RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS IN THE MATTER OF: DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2012-04612 COUNSEL: NONE HEARING DESIRED: NO ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: The character of separation on his DD Form 214, Report of Separation from the Armed Forces of the United States, be changed from undesirable to general. ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: 1. He was given an undesirable discharge because he said that he was homosexual. Although his discharge was within the law in 1952, considering his current health status, and low income, this discharge is too harsh. With the current new U.S. military laws allowing homosexuals to openly serve in the U.S. Armed Forces, he requests that the Board change his current character of service from undesirable to general. 2. Since his discharge, he worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 31 years until his retirement in January 1988. He married in 1955 and has five sons and one daughter. One of his sons served 24 years in the U.S. Army. His daughter’s two sons served in the U.S. Army. 3. He is now 80 years old. In February 2012, he started having health problems. He was hospitalized for approximately three weeks. Upon his release, he went to stay in a rehabilitation center for one month. Due to his need to have assistance with day-to-day living activities, he had to move into an assisted living home. His current salary does not cover the full cost of living there. His net salary is approximately $1,900, per month. The cost of staying at the assisted living facility is approximately $2,500, per month. However, the manager has allowed him to stay there while he tries to obtain military benefits. The applicant’s complete submission, with attachments, is at Exhibit A. ________________________________________________________________ STATEMENT OF FACTS: According to documents extracted from his military personnel record, the applicant is a former member of the Regular Air Force who enlisted on 4 June 1951. The applicant was released from the Air Force on 23 February 1952 under the provisions of AFR 35-66 (homosexuality) and received an undesirable discharge. He was credited with 8 months and 7 days of active duty service. ________________________________________________________________ AIR FORCE EVALUATION: 1. AFPC/DPSOR recommends his discharge be upgraded to honorable. DPSOR states the applicant’s discharge was based on his admitting to homosexual acts in January 1951. The applicant attests that his commanding officer offered him an undesirable discharge in lieu of facing a General Court Martial, which he accepted, and was subsequently discharged by reason of "Admission of Homosexual Acts." AFM 39-12, paragraph 2-108, provided that one who is found to be a Class II homosexual should generally be discharged with an undesirable discharge, unless particular circumstances in a given case warranted otherwise. 2. On 10 Sep 2011, the Under Secretary of Defense issued guidance pertaining to correction of military records requests resulting from the repeal of Title 10, Section 654, commonly known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT)". “Effective September 20, 2011, Service DRBs should normally grant requests to change the narrative reason for a discharge (the change should be "Secretarial Authority" (Separation program Designator Code (SPD) code JFF)), requests to re-characterize the discharge to Honorable, and/or requests to change the reentry code to an immediately-eligible-to-renter category (the new RE code should be 1J) when both of the following conditions are met: a. The original discharge was based solely upon DADT or a similar policy in place prior to enactment of DADT. b. There were no aggravating factors in the record, such as misconduct. Although each request must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, the award of an honorable or general discharge should normally be considered to indicate the absence of aggravating factors.” 3. Although the discharge was properly processed according to the applicable regulation, the applicant's discharge record indicates discharge was based solely on DADT or a similar policy and did not involve aggravating factors. 4. They recommend the applicant's service characterization be corrected to reflect “honorable” and the narrative reason for separation be changed to “Secretarial Authority”, SPD code to “JFF”. Additionally, at the time of the applicant's separation his reentry code should have been indicated on his DD Form 214, but for whatever reason it was not listed. As mentioned above, the Secretary of Defense has issued guidance pertaining to re- entry code changes for DADT. After corresponding with AFPC/DPSOA, they recommend a “1” re-entry code be added to the applicant's DD Form 214. At the time of the applicant's discharge there were no two digit RE codes and a “1” is the 1J equivalent. The complete AFPC/DPSOR evaluation is at Exhibit D. 1. AFPC/DPSOA states although not requested, their office addresses Re-entry (RE) codes involving separation under DADT or similar policy. DPSOA further states there was no RE code found on the applicant’s DD Form 214 or in his records. 2. DADT guidance states requests to change the RE code to 1J should be granted for members separated under DADT unless there was misconduct. However, the earliest guidance on RE codes they have is dated March 1954 and the equivalent of RE code 1J was “1”; there were no two digit RE codes at that time. 3. They defer to the OPR for the DD Form 214 to determine if an RE code should be added to the applicant’s form. Based on available guidance, they believe the applicant’s RE code on his DD Form 214 should be listed as “2” if it is determined an RE code should have been listed. The complete AFPC/DPSOA evaluation is at Exhibit D. ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATIONS: Copies of the Air Force evaluations were forwarded to the applicant on 8 March 2013, for review and comment within 30 days (Exhibit E). To date, a response has not been received. _________________________________________________________________ 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. Sufficient relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the existence of an injustice. In light of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) and the applicant's record of performance, it would be appropriate to change the narrative reason to "Secretarial Authority." In a memorandum, dated 20 September 2011, the Under Secretary of Defense published guidance that Service Discharge Review Boards should normally grant requests to change the narrative reason for discharge (the change should be to "Secretarial Authority") when both of the following conditions are met: (1) the original discharge was based solely on DADT or a similar policy in place prior to enactment of DADT and (2) there were no aggravating factors in the record, such as misconduct. Based on our review of the evidence of record, the applicant's discharge meets these requirements. With regard to the AFPC/DPSOA evaluation regarding the applicant’s RE code, since no RE code is reflected on the applicant’s DD Form 214 that was issued in conjunction with his 1952 discharge, no action is required. Therefore, we recommend the applicant's record be corrected as indicated below. ________________________________________________________________ THE BOARD RECOMMENDS THAT: The pertinent military records of the Department of the Air Force relating to APPLICANT be corrected to show that on 23 February 1952, he was honorably discharged with a narrative reason for separation of “Secretarial Authority” and was furnished an Honorable Discharge certificate. ________________________________________________________________ The following members of the Board considered this application in Executive Session on 11 July 2013, under the provisions of AFI 36-2603: , Panel Chair , Member , Member The following documentary evidence pertaining to AFBCMR Docket Number BC-2012-04612 was considered: Exhibit A. DD Form 149, dated 24 August 2012, w/atchs. Exhibit B. Applicant’s Master Personnel Records. Exhibit C. Letter, AFPC/DPSOR, dated 18 December 2012. Exhibit E. Letter, AFPC/DPSOA, dated 24 January 2013 Exhibit F. Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 8 March 2013.