RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS IN THE MATTER OF: DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2012-05214 COUNSEL: NONE HEARING DESIRED: YES ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: 1. His fitness assessments (FAs), dated 10 January 2011, 6 April 2011, 5 July 2011 and 26 October 2011, be removed from the Air Force Fitness Management System (AFFMS). 2. The demotion action effective 31 May 2011, be set-aside and he be reinstated to master sergeant/E-7 with a date of rank of 1 June 2008. 3. The pending discharge action against him be voided. ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: His underlying medical condition was not diagnosed, despite attempts to seek treatment. He believes the FAs are inaccurate due to an undiagnosed medical condition, Hallux Valgus. In an attempt to pass his FA, he ran at least two miles per day. Ultimately, he increased the run to three miles in addition to an intense physical training (PT) program. After a couple of months of noticing pain throughout his feet and legs, he sought medical treatment on 14 February 2011. His primary care manager (PCM) prescribed Motrin and told him to continue to run. He explained that he had previously been diagnosed with flat feet and asked if that diagnosis could be the cause of the pain in his legs. He was told the pain was from him overcompensating due to the pain in his knee. The complaint of his feet was not addressed further, or reflected in his record during that appointment. Additionally, he was not issued a profile prohibiting him from running. During a medical appointment on 1 April 2011, his PCM referred him to physical therapy for his knee, again; he was not issued a profile for running. He discussed his past failures and also explained that his squadron PT program consisted of running three times a week. The PCM explained that he did not like to issue profiles and again stated that he considered his foot pain the result of overcompensation from the knee pain. He attended two physical therapy appointments: 14 April 2011 and 10 May 2011. On 15 May 2011, he went to the emergency room due to severe swelling in his feet. His foot was swollen to the point that he could not walk or wear a shoe. An x-ray revealed nothing was broken. He left the emergency room with crutches and Motrin and told to follow-up with his PCM. During the follow-up, the PCM stated that he may have gout. He discussed his FA failures with the PCM; however, the PCM still would not issue a profile. He was prescribed medication for the gout and told that he would need to undergo a blood test to rule out that diagnosis. Later his PCM decided he did not need the test for gout as he was certain that gout was the correct diagnosis. He continued to run and improve on the FAs despite tremendous pain in his foot. He was administratively demoted from E-7 to E-6 on 31 May 2011 after failing the 6 April 2011 FA. On 1 August 2011, he had another appointment with his PCM for a medical record review to determine if there were any medical issues that could have prevented him from passing the FAs. He again brought up the diagnosis of flat feet and the PCM dismissed his previous diagnosis as a contributing factor. He requested a profile due to the amount of pain he continued to experience while running. His PCM refused to initiate a profile and told him that the diagnosis of gout would not prevent him from passing the FAs as long as he took Motrin before the run. No other tests were conducted. He continued to run every day in addition to participating in squadron PT in an attempt to improve and pass the FA. He could not run without first taking Motrin. On 4 October 2011, he was notified of a pending discharge action due to the 5 July 2011 FA failure. On 5 October 2011, he attended a rapid discharge physical. During this appointment, he learned that his previous PCM had separated from the Air Force and he had been assigned another PCM. The new PCM stated that he should not have been running or testing if he had gout in his foot. He explained that he had not had any flare ups (extreme swelling) since his emergency room visit and requested a review of his medical records to see if she would be willing to write a statement. He attempted to contact her for the statement, however, he did not hear back from her. On 17 October 2011, he scheduled another medical appointment due to pain after participating in squadron PT. He saw a different medical provider. After the medical examination and a review of his x-ray, he was placed on a profile for two weeks and referred to the podiatry clinic. On 24 October 2011, he spoke with the podiatrist. While no new x-rays were taken, the podiatrist stated the x-rays from 15 May 2011 noted irregular appearances and should have been further investigated at that time. He was diagnosed with Hallux Valgus based on those same x-rays some five months later. He was told that the previous diagnosis of flat feet should have been a trigger to do more tests. He was placed on a profile and told to try the walk his next assessment which was scheduled two days later. The podiatrist explained the rigorous walk test would still aggravate his condition, yet, he wanted him to try. He failed the FA and followed up with the podiatrist. His profile was then amended to exempt him from the cardio component. He has since been reassigned to another base and was referred to a civilian podiatrist. He was seen by this podiatrist on 30 August 2012. The civilian podiatrist stated this condition should have been diagnosed and corrected long ago. The new x- rays revealed a bone spur in his right foot, as well as, the Hallux Valgus in his left foot. In October 2012, he had surgery on both feet. There were five screws placed in his left foot to correct the deformity and the bone spur was removed from his right foot. The podiatrist opined that the previous diagnosis of gout was incorrect. He noted the pain in his knee was related to the condition of his feet. He believes he could have passed the FAs from January, April, July and October 2011 had he been exempted from the cardio portion. He had not requested the removal of the January 2011 FA due to lack of medical documentation. However, he believes that FA was affected by his undiagnosed medical condition, as well. He did not seek medical attention until February because he thought he could work through the pain. Had the proper procedures been followed when he did seek medical attention, he would not have been required to test for at least 6 months, instead of every 90 days. This may have helped his recovery rather than aggravate his condition. During his discharge board, the Unit Fitness Program manager testified that his motivation was never an issue. He stated that they worked out together and spoke of his attitude during their workouts. He also spoke about the specifics of their workouts, as well as, the squadron PT program. There was also testimony from the physical training leader stating they ran three miles together every day and attended squadron PT. He also testified to his attitude and the specifics of their workouts. The applicant requests the Board consider his 18 years of honorable service, his nine deployments and his numerous accomplishments during his career. He further states that his superiors, peers and subordinates consider him an asset in technical skills, career field knowledge and administrative skills in the office. The applicant’s complete submission, with attachments, is at Exhibit A. ________________________________________________________________ STATEMENT OF FACTS: The applicant is currently serving in the Regular Air Force in the grade of technical sergeant. He received “unsatisfactory” results on his 10 January 2011, 6 April 2011, 5 July 2011 and 26 October 2011 FAs. As a result of these failures he was demoted to technical sergeant on 31 May 2011. A resume of the applicant’s FA results are as follows: Date Composite Score Rating 7 Dec 12 82.00 Satisfactory 24 Aug 12 65.75 Unsatisfactory 9 Feb 12 82.25 Satisfactory *26 Oct 11 70.60 Unsatisfactory * 5 Jul 11 72.40 Unsatisfactory * 6 Apr 11 69.10 Unsatisfactory *10 Jan 11 46.20 Unsatisfactory * Contested FAs The applicant has a case pending at the Secretary of the Air Force Personnel Council (SAFPC) awaiting the outcome of this case. ________________________________________________________________ AIR FORCE EVALUATION: AFPC/DPSIM recommends the applicant be exempted from the cardio portions of the FAs dated 6 April 2011, 5 July 2011 and 26 October 2011. The applicant has provided significant evidence that he had a continuing injury that affected his ability to perform the FAs, beginning approximately in February 2011. Considering his medical history, it is evident that he should have been exempt from the cardio component of the FA. There is, however, no evidence indicating he should have been exempted from any other component of the FA. The complete DPSIM evaluation, with attachment, is at Exhibit C. AFPC/DPSOE defers to DPSIM’s recommendation. The applicant was promoted to master sergeant during cycle 07E7 and received a date of rank of 1 June 2008. He received two referral enlisted performance reports, 20 October 2010 and 19 August 2011 for failing to meet fitness standards. On 31 May 2011, he was demoted to the rank of technical sergeant due to the 6 April 2011 failed FA and received a suspended discharge resulting from the 5 July 2011 FA failure. DPSIM has recommended the cardio portions of the 6 April 2011, 5 July 2011 and 26 October 2011, FAs be changed to reflect exempt resulting in satisfactory results for those assessments. Should the Board agree, the applicant would be eligible for restoration of his rank, provided he has his commander’s approval. The complete DPSOE evaluation is at Exhibit D. ________________________________________________________________ APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION: The applicant agrees with the Air Force advisory’s position that there was no documentation to support removing the entire assessments. He states that he did not provide the AF Form 422 as he was not issued an exemption at the time. He also submits additional documentation to apprise the Board of his current status. The applicant’s complete response, with attachments, is at Exhibit F. ________________________________________________________________ THE BOARD CONCLUDES THAT: 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 an error or injustice with regard to the applicant’s request to remove the contested FAs from the AFFMS in their entirety. After thoroughly reviewing the evidence of record and noting the applicant's contentions, we are not persuaded the entire contested FAs are in error or unjust. In the absence of documentation indicating the applicant should have been exempt from completing the FAs, we find insufficient evidence to warrant removal of the entire requested FAs. 4. Notwithstanding the above, we believe some relief is warranted. We find the applicant’s medical condition had a direct impact on his ability to pass the 10 January 2011, 6 April 2011, 5 July 2011 and 26 October 2011 fitness assessments. Although the applicant provided medical evidence subsequent to his 10 January 2011 FA, given the close proximity in time, we find it reasonable that his medical condition was an issue for the 10 January 2011 FA assessment. Therefore, in addition to the 10 January 2011 FA, we agree with the recommendation of the office of primary responsibility to “exempt” the applicant from the cardio component of the 6 April 2011, 5 July 2011 and 26 October 2011 FAs in AFFMS. Since we have favorably considered the correction to the applicant’s FAs, we also direct his reinstatement of promotion to master sergeant. In removing the stated FAs from the AFFMS, we have confirmed with SAFPC that there will no longer be a basis for discharge upon removal of the said assessments. Accordingly, we recommend the applicant’s records be corrected to the extent 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: a. The cardio components of the fitness assessments dated 10 January 2011, 6 April 2011, 5 July 2011 and 26 October 2011, be amended to reflect exempt in the Air Force Fitness Management System (AFFMS). b. It is further recommended that he be reinstated to the grade of master sergeant (E-7) effective and with a date of rank of 1 June 2008. ________________________________________________________________ The following members of the Board considered AFBCMR Docket Number BC-2012-05214 in Executive Session on 30 April 2013 under the provisions of AFI 36-2603: All members voted to correct the record, as recommended. The following documentary evidence was considered: Exhibit A. DD Form 149, dated 4 Nov 12, w/atchs. Exhibit B. Applicant’s Master Personnel Records. Exhibit C. Letter, AFPC/DPSIM, dated 3 Jan 13, w/atch. Exhibit D. Letter, AFPC/DPSOE, dated 13 Jan 13. Exhibit E. Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 1 Mar 13. Exhibit F. Letter, Applicant’s Response, dated 8 Mar 13.