RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS IN THE MATTER OF: DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2011-03132 COUNSEL: NONE HEARING DESIRED: NO ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: His DD Form 214 Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or Discharge be corrected as follows: 1. Show his pay grade as E-5 versus E-4 in item 5b. 2. He be awarded the Vietnam Service Medal with 1 Bronze Service Star (VSM W/1BSS). ADMINISTRATIVELY CORRECTED 3. He be awarded the Presidential Unit Citation (PUC) 4. His DD Form 214 be corrected to show 11 months of Foreign and/or Sea Service. ADMINISTRATIVELY CORRECTED ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: His DD Form 214 does not reflect the correct awards or length of overseas service and lists an erroneous pay grade. In support of his request, the applicant provides a personal statement with two excerpts of the history of 509th Bombardment Wing, his DD Form 214, copies of DD Form 1352-2 Travel Voucher, and documents extracted from his military personnel records. The applicant’s complete submission, with attachments, is at exhibit A. _________________ ______________________________________________ STATEMENT OF FACTS: The applicant is a former member of the Regular Air Force who served from 20 April 1966 to 19 February 1970. He was trained and served as an Aircraft Mechanic Journeyman and was progressively promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant (SSgt) with a pay grade of (E-4) effective 1 January 1970. The applicant was released from active duty with an honorable characterization of service. He served 3 years, and 10 months on active duty. The applicant’s DD Form 214 does not reflect that he was awarded a VSM W/1BSS or PUC. By letter dated 14 September 2011, AFPC/DPAPP advised the applicant they were able to verify and confirm his Foreign and/or Sea Service at Anderson AFB, Guam, as well as temporary duty (TDY) to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa and Chin Chuan Kang Air Base, Taiwan for a combined total foreign service of 0 years, 11 months, and 28 days. By letter dated 11 October 2011, AFPC/DPSIDRA advised the applicant they had verified his entitlement to the VSM w/BSS, the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Valor (AFOUA w/V), and the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm (RVNGC w/P). The applicant’s record will be updated to reflect these awards and decorations. Unfortunately, after a thorough review of Air Force Pamphlet 900-2, they were unable to verify that any of the applicant’s assigned units overseas received the PUC during his period of assignment. Therefore he is ineligible for award of the PUC. _______________________________________________________________ AIR FORCE EVALUATION: AFPC/DPSOE recommends the applicant’s request to reflect his grade as SSgt be time barred. A review of the applicant’s record reveals no orders promoting him to the grade of SSgt. His Air Force Form 7 reflects no entry in the grade data section promoting him to the grade of SSgt. They were unable to verify whether the applicant was considered for promotion to SSgt under the Weighted Airman Performance System (WAPS) as promotion history files are only maintained for a period of 10 years as outlined in, then, Air Force Regulation (AFR) 4-20, Records Disposition Schedule, Table 35-12, Rule 29. Ten years is generally considered an adequate period to resolve any promotion inquiries or concerns. However, based on his Date of Rank (DOR) to the rank of Sergeant (Sgt), as well as other minimum criteria, the applicant was eligible for consideration. The complete DPSOE evaluation is at exhibit C. APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION: A copy of the Air Force evaluation was forwarded to the applicant on 23 November 2011 for review and comment within 30 days. As of this date, no response has been received by this office. THE BOARD CONCLUDES THAT: 1. The applicant has exhausted all remedies provided by existing law or regulations. 2. The application was not timely filed; however, it is in the interest of justice to excuse the failure to timely file. 3. Insufficient relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the existence of error or injustice with regard to the applicant’s request for award of the PUC. We took notice of the applicant's complete submission in judging the merits of the case; however, we agree with the opinion and recommendation of the Air Force office of primary responsibility and adopt its rationale as the basis for our conclusion the applicant has not been the victim of an error or injustice. Therefore, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, we find no basis to recommend granting a portion of the relief sought in this application. 4. Notwithstanding our determination above, sufficient relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the existence of error or injustice regarding his request to show his pay grade as E-5 versus E-4 on his DD Form 214. The applicant contends that his DD Form 214 reflects a DOR of 1 January 1970, a rank of Staff Sergeant (SSgt) but reflects an incorrect pay grade of E-4. After a review of the evidence of record and the applicant’s complete submission we believe that relief is warranted. The Board notes that the Air Force office of primary responsibility states that based on the applicant’s DOR to the rank of Sgt as well as other minimum eligibility criteria; it appears the applicant was eligible for consideration for promotion to the next higher grade. We also note that his AF Form 7 reflects his DOR to the rank of Sgt with pay grade of E-4 as 1 January 1968. Therefore, we believe it is reasonable that he might have attained a promotion to SSgt. As such, we find the evidence sufficient to resolve any doubt in his favor. We note the applicant’s record will be administratively corrected to reflect the correct foreign service and his award of the VSM W/1BSS. Therefore, we recommend his record be corrected to the extent indicated below. ________________________________________________________________ THE BOARD DETERMINES THAT: The pertinent military records of the Department of the Air Force relating to APPLICANT be corrected to show that he was discharged on 19 February 1970, with a pay grade of E-5, rather than E-4. ________________________________________________________________ The following members of the Board considered this application BC-2011-03132 in Executive Session on 24 January 2012, under the provisions of AFI 36-2603: The following documentary evidence was considered: Exhibit A. DD Form 149, dated 13 August 2011, w/atchs. Exhibit B. Applicant's Master Personnel Records. Exhibit C. Letter, AFPC/DPSOE, dated 14 November 2011. Exhibit D. Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 23 November 2011.