MEMORANDUM OF CONSIDERATION

           IN THE CASE OF: 	  

	BOARD DATE:            6 July 2000                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999031394

	I certify that hereinafter is recorded the record of consideration of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in the case of the above-named individual.

	Mr. Carl W. S. Chun		Director	
	Mr. Edmund P. Mercanti		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Calvin M. Fowler		Chairperson	
	Mr. Ernest M. Willcher		Member	
	Mr. John P. Infante		Member	

	The Board, established pursuant to authority contained in 10 U.S.C. 1552, convened at the call of the Chairperson on the above date.  In accordance with Army Regulation 15-185, the application and the available military records pertinent to the corrective action requested were reviewed to determine whether to authorize a formal hearing, recommend that the records be corrected without a formal hearing, or to deny the application without a formal hearing if it is determined that insufficient relevant evidence has been presented to demonstrate the existence of probable material error or injustice.

	The applicant requests correction of military records as stated in the application to the Board and as restated herein.

	The Board considered the following evidence:

	Exhibit A - Application for correction of military 
                records
	Exhibit B - Military Personnel Records (including
	            advisory opinion, if any)

APPLICANT REQUESTS:  That he be given a qualifying year of service for his third year of enlisted service in the Regular Army in 1962.

APPLICANT STATES:  He assumed that he would be given credit for 3 qualifying years for his service in the Regular Army since he was discharged 8 days early for the convenience of the Government as an overseas returnee.  He adds that he has not been credited with retirement points for correspondence courses he took in 1998, and he unsuccessfully attempted to enlist in the USAR in December 1998.  He was denied enlistment because he couldn’t finish a 6-year enlistment prior to reaching age 60, and he could not qualify for a 1-year enlistment because his commissioned area of concentration was not convertible to an enlisted military occupational specialty.  He also states that he was not credited with service he performed in the Air Guard.

In support of his application he submits a letter from the Army Reserve Personnel Command (AR-PERSCOM) dated 11 August 1999 in which he is informed that he has 19 years, 11 months and 22 days of creditable service and did not qualify for retired pay.  The AR-PERSCOM included a retirement point summary with that letter which shows that the following years were not qualifying years of service for retired pay:  Retirement Years Ending (RYE) 1962, 1963, 1964, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, and 1989.  
 
EVIDENCE OF RECORD:  The applicant's military records show:

He enlisted in the Regular Army on 24 September 1959 and was honorably released from active duty on 14 September 1962.  He was given qualifying years of service for RYE 23 September 1960 and 23 September 1961.  He was not given a qualifying year of service for his reestablished RYE of 14 September 1962 since it was not a complete year of service.

He enlisted in the Air Guard on 24 September 1965 and was honorably discharged on 5 December 1966 due to his enlistment in the Army National Guard the following day.  Both RYE 14 September 1966 and 14 September 1967 are shown as qualifying for retired pay on the applicant’s retirement point summary.

He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army National Guard on 4 June 1967.

On 8 January 1980 the Reserve Components Personnel and Administration Center (RCPAC) sent the applicant a retirement point summary in which it was shown that his last year of service in the Regular Army was not qualifying for retired pay.

He transferred to the Retired Reserve on 28 January 1991 based on his failure to complete Command and General Staff School (C&GS) within 3 years of his promotion to lieutenant colonel.  One of his options in conjunction with his failure to complete C&GS was to be retained on an active status to complete 20 qualifying years of service.  He elected immediate transfer to the Retired Reserve.

On 4 March 1994 the staff of this Board responded by letter to an earlier application for correction of military records submitted by the applicant in which he had requested the same correction that he is currently requesting.  In that letter the staff of the Board informed the applicant that he was then 53 years old and, therefore, had almost 7 years in which to earn one year of creditable service.  The staff of the Board informed him that he could request transfer from the Retired Reserve to either a troop program unit or to an Individual Mobilization Augmentee (IMA) position in order to earn that qualifying year of service.  The staff of the Board informed the applicant that because he could earn sufficient retirement points to qualify for retired pay, his application was premature and would not be considered by the Board.

DISCUSSION:  Considering all the evidence, allegations, and information presented by the applicant, together with the evidence of record and applicable law and regulations, it is concluded:

1.  The applicant has not provided any documentation which would show that he did in fact complete correspondence courses in his RYE 1998.  However, it would not matter if he had.  The applicant could not earn any more retirement points after his transfer to the Retired Reserve in 1991.

2.  As for service credit while he was in the Air Guard, his retirement point summary shows that he was, in fact, given qualifying years of service for the period in was in the Air Guard.
 
3.  While the applicant has explained why he could not enlist in December 1998, he has not explained why he did not attempt to enlist when he was notified by the Board in 1994 that he should take action to earn the retirement points himself.  The applicant had almost 7 years prior to his turning age 60, which was more than the 6 years required for him to enlist, when the staff of the Board sent him the letter informing him that his application was premature.

4.  The Board notes that contrary to the applicant’s statement that he was unaware that his last year of service in the Regular Army wasn’t creditable, he was furnished a retirement point summary in January 1980 which clearly showed it was only a qualifying period of 11 months and 22 days.  Since that date he has had almost 7 years in which he did not earn sufficient retirement points to qualify the respective year for retired pay.
5.  In summary, the facts in this case are that the applicant was provided information that his last year of regular service was not a full qualifying year in January 1980; that he was an officer in the rank of captain with over 20 years of service for pay purposes at the time of that notification and would be expected to understand the retirement point summary; that he had almost 7 years of service after that notification which indicated he failed to qualify for retired pay; that his removal from an active status was based solely on his failure to complete C&GS within 3 years of his promotion to lieutenant colonel; and that he failed to take action to earn his missing retirement points for over 4 years after this Board informed him that he must take action himself.  The Board concludes that the applicant did not take reasonable action to earn his missing qualifying year of service to be eligible for retirement for nonregular service.  He had the grade and the years of service to understand the ramifications of his lack of action.  The Board will not alter a military record to circumvent law in such circumstances.

6.  In view of the foregoing, there is no basis for granting the applicant's request.

DETERMINATION:  The applicant has failed to submit sufficient relevant evidence to demonstrate the existence of probable error or injustice.

BOARD VOTE:

________  ________  ________  GRANT

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

__cmf___  ___emw _  ___jpi ___  DENY APPLICATION

		    Carl W. S. Chun
		    Director, Army Board for Correction
    of Military Records

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999031394	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20000706	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR .  .  .  .  .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	DENY	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	135.02	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.