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 was 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 case on its merits.  A three-member panel of the Board, sitting in executive session, considered your application on 18 June 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 and applicable statutes, regulations and policies.   
 
A review of your record shows that you entered active duty with the Marine Corps on 16 January 2001.  On 4 June 2001, you were discharged from the Marine Corps for condition not a disability and assigned an uncharacterized entry-level separation.  Post-discharge, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) assigned you a combined rating of 50%.  The latest VA rating was effective 1 April 2020. 
 
The Board carefully considered your arguments that you deserve a change to your narrative reason for separation to disability and an Honorable characterization of service.  You described your level of effort during basic training despite an injury that resulted in your administrative separation.  Unfortunately, the Board disagreed with your rationale for relief.  In order to find a service member unfit for continued naval service, the member must be unable to perform the duties of their office, grade, rank or rating due to a qualifying disability condition.  In your case, the Board lacked evidence that you were unfit for continued naval service at the time of your discharge from the Marine Corps.  The Board was not persuaded by your VA rating assigned approximately 19 years after your discharge since it was too distant in time to be probative on 
the issue of whether you were unfit in 2001.  Additionally, the Board noted that eligibility for compensation and pension disability ratings by the VA is tied to the establishment of service connection and is manifestation-based without a requirement that unfitness for military duty be demonstrated.  Absent medical evidence that refutes the medical determination that your injury did not amount to a disability condition in 2001, the Board determined the preponderance of the evidence does not support a change to your narrative reason for separation. 
 
Regarding your request for an Honorable characterization of service, the Board found your uncharacterized discharge proper since you were discharged within the first 180 days of consecutive active duty.  By regulation, servicemembers who are processed for administrative separation within their first 180 days of consecutive active duty, are designated as entry level separations.  Entry-level separations are required to be issued an uncharacterized discharge unless exceptional circumstances regarding a service member’s conduct or performance exist that require for an exception to policy determination by the Secretary of the Navy.  After considering your record, the Board found no exceptional circumstances in your case to merit a change to your uncharacterized discharge.  Accordingly, the Board found insufficient evidence of error or injustice to warrant a change to your record. 
 
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 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, 
6/19/2020