Docket No: 2240-20            
Ref: Signature Date 
 

Dear :  
 
This 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 relevant portions of your naval record and your application, the Board for Correction of Naval Records (Board) found the evidence submitted insufficient to establish the existence of probable material error or injustice.  Consequently, your application has been denied.     
 
Although your application was not filed in a timely manner, the Board found it in the interest of justice to waive the statute of limitations and consider your application on its merits.  A three-member panel of the Board, sitting in executive session, considered your application on 9 November 2020.  The names and votes of the panel members 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 the 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, and applicable statutes, regulations, and policies, to include the 25 July 2018 guidance from the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness regarding equity, injustice or clemency determinations (Wilkie Memo). 
 
You enlisted in the Navy and began a period of active duty on 29 May 2003, you received nonjudicial punishment (NJP) on 21 July 2005, for wrongful use of a controlled substance.  Your available service record does not reflect your complete administrative separation package.  Absent of such evidence, the Board relied upon the presumption of regularity and presumed that the officials acted in accordance with governing law/policy and in good faith.  In addition, Administrative Remarks dated 5 August 2005, indicate that you acknowledged that you were not being recommended for reenlistment, due to the receipt of and RE-4 Reenlistment code.  Based on your Certificate of Discharge or Release from Active Duty (DD Form 214), on 25 August 2005, you were discharged from the Navy on the basis of misconduct due to drug abuse, and received an other than honorable (OTH) characterization of service and an RE-4 reentry code. 
 
In your application to the Board, you ask for an upgrade to your discharge from OTH to honorable.  You state that you were a good service member and were never in trouble until the incident.  You made one bad decision that cost you your military career. 
 
The Board carefully considered all potentially mitigating factors to determine whether the interests of justice warrant relief in your case in accordance with the Wilkie Memo.  These included, but were not limited to, the fact that your record reflects a single incident of misconduct as documented by the NJP, your desire to upgrade your discharge, and your contention that you made an isolated poor decision which cost you your military career.  Based upon this review, the Board concluded these potentially mitigating factors, given the totality of the circumstances, were insufficient to warrant relief. 
 
You are entitled to have the Board reconsider its decision upon 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.   
 
 Sincerely,