RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS AIR FORCE BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS IN THE MATTER OF: DOCKET NUMBER: BC-2014-05090 XXXXXXXXXX COUNSEL: NONE HEARING DESIRED: NO APPLICANT REQUESTS THAT: The end of tour date to Reserve Order A5G4XT, be corrected. APPLICANT CONTENDS THAT: Due to circumstances beyond her control, an amendment to her orders was not completed and prevented her from utilizing leave. The applicant’s complete submission, with attachments, is at Exhibit A. STATEMENT OF FACTS: The applicant is currently serving in the Air Force Reserve in the grade of master sergeant (E-7). According to Reserve Order A5G4XT dated 6 May 2013, the applicant was mobilized under Title 10 United States Code, Section 12302, Ready Reserve, in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, during the period 21 June 2013 to 16 February 2014. According to the applicant’s Leave Record she accrued 20 days of leave for the period ending 16 February 2014. According to the applicant’s Point Credit Accounting and Reporting System (PCARS) printout dated 1 April 2016, she did not perform active duty during the period of 17 February 2014 to 3 March 2014. According to the applicant’s travel voucher, she arrived at home station on 28 January 2014. Her orders ended on 16 February 2014 which only allowed for 19 days to utilize 14 days post deployment stand-down time (PDSDT) and 20 days of accrued leave (34 days). ? AIR FORCE EVALUATION: AFRC/A1RR recommends the applicant’s orders be extended. The applicant [and other similarly situated personnel] was mobilized and deployed in support of ongoing operations; unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond her control, the mobilization authority in which she was activated expired prior to her orders being extended. This situation occurred due to personnel not leaving the deployed location when originally scheduled. The majority of these delays were attributed to transportation delays. This left her in a hardship and unable to complete final travel vouchers or receive pay and allowances for the additional days warranted for this activation. It was through no fault of the applicant the request to extend her orders was not approved. Problems with extending orders were not encountered until mid- to-late August 2013. Around that time, it was determined requests for mobilization extensions could not be processed on personnel whose Partial Mobilization (PM) authority would expire prior to the extension being approved. However, it took a minimum of 3 weeks to process extension requests of 15 days or more and 10 days to process request less than 15 days. Based on this timeline, any extension request whose PM Message authority expired would have to be submitted as an Exception to Policy (ETP). AFRC/A1RR was not aware of this policy, nor did they know what was required to submit a request for an ETP. After much discussion, and a series of policy memorandums regarding the ETP procedures, it was determined an AFBCMR review would be the best course of action to correct the applicant’s record. A complete copy of the AFRC/A1RR evaluation is at Exhibit C. APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF AIR FORCE EVALUATION: On 2 July 2014, a copy of the Air Force evaluation was forwarded to the applicant for review and comment within 30 days. As of this date, no response has been received by this office (Exhibit D). ADDITIONAL AIR FORCE EVALUATION: SAF/MRM recommends the lost leave the applicant earned be restored. SAF/MR Memorandum, Exception to Policy (ETP) for Military Personnel Appropriation (MPA) Tours for Air Reserve Component (ARC) Airmen Involuntarily Held in the AFCENT AOR, dated 19 December 2013, approved a temporary ETP to allow Air Reserve Component members on MPA tour to exercise the leave days they were unable to use due to a delay in returning from the USAFCENT area of responsibility. However, the ETP expired on 30 March 2014, several months prior to this request for the same authority. Based upon the submitted information, leave was lost through no fault of the applicant. A complete copy of the SAF/MRM evaluation, with attachments, is at Exhibit E. APPLICANT'S REVIEW OF ADDITIONAL AIR FORCE EVALUATION: On 27 January 2016, a copy of the Air Force evaluation was forwarded to the applicant for review and comment within 30 days. As of this date, no response has been received by this office (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. Sufficient relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the existence of an error or injustice. We took notice of the applicant's complete submission in judging the merits of the case and agree with the opinion and recommendation of the Air Force office of primary responsibility and adopt some of its rationale as the basis for our conclusion the applicant has been the victim of an error or injustice. We note that SAF/MRM recommends the lost leave the applicant earned be restored; however, according to the applicant’s Leave Record as of 31 January 2015, she had a leave balance of 20 days with zero days leave lost. Therefore, we do not find the applicant lost any leave. However, we believe correcting the applicant’s record to extend her orders to 3 March 2014, allows the applicant to receive compensation of military pay, points, and applicable benefits for the 20 days of leave provides the applicant full and fitting relief. We also believe it is appropriate to further correct the applicant’s records to reflect that 12 February – 3 March 2014 was classified as ordinary leave to ensure the applicant is actually charged for the leave and preclude the possibility of an unearned windfall. Accordingly, we recommend the applicant's records be corrected as set forth below. THE BOARD RECOMMENDS THAT: The pertinent military records of the Department of the Air Force relating to the APPLICANT be corrected to show that she was not relieved from mobilization under Title 10, United States Code, Section 12302, Ready Reserve, in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM on 16 February 2014, but continued to serve on active duty, in an ordinary leave status, until 3 March 2014, and that 12 February – 3 March 2014 was in an ordinary leave status. The following members of the Board considered AFBCMR Docket Number BC-2014-05090 in Executive Session on 4 August 2015 and 14 April 2016, under the provisions of AFI 36-2603: , Panel Chair , Member , Member All members voted to correct the records as recommended. The following documentary evidence was considered: Exhibit A. DD Form 149, dated 29 November 2014, w/atchs. Exhibit B. Applicant's Master Personnel Records. Exhibit C. Memorandum, AFRC/A1RR, dated 29 June 2015. Exhibit D. Letter, SAF/MRBR, dated 2 July 2015. Exhibit E. Memorandum, SAF/MRM, dated 22 September 2015, w/atchs. Exhibit F. Letter, AFBCMR, dated 27 January 2016. 1 2