MEMORANDUM OF CONSIDERATION

	IN THE CASE OF:   

	BOARD DATE:           6 July 2000                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999032743

	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	
	Mrs. Nancy Amos		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 his date of rank be changed from 1 October 1998 to 1 January 1997.

APPLICANT STATES:  That the promotion points he received for the Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course (BNCOC) and for his deployment to Desert Shield/Desert Storm were incorrectly computed on his DA Form 3355, Promotion Point Worksheet, dated September 1996.  Had they been correctly computed, he would have exceeded the cutoff score for promotion to Staff Sergeant (SSG), E-6 on 1 January 1997.

EVIDENCE OF RECORD:  The applicant's military records show:

He enlisted in the Regular Army on 19 June 1987.  He was promoted to Sergeant, E-5 on 1 June 1990.  On an unknown date, he was recommended for promotion to E-6 in military occupational specialty (MOS) 71L, Administrative Specialist.  His Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation Reports (NCOERs) show he was assigned to the 7th Army NCO Academy around June 1994 as a 75B30 (later converted to 75H30) Battalion S-1/Adjutant.  His NCOERs do not show he performed duties as an instructor or assistant instructor or that he was appointed duties as an instructor or assistant instructor.  He continued to work in this position until his reassignment around April 1998.

A DA Form 87, Certificate of Training, shows that the applicant attended the Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio Systems (SINCGARS) Unit Level Maintenance Course from 29 July to 2 August 1996 for 40 hours.  A DA Form 87 shows he attended the SINCGARS Assistant Instructor Course from 22 July to   2 August 1996 for 80 hours.  

In September 1996, the applicant’s promotion points were recomputed.  DA Form 3355 shows he was awarded 12 points for BNCOC, 4 points for his 80 hour SINCGARS course, 2 points for his 40 hour SINCGARS course, 2 points for a Purs (acronym unknown) course, and no points for his service in Southwest Asia. He was granted a total of 765 points.  

In January 1997, the cutoff score for promotion to 71L, SSG dropped to 766 points.  At this time, the applicant queried the U. S. Total Army Personnel Command (PERSCOM) concerning the 12 points he was awarded for BNCOC.  PERSCOM verified he should have been awarded 15 points.  

On 29 June 1998, the applicant requested promotion to SSG effective January 1997 as an exception to policy based upon the miscalculation of his promotion points.  Headquarters, 1st PERSCOM, U. S. Army Europe disapproved his request.  1st PERSCOM noted that there were further discrepancies in the applicant’s award of promotion points for military education.  The applicant had been awarded 4 points for SINCGARS Assistant Instructor Course and 2 points for SINCGARS Unit Level Maintenance Course.  Promotion points are not authorized for MOS producing schools or MOS proficiency training to include new equipment training.  Those two courses are considered MOS proficiency/producing training and so were not valid for the awarding of promotion points.  In addition, the dates of the two courses overlapped.  He also had been awarded 2 points for “VITA Tax Training.”  That training was also considered MOS improvement training and so was not authorized the award of promotion points.

The applicant apparently was promoted to SSG effective 1 October 1998.

The applicant applied to the Board for relief.  

In the processing of this case, an advisory opinion was obtained from Promotions Branch, PERSCOM.  PERSCOM also noted that the applicant was erroneously awarded promotion points for the two SINCGARS courses and that he was awarded 2 points for the Purs course without a promotion source document.  PERSCOM did not discuss the “VITA Tax Training” at all and allowed him to retain the 2 points he was awarded for that course.  PERSCOM noted that he was entitled to 15 points for BNCOC and 4 points for his Southwest Asia deployment (1 point for each of his four complete months of deployment).  With the removal of 8 erroneous promotion points and the addition of 7 points, his corrected score should have been 764, which did not meet the cutoff score of 766.

The applicant rebutted the advisory opinion.  He provided a PERSCOM memorandum dated 10 November 1998 which stated that “unless the soldier is being trained to be an instructor the following types of training are not valid for awarding promotion points:  MOS Related courses, MOS Proficiency Training, New Equipment Training or MOS Improvement Training.”  Since the one SINCGARS course was to train him as an assistant instructor, he should be granted at least those 4 points but really all 6 points.  He instructed both SINCGARS courses at his unit of assignment.  He basically agreed that the award of 2 points for the Purs course was erroneous because the course was MOS related.  He states that with the addition of the 6 points his promotion point total would have been enough to meet the cutoff score.  He did his part.  He worked hard to earn all his promotion points.  It is not his fault that the servicing Personnel Service Battalion (PSB) made the mistakes on his worksheet.

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

1.  The Board concludes that a Government error did occur in this case but, while the Board sympathizes with the applicant’s frustration with his servicing PSB, also concludes that there is no evidence of an injustice.

2.  The Board concludes that the SINCGARS courses did not meet the criteria of training him to be an instructor.  The Board concludes this qualification applies to soldiers whose full-time duties would be as instructors.  The applicant may have received assistant instructor training but there is no evidence of record to show that even his part-time duties as a SINCGARS instructor were important enough to be noted on his NCOERs.

3.  The Board concludes that PERSCOM’s advisory opinion was correct in reevaluating his promotion points and he was 2 points short of meeting the January 1997 cutoff score.

4.  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	AR1999032743	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	20000706	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(DENY)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	131.04	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.