Docket No: 3502-20 
Ref: Signature Date 
          

Dear : 
 
This letter is in reference to your reconsideration request received on 5 May 2020.  You previously petitioned the Board for Correction of Naval Records (Board) and were advised that your application had been disapproved.  Your case was reconsidered in accordance with Board procedures that conform to Lipsman v. Sec’y of the Army, 335 F. Supp. 2d 48 (D.D.C. 2004).  After careful and conscientious consideration of the entire record, the Board found the evidence submitted was insufficient to establish the existence of probable material error or injustice.  Consequently, your application has been denied. 
 
Because your application was submitted with new documentation, the Board found it in the interest of justice to review your most recent application.  In this regard, your current request was carefully examined by a three-member panel of the Board, sitting in executive session, on 21 May 2020.  The names and votes of the members of the panel will be furnished upon request.  Documentary material considered by the Board consisted of your application, together with all material submitted in support thereof, available portions of your naval record, as well as applicable statutes, regulations, and policies. 
 
You enlisted in the Navy and began a period of active duty on 18 February 1998.  Your record is incomplete in that it does not contain all the documents pertaining to your misconduct or administrative discharge but, based on your Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty (DD Form 214), it appears that after being afforded all of your procedural rights, the separation authority directed an other than honorable (OTH) discharge by reason of misconduct due to drug abuse.  You were discharged with an OTH characterization of service on 10 April 2001. 
 
The most recent Board considered your request to upgrade your characterization of service.  The Board carefully reviewed your application, weighed all potentially mitigating factors, and considered your contention that you were “badly beaten onboard ship” and “no one else was held accountable for this action.”  The Board also reviewed the documentation submitted in your reconsideration request.  Additionally, the Board noted your earlier contentions that, after reconstruction surgery on your face and sinus area, you were unable to tolerate the strong pain medication so you dealt with your pain by “self-medicating using over the counter meds when I couldn’t sleep and occasionally using marijuana a couple times to relieve the pain.”  After testing positive for marijuana, you contend you tried to ask for a second chance but “there were no exceptions and no appeals.”  Unfortunately, after careful consideration of your contentions and the previously submitted advocacy letters, the Board did not find evidence of an error or injustice that warrants upgrading your characterization of service.  Even under the liberal consideration standard, the Board found your misconduct warranted an OTH characterization of service. 
 
It is regretted that the circumstances of your reconsideration petition 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 the absence of new matters for reconsideration, the decision of the Board is final, and your only recourse would be to seek relief, at no cost to the Board, from a court of appropriate jurisdiction. 
 
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, 
 6/15/2020