!	AIR FORCE DISCHARGE REVIEW BOARD HEARING RECORD

-NAME OF SERVICEhf EMBER (LAST, FIRST MIDDLE INITIAL)

GRADE	AFSN/SSAN

TYPE

GEN

PERSONAL  APPEARANCE

SSGT
x

RECORD REVIEW

YES	No
x

NAME  OF COUNSEL AND OR ORGANIZATION

ADDRESS AND OR ORGANIZATION  OF COUNSEL

MEMBER SITTING
-------------------------------------- .'

HON	GEN

UOTHC	OTHER

DENY

x

'L  .	-+-	---1	+--	-+-	--t-	1
x
x

SSUES

A94.53

INDEX NUMBER

A66.00

x
x

1	ORDER  APPOINTING  THE BOARD
2	APPLICATION FOR REVIEW OF DISCHARGE
3	LETTER OF NOTIFICA Tl ON
4	BRIEF OF PERSONNEL FILE COUNSEL'S RELEASE TO THE BOARD

ADDITIONAL EXHIBITS SUBMITTED AT TIME OF PERSONAL APPEARANCE
TAPE RECORDING OF PERSONAL APPEARANCE

HEARING DATE	CASE NUMBER

11 Aug 2004	FD-2004-00141

Case heard at Washington, D.C.

Advise applicant of the decision of the Board, the right to a personal appearance with/without counsel, and the right to submit an application to the AFBCMR.

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SAF/MRBR
550 C STREET	T, SUITE 40
RANDOLPH AFB, TX 781 50-4742

SECRETARY  OF THE AIR FORCE PERSONNEL COUNCIL AIR FORCE DISCHARGE REVIEW BOARD
1535 COMMAND DR, EE WING, 3RD FLOOR ANDREWS AFB, MD 20762-7002

AFHQ FORM 0-2077, JAN 00	(EF-V2)	Previous edition will be used

-·

AIR FORCE DISCHARGE  REVIEW BOARD DECISIONAL  RATIONALE	CASE NUMBER

FD-2004-00141	

GENERAL:  The applicant appeals for upgrade of discharge to honorable.

The applicant was offered a personal appearance before the Discharge Review Board (DRB) but declined to exercise this right.

The attached brief contains available pertinent data on the applicant and the factors leading to the discharge.

FINDINGS:  Upgrade of discharge is denied.

The Board finds the applicant submitted no issues contesting the equity or propriety of the discharge, and after a thorough review of the record, the Board was unable to identify any that would justify a change of discharge.

ISSUES: Applicant was recommended for discharge based on both drug abuse and misconduct; the records indicated the applicant received five Letters of Counseling (LOCs) for being late to work, and a commander­ directed urinalysis was returned positive for the presence of cocaine. Member exercised his right to an administrative discharge board and the board found that member  was late to work five times and did wrongfully use cocaine. The board however decided member should be discharged only on the basis of the drug abuse but not for misconduct. Nevertheless, they further recommended his service be characterized as general, under honorable conditions. In this instance, the urinalysis could result in no less than an honorable discharge because it was the product of a commander-directed test. However, a general discharge could be approved if based on other derogatory data that occurred during the current enlistment, which the five LOCs constituted. But administrative requirements in place at the time of applicant's discharge required the decision authority to clearly articulate in the instrument directing the discharge that the characterization of service was based on this specific derogatory information in the current enlistment and not on the commander-directed urinalysis results. This was not done. In denying the applicant's appeal, the Board concluded that, based on the available evidence, this was a harmless error. The Board further concluded the misconduct was a significant departure from conduct expected of all military members and the characterization of the discharge received by the applicant was therefore appropriate.

In summary, the Board found no evidence of impropriety or inequity in this case on which to base an upgrade of discharge.

CONCLUSIONS: The Discharge Review Board concludes that the discharge was consistent with the procedural and substantive requirements of the discharge regulation and was within the discretion of the discharge authority and that the applicant was provided full administrative due process.

In view of the foregoing findings the Board further concludes that there exists no legal or equitable basis for upgrade of discharge, thus the applicant's discharge should not be changed.

Attachment: Examiner's Brief