RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS IN THE MATTER OF: DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2012-02235 COUNSEL: NONE HEARING DESIRED: NO ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: His Reserve retirement pay be recalculated under the Temporary Early Retirement Authority (TERA). ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: According to his DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, he qualifies for recomputation of his retirement pay. He has completed the requirements and terms. There was no notice that the program was ending. In support of his appeal, the applicant provides his DD Form 214, an e-mail and letters of verification of his service. The applicant’s complete submission, with attachments, is at Exhibit A. ________________________________________________________________ STATEMENT OF FACTS: The applicant is a former member of the Air National Guard, who retired on 30 September 1996 under the TERA program after serving 17 years, 2 months and 10 days. Documentation submitted by the applicant shows the TERA program allowed members the opportunity to perform community service in the education, medical or law enforcement fields to earn additional service credits that could be used to enhance their retirement pay upon reaching the age of 62. Members were required to advise the TERA program manager at the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) of their employment at the time they would have attained 20 years. The TERA program was terminated by Congress on 31 December 2001. The last possible date for reporting community service was 30 December 2006. The program was officially closed by the Department of Defense on 31 December 2006. AIR FORCE EVALUATION: The Defense Finance and Accounting Service does not make a recommendation. A member who retires under TERA is entitled to recomputation of retired pay if such member is credited with employment under the provisions of 10 U.S.C. 1143a note. To be credited, the employment in public or community service must be performed during the enhanced retirement qualification period. The enhanced retirement qualification period is the period between the date of early retirement and the date on which the member would have otherwise completed 20 years of military service for purposes of computing the members retired pay. The enhanced retirement period does not extend past the age of 62. The DMDC will notify DFAS of the total number of years, months, and days of credited employment. The total years of service used in the original computation plus the years, months and days of service used in the original computation plus the years, months and days associated with the certified periods of full-time employment credited under the provisions of 10 U.S.C. 1143a note. The credit for the employment periods is added to the previous credited service periods of active duty. The recomputation is made by using each of the new total years of service credited as 1/12th of a year disregarding any remaining fractional part of the month. In no case will the number of months applicable to these procedures exceed 240. The maximum retired pay under the recomputation may not exceed 50 percent of the applicable rate of basic pay. The applicant should have been provided instructions concerning his retirement under TERA. DFAS is unable to verify that he was provided instructions regarding TERA. Therefore, if the Board verifies his employment during the qualification period and provides the total years, months and days of service used in the original computation, plus the years, months and days associated with the certified periods of full time employment credited under 10 U.S.C. 1143a note, his pay will be recalculated and result in an increase to his retirement pay with retroactive credit from the month following the date he turned 62 years old. The complete DFAS 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 1 October 2012, for review and comment within 30 days (Exhibit D). As of this date, this office has received no response. ADDITIONAL AIR FORCE EVALUATION: The Office of General Counsel, Military and Civilian Pay Law, Defense Finance and Accounting Service, states there is no basis for granting this case. The applicant seeks to change his military record to allow him credit for additional service for the purpose of computing his retired pay. The applicant retired on 1 October 1996 under the provisions of Public Law 102-484, dated 23 October 1992, better known as TERA. This law allowed certain qualifying members with over 15, but less than 20 years of total active duty service to be voluntarily retired with less than 20 years of active service. It also allowed those members the opportunity to apply some post-retirement public service employment towards their military retirement starting at the age of 62. However, to obtain credit, the public service must have taken place after retirement, but before the member would have met 20 years of military service had they remained on active duty. This period was called the Enhanced Retirement Qualification Period (ERQP). In order for a member to be entitled to an increase in retired pay based on public service, he would have had to be employed by a public service organization listed on the registry and the employment must have been within the period of the members ERQP. For this credit, the applicant’s employment with a public service organization should have been after 1 October 1996 and before 7 April 1997. There is no evidence he was employed by a public service organization between those dates. Therefore, no relief is warranted. The applicant also contends he was not informed that the post- retirement public service employment program had ended. However, even if he had reported his service, he would not have received any additional credit because the public service that he engaged in did not occur during the ERQP. A review of the law in this case reveals there is no basis for granting additional service computation of his military pay based on the public service which he engaged in after his enhanced retirement qualification period. The complete GC evaluation is at Exhibit E. ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF THE ADDITIONAL AIR FORCE EVALUATION: A copy of the Air Force evaluation was forwarded to the applicant on 28 August 2013, for review and comment within 30 days (Exhibit F). As of this date, this office has received no response. 1. The applicant has exhausted all remedies provided by existing law or regulations. 2. The application was timely filed. 3. Insufficient relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the existence of error or injustice. After a thorough review of the applicant’s submission in judging the merits of the case, we are not persuaded that a change in the record is warranted. Therefore, we agree with the opinion and recommendation of DFAS and adopt its rationale as the basis for our conclusion that the applicant’s public service did not occur within the enhanced retirement qualification period as required by law. Regrettably, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, we find no basis to recommend granting the relief sought in this application. ________________________________________________________________ THE BOARD DETERMINES THAT: The applicant be notified that the evidence presented did not demonstrate the existence of an error or injustice; that the application was denied without a personal appearance; and that the application will only be reconsidered upon the submission of newly discovered relevant evidence not considered with this application. ________________________________________________________________ The following members of the Board considered BCMR Docket Number BC-2012-02235 in Executive Session on 21 February 2013 and on 15 October 2013, under the provisions of AFI 36-2603: The following documentary evidence was considered: Exhibit A. DD Form 149, dated 16 May 12, w/atchs. Exhibit B. Applicant's Master Personnel Records. Exhibit C. Letter, DFAS, dated 24 Sep 12. Exhibit D. Letter, SAF/MRBC, dated 1 Oct 12. Exhibit E. Letter, DFAS/GC, dated 1 Aug 13. Exhibit F. Letter, SAF/MRBC, dated 28 Aug 13.