AIR FORCE DISCHARGE REVIEW BOARD HEARING RECORD

NAME OF SERVICE MEMBER (LAST, FIRST MIDDLE INITIAL)

GRADE

AlC

RECORD REVIEW

AFSN/SSAN

ADDRESS AND OR ORGANIZATION OF COUNSEL

HON	GEN

UOTHC	OTHER	DENY

X+* X+* X+*
X+*

ISSUES

A93.01

INDEX NUMBER

A67.50

1 ORDER APPOINTING THE BOARD
2	APPLICATION FOR REVIEW OF DISCHARGE
3	LEITER OF NOTIFICATION
4	BRIEF OF PERSONNEL FILE COUNSEL'S RELEASE TO THE BOARD
ADDITIONAL EXHIBITS SUBMITTED AT TIME OF PERSONAL  APPEARANCE

X+*

TAPE RECORDING OF PERSONAL APPEARANCE HEARING

HEARING DATE	CASE NUMBER

02 Nov 2010	FD-2008-00266

Case heard in Washington, D.C.

Advise applicant of the decision of the Board and the right to submit an application to the AFBCMR.

Names and votes will be made available to the applicant at the applicant's request.

+RE Code
*Narrative reason

TO:	
SAF/MRBR
550 C STREET WEST, SUITE 40 RANDOLPH AFB, TX 78150-4742		FROM:	
SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE PERSONNEL COUNCIL AIR FORCE DISCHARGE REVIEW BOARD
1535 COMMAND DR, EE WING, JRD FLOOR
ANDREWS AFB, MD 20762-7001		

AFHQ FORM 0-2077, JAN 00

(EF-V2)	Previous

AIR FORCE DISCHARGE REVIEW BOARD DECISIONAL RATIONALE	CASE NUMBER

FD-2008-00266	

GENERAL: The applicant appeals for upgrade of discharge to honorable, to change the reason and authority for the discharge, and to change the reenlistment code.

The applicant appeared and testified before the Discharge Review Board (DRB), without counsel, at Andrews AFB on 02 Nov 2010.  The following additional exhibits were submitted at the hearing:
Exhibit #5: Applicant's Contentions
Exhibit #6: two (2) Character reference letters.

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

FINDING: The Board denies the upgrade of the discharge, change of reason and authority for discharge, and change of reenlistment code.

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.

ISSUE: Applicant submitted no issues regarding the inequity or impropriety of his discharge. Applicant did persist in his denial of culpability for the misconduct addressed by command through the Article 15 action he received -- that is his failure to pay $9,000.00 in rent to his Turkish national landlord. However, he provided no exculpatory information or evidence that was unavailable to his commander at the time the Article 15 was issued. Further, Applicant did not allege any improprieties in the processing of the Article 15 action. The DRB noted that Applicant had accepted the Article  15 forum after he had consulted with counsel and did not appeal his commander's subsequent finding of guilt. Thus, the DRB opined that the Article 15 was warranted and appropriate for the misconduct it addressed. Applicant also submitted that he should not be penalized indefinitely for a mistake he made when young and immature. The DRB acknowledged that the applicant was 31 years of age when the discharge took place, and he had never before rented an apartment or been required to pay for utility bills. Nonetheless, there is no evidence Applicant was immature or did not know right from wrong. The Board opined the applicant was older than the vast majority of first-term members who properly adhere to the Air Force's standards of conduct. The Board concluded that the negative aspects of the applicant's service outweighed the positive contributions he made in his Air Force career. The characterization of the discharge received by the applicant was found to be appropriate due to the misconduct.

CONCLUSION: 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 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 and determines the discharge should remain unchanged.

Attachment: Examiner's Brief