Docket No. 3617-20 
Ref: Signature Date 


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 11 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 Navy in September 2004.  On 1 August 2005, you were seen by mental health for depression symptoms and diagnosed with adjustment disorder and borderline dependent traits.  Based on your diagnosis and the risk assessment associated with the possibility of you injuring yourself to get out of your enlistment obligation, you were recommended for administrative separation.  You were notified of administrative separation processing on 9 August 2005 for Convenience of the Government on the basis of a physical or mental condition and discharged on 22 August 2005 for condition not a disability.  In 2018, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) assigned you a disability rating of 50% for Major Depressive Disorder with unspecified anxiety disorder and unspecified personality disorder.  The VA increased your Major Depressive Disorder rating to 70% in 2019. 

The Board carefully considered your arguments that you deserve to be placed on the disability retirement list.  You assert that you were unfit for continued naval service due to your Major Depressive Disorder at the time of your discharge.  Unfortunately, the Board disagreed with your rationale for relief.  The Board determined the preponderance of the evidence does not support a finding that you were unfit for Major Depressive Disorder.  The 1 August 2005 medical report did not diagnose you with Major Depressive Disorder despite indications that you were suffering from depression related symptoms.  This medical evaluation conducted contemporaneously with your discharge was relied upon by the Board as evidence that your symptoms were not due to depression but an adjustment disorder related to your active duty service.  The board noted in the report that your mood and affect improved greatly when informed that you were being recommended for administrative separation.  Further, the medical report documented that your thought process was linear, logical, and goal oriented with unremarkable thought content.  In the Board’s opinion, these medical findings support the adjustment disorder diagnosis and your subsequent administrative separation for condition not a disability.  The Board also considered your VA ratings for Major Depressive Disorder but determined these were not probative on the issue of unfitness for continued naval service in 2005 since 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. The Board also felt the VA diagnosis and ratings, issued over 10 years after your discharge, occurred too distant in time to override the adjustment disorder diagnosis issued contemporaneously with your active duty service. The Board agreed that you may have been suffering from depressions symptoms in 2005, however, they felt those symptoms were not the reason you were medically determined to be unsuitable for continued military service. In their opinion, it was your adjustment disorder symptoms, a condition not ratable under the Disability Evaluation System, that created the need for the Navy to administratively discharge you.  Therefore, while the Board empathizes with your current medical condition, they felt compensation and treatment for your disability conditions fall outside the scope of the Department of Defense disability system and under the purview of the VA.  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.