RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

IN THE MATTER OF:	DOCKET NUMBER:  BC-2019-00561

XXXXXXXXXXXXX	COUNSEL:  NONE

	HEARING REQUESTED:  NO

APPLICANT’S REQUEST

His general (under honorable conditions) discharge be upgraded honorable based on the repeal of Title 10, United States Code, Section 654.

APPLICANT’S CONTENTIONS

In light of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT), he asks the Board to upgrade his discharge.

The applicant’s complete submission is at Exhibit A.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The applicant is a former Air Force Reserve captain (O-3). 

The applicant served on active duty from 1 August 1961 to 5 June 1962, and was honorably discharged to accept a commission in the Air Force Reserve.

On 6 June 1962, the applicant was commissioned as a second lieutenant (O-1) in the Reserve Air Force.

On 29 June 1967, the applicant was notified of his commander’s intent to recommend he be discharged from the Air Force, under the provisions of AFR 35-66, Discharge of Homosexuals, because he was classified as a Class II homosexual.

On 12 July 1967, the applicant tendered his resignation because he was being considered for separation under the provisions of AFR 35-66.

On 11 September 1967, the Secretary of the Air Force accepted the applicant’s resignation and directed he be issued an under other than honorable discharge certificate.

On 22 September 1967, the applicant was discharged with an under other than honorable character of service.  He was credited with 6 years, 6 months and 16 days of active service.

On 24 May 1977, contrary to the applicant’s request for an upgrade to honorable, the Air Force Discharge Review Board upgraded his discharge to general (under honorable conditions).  The reason for this action was the applicant was honorably discharged from a previous enlistment and completed more than 24 months of satisfactory service.  However, a characterization to honorable was not warranted due to his record of numerous homosexual acts.

For more information, see the excerpt of the applicant’s record at Exhibit B.

APPLICABLE AUTHORITY

On 20 September 2011, with the repeal of the law commonly known as DADT, Title 10 U.S.C. § 654, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued supplemental policy guidance on correcting military records of former service members who had been discharged under that law or a precursor.  The guidance applied to the following types of requests:  changing the narrative reason for a discharge; re-characterizing service as honorable; changing a reentry code to one allowing immediate eligibility to reenter service.  The guidance directed that such requests should normally be granted when both of the following conditions are true: (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.  For meritorious cases, the guidance further directed the use of “Secretarial Authority” as the new narrative reason for separation, with Separation Program Designator code “JFF” and reentry code “1J.”  Finally, the guidance noted that while each request must be evaluated individually, an honorable or under honorable conditions (general) discharge should normally be considered to indicate the absence of aggravating factors.

The complete DoD policy is at Exhibit C.

APPLICANT’S REVIEW OF APPLICABLE AUTHORITY

The Board sent a copy of the DoD policy to the applicant on 2 March 2020 for comment (Exhibit D), but has received no response.

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

2.  The application is not timely, but it is in the interest of justice to excuse the delay.

2.  The applicant exhausted all available non-judicial relief before applying to the Board.

3.  After reviewing all Exhibits, the Board concludes the applicant is the victim of an injustice.  While the Board finds no error in the original discharge process, the Board recommends relief based on the repeal of DADT.  The absence of aggravating factors in the applicant’s record meets the criteria of the DoD policy on records correction following the repeal of DADT.  Therefore, the Board recommends correcting the applicant’s record as indicated below.

RECOMMENDATION

The pertinent military records of the Department of the Air Force relating to APPLICANT be corrected to show on 22 September 1967, he was discharged with an “Honorable” Character of Service,  a Separation Code of “JFF,” a Narrative Reason for Separation of “Secretarial Authority,” and a Reenlistment Code of “1J.”

CERTIFICATION

The following quorum of the Board, as defined in Air Force Instruction (AFI) 36-2603, Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records (AFBCMR), paragraph 1.5, considered Docket Number BC-2019-00561 in Executive Session on 8 May 2020:

, Panel Chair
, Panel Member
, Panel Member

All members voted to correct the record.  The panel considered the following:

Exhibit A:	Application, DD Form 149, w/atchs, dated 4 October 2018.
Exhibit B:	Documentary evidence, including relevant excerpts from official records.
Exhibit C:	DoD Policy on Correcting Military Records after Repeal of DADT, 
20 September 2011.
Exhibit D:	Notification of DoD Policy, SAF/MRBC to applicant, dated 2 March 2020.

Taken together with all Exhibits, this document constitutes the true and complete Record of Proceedings, as required by AFI 36-2603, paragraph 4.11.9.