involuntarily separated from active service and offered to affiliate as a drilling selected reservist. You also assert that, as a career sailor and naval officer, you were eligible under the longstanding policy to remain on active duty in order to earn a regular retirement. The Board noted that you enlisted in the Navy Reserve in July 1992, and served on active duty from June 1993 until September 1999. In May 2003, you were commissioned as a Navy Reserve officer and served on active duty until January 2015. In 2014, the Commander, Navy Personnel Command (PERS-92) notified you that, due to your twice failing selection for promotion as a Full Time Support (FTS) officer, your separation from Active Duty was required on 1 February 2015. PERS-92 also notified you that pursuant to the Secretary’s Navy Reserve Officer Retention and Continuation Plan, you were eligible for continuation for a third promotion consideration on the Reserve Active Status List (RASL) as a Selected Reservist after your separation from active duty. You requested, and were authorized, continuation as a Selected Reservist. Subsequently, you were selected by the FY-16 Navy Reserve Lieutenant Commander Promotion Selection Board and promoted with a date of rank of 1 October 2015. Your promotion to lieutenant commander enabled you to remain in the Navy Reserve as a Selected Reservist, until you twice fail selection for commander and to complete ten years commissioned service and 20 qualifying years for retirement. The Board also noted that the CNO’s Policy Decision 27-132-90 of 24 December1990 noted that by law, and policy, regular (emphasis added) officers in the grades of lieutenant (junior grade) and lieutenant, who have twice failed of selection for promotion must be discharged from active duty no later than seven months following the second failure of selection. The Policy Decision provides that officers who fail to select for promotion to lieutenant commander or lieutenant, who have 16 but less than 18 years of active military service will be offered an opportunity to resign their commissions, enlist, and subsequently transfer to the Fleet Reserve at 20 years of active federal service. Additionally, NMPC-2 was responsible, in part, for drafting an appropriate letter to members, offering reenlistment as a means to remain on active duty long enough to transfer to the Fleet Reserve at twenty years of active federal service. The Board, however, determined that CNO’s 24 December 1990 Policy Decision only applied to Regular commissioned officers, on the Active Duty List, in the grades of lieutenant (junior grade) and lieutenant. The Board determined that, because you were a Reserve officer on the Reserve Active Status List (in a full-time support status), you were properly separated from active duty pursuant to SECNAV Instruction 1920.6C. The SECNAV Instruction provides that “Naval Reserve FTS officers on active duty, but not on the active duty list in the grade of O3 who twice fail of selection for promotion to a higher grade shall (emphasis added), if not on a promotion list to a higher grade, be involuntarily released from active duty and eliminated from an active status not later than the 1st day of the 7th calendar month beginning after the month in which the report of the selection board that considered the officers for the second time is approved . . .” The Board determined that CNPC was not in violation of the 24 December 1990 CNO memorandum, and was not required to offer to you the option to revert to an enlisted rating and pay-grade, and enlist for a specified time period in order to achieve 20 years of active service. The Board also concluded that you were properly released from active duty after being twice passed for promotion while in a FTS status. The Board thus concluded that your record does not constitute probable material error or injustice warranting the requested relief. 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 the submission of new matters, which will require you to complete and submit a new DD Form 149. New matters are those not previously presented to or 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.