PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:  

	BOARD DATE:            8 April 1999                  
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR1999015787

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

	Mr. Loren G. Harrell		Director	
	Mrs. Nancy Amos		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. George D. Paxson		Chairperson	
	Ms. Jennifer L. Prater		Member	
	Ms. Barbara J. Ellis		Member	

	The applicant and counsel if any, did not appear before the Board.

	The Board considered the following evidence:

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

FINDINGS:

1.  The applicant has exhausted or the Board has waived the requirement for exhaustion of all administrative remedies afforded by existing law or regulations.

2.  The applicant requests, in effect, that he be reimbursed travel costs from Fort Pickett, VA to Fort Lee, VA for the period 4 February 1995 – 2 January 1996.

3.  The applicant states that he was reassigned from Germany to Fort Lee, VA with duty at Fort Pickett, VA.  He assumed he would be there for three years so he established a home for himself and his family.  In June 1994, an Active Guard Reserve (AGR) soldier was assigned to Fort Picket for the same position he was in.  His command then decided to move him to Fort Lee, VA.  He said he would need orders to reflect this change in permanent duty station (PDS) and asked if the move could wait til he returned from school.  Upon his return from school in February 1995, he reported to Fort Lee, but when he asked about his orders he was told they were not needed.  He continued to make this 90 mile round-trip commute for 10 months and finally brought his case to the attention of the Inspector General and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS).  Nobody helped him.  

4.  The applicant’s military records show that he was assigned to Fort Lee, VA with duty at Fort Picket, VA on 10 June 1993.  On 4 February 1995, upon his return from the Advanced Non-Commissioned Officer Course, he was verbally instructed to work at Fort Lee, VA.  No orders or other written confirmation of these verbal orders were ever published or issued until 3 January 1996, when his command (erroneously) rescinded the orders making Fort Picket, VA his duty station.

5.  The Joint Federal Travel Regulation (JFTR) Volume 1, paragraph U3505C(2), states that, when authorized/approved, a member who travels by privately owned conveyance (POC) is entitled to mileage based on odometer readings or other acceptable evidence, furnished by the member, of the actual necessary distance traveled in conducting official business.  When a POC is used for travel between a member’s residence or the PDS and one or more alternate duty sites within the local area, the member shall be paid mileage for the distance that exceeds the member’s commuting distance, regardless of the transportation mode ordinarily used to commute to the PDS.

6.  On 18 September 1998, the Board returned the application for submission to DFAS prior to processing by this Board.  The applicant did so submit his claim to DFAS, which returned it to him without action because no authorized travel orders had been issued.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The Board concludes that an error and an injustice occurred in this case.

2.  While the applicant’s command may have been correct in that orders were not required when they told him his duty site would no longer by Fort Picket, VA but instead Fort Lee, VA, they in effect gave him an alternate duty site which considerably extended his commuting distance.  As such, they should have confirmed their orders in writing (a memorandum would have sufficed) and authorized the applicant to use his POC to commute to Fort Lee so as to entitle him to the additional mileage he incurred as authorized under the JFTR.  Had the command intended to make Fort Lee, VA his permanent duty station, permanent change of station orders were required to be prepared.

3.  In view of the foregoing, it would be in the interest of justice to correct the applicant’s records as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

1.  That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by:

    a.  showing that the applicant was authorized the use of his POC as more advantageous to the government to travel from his PDS at Fort Pickett, VA to his alternate work site at Fort Lee, VA from 4 January 1995 through 2 February 1996; and

     b.  showing that his permanent change of station from Fort Picket, VA to Fort Lee, VA occurred on 2 January 1996, effective with the memorandum for record dated 3 January 1996 that (erroneously) attempted to rescind the designation of Fort Picket, VA as his official duty station.

2.  That so much of the application as is in excess of the foregoing be denied 

BOARD VOTE:  

__GDP___  __JLP__  __BJE__  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		George D. Paxson
		______________________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR1999015787	
SUFFIX		
RECON		
DATE BOARDED	19990408	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE		
DATE OF DISCHARGE		
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY		
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	(GRANT)	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	128.02	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.