MEMORANDUM OF CONSIDERATION

	IN THE CASE OF:      

	BOARD DATE:           21 MARCH 2002
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2001064687

	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. Kenneth H. Aucock		Analyst	

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. John N. Slone		Chairperson	
	Ms. Linda D. Simmons		Member	
	Mr. John T. Meixell		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:  In effect, the applicant requests that he be retained in an active Reserve status and promoted to Chief Warrant Officer Four (CW4); or that he be allowed to attend phase II of the food service technician (MOS 922A0) warrant officer advanced course (WOAC) or a comparable course in order to be eligible for promotion to CW4.   

APPLICANT STATES:  In January 2000 he was scheduled by the Army Reserve Personnel Command to attend the Warrant Officer Course 350G/350L attaché technician course; however, after he was notified that he was scheduled to attend this course, it was cancelled.  An error on his Personnel Qualification Record (PQR) showed his MOS as 350L, when it should have been 922A0.  This error caused a delay in his being scheduled to attend the 922A0 course.  He states that his date of rank as a CW3 is 1 February 1995.  Upon his promotion [to that grade] he contacted his personnel management officer (PMO) to find out about attending the required course in order to be promoted to CW4.  He was informed that there was no requirement [for him to attend a course] at that time, but that he would be notified.  In October 1999, based upon a query from his PMO, he stated that he would be available to attend the WOAC at Fort Huachuca.  He later discovered that he was enrolled in the wrong course.  The course was cancelled and he was then enrolled in the 922A0 phase II advanced course.  

Shortly thereafter, just prior to attendance at the course, he tore a ligament in his left knee, requiring surgery, and consequently a temporary profile.  He was informed by Fort Lee that he could not attend the course with a temporary profile. Consequently, he was passed over for promotion by the 2000 CW4 promotion board and again by the 2001 promotion board.  He stated that it was an injustice to remove him from an active status because of his injury that prevented him from attending the required school.  He stated that he is enrolled in and scheduled to attend the Warrant Officer Staff Course (WOSC) in February 2002. He has done everything he could to be eligible for promotion.  

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

The applicant’s PQR prepared on 27 June 1996 shows his grade as CW3, his primary MOS (PMOS) as 922A0 and his additional MOS (AMOS) as 350L0.  His PQR prepared on 27 December 1996 reflects the same information.  Those records show that he was assigned to the 311th Logistical Command a Reserve unit in Los Angeles.

The applicant’s 7 September 1997 officer record brief (ORB) shows his specialties as 922A0, 920A0 (property book officer technician), and 915A0 (maintenance technician).  It shows that he was a food service technician with the 311th Corps Support Command in Los Angeles, and prior to that a food service technician in Hungary.  That ORB also shows that he was enrolled in the WOAC.

On 17 December 1998 the Warrant Officer Career Center (WOCC) at Fort Rucker informed the applicant that he had the option of completing the nonresident phase of the WOAC, in which he was currently enrolled, or enrolling in a new prerequisite phase correspondence course, the ST7000 action officer development course, consisting of two subcourses, ST7000 and ST700.  He was requested to notify that center of his intentions, and informed that he could contact that center concerning any questions or information concerning the WOAC.

A 13 October 1999 form entitled, “Occupational Medicine Work Status,” from the Sutter Gould Medical Foundation indicates that the applicant was injured on      12 October 1999, and was awaiting an MRI scan.  His condition was diagnosed as a probable torn meniscus to his left knee.  A 27 October 1999 report from that same foundation indicates that he was able to return to work on 28 October 1999 with certain limitations, and that he was still awaiting an MRI scan.   

The applicant completed the action officer development course at Fort Eustis, Virginia on 1 June 2000.

Disability status reports from a doctor in Modesto, California beginning in          May 2000 through September of that year shows that the applicant was under his care for problems with his knee.  The 31 July report shows that the applicant was released to return to work with no restrictions; however, in August he was released with limited duty – no running; and in September with no running, push ups, or sit ups.

In a 26 September 2000 fax to an official of the Army Reserve Personnel Command he requested an extension due to his profile.  He informed that official of his problems in attending the advanced course, e.g., initially scheduled for wrong course, nonacceptance because of profile. 

In a 28 March 2001 copy of a letter to the Total Army Personnel Command in St. Louis, the applicant stated that he had not completed the second phase of the Advanced Course, and that his class at Fort Lee was cancelled because of the problems that he had with his left knee.  He stated, however, that since coming off crutches his right knee has started to act up, and that his unit was trying to schedule him to see a military physician to substantiate his injuries and in order for him to obtain a permanent disability.  He stated that the previous class that he was to attend turned out to be the wrong course for his MOS and that a previous request to attend the advanced course was returned because of lack of money.  He stated that he had scheduled himself to attend the Warrant Officer Staff Course (WOSC) in September 2001.  He stated that he had worked hard in order to be promoted.  He requested advice concerning his promotion.

On 16 August 2001 the applicant was notified that a selection board convened on 23 April 2001 to consider him for selection for promotion, and that he was not selected by the board; and, as a result of his nonselection, he had to be removed from an active status.

A 21 August 2001 course application shows that the applicant was scheduled to attend the warrant officer staff course at Fort Rucker, Alabama on                        3 February 2001.

On 24 August 2001 the Army Reserve Personnel Command informed him that because of his second nonselection for promotion, he was not authorized to continue in an active drill status after 31 October 2001, and that he had to elect an option concerning his removal action.  The applicant requested transfer to the Retired Reserve effective on 22 October 2001.

A 10 September 2001 medical record from the Sutter Gould Medical Foundation indicates that the applicant could return to modified work – limit standing to a maximum of 30 minutes at one time.

In a 14 October 2001 memorandum an NCO attested to the applicant’s good qualities.

In a 23 October 2001 memorandum to the Army Reserve Command at St. Louis, the applicant’s commanding officer recommended that the applicant be considered for retention in the Army Reserve in an active status and for promotion to CW4.    

In an endorsement to the Total Army Personnel Command in St. Louis the applicant requested to be reconsidered for retention in the active Reserve, and to be reconsidered for promotion to CW4.  He outlined his problems in completing the WOAC, provided information concerning his current physical condition, and information concerning his past and present duties.  He stated that he had completed ST7000, the first phase of the advanced course.

Army Regulation 135-155 provides policies for the selection and promotion of warrant officers of the Army Reserve.  Table 2-3 lists the military education requirements for promotion to warrant officer grades and states in effect, that a CW3 must have completed WOAC in order to eligible for consideration for promotion.

Paragraph 4-33a of that regulation states that an Army Reserve warrant officer who twice fails to be selected for mandatory promotion to CW3 or CW4 will not again be considered for promotion.  Twice nonselected warrant officers will be transferred to the Retired Reserve or discharged.

DA Pamphlet 600-11 pertains to Warrant Officer Professional Development and states in pertinent part that all warrant officers of all components will be enrolled in the Prerequisite Studies for the WOAC (nonresident) at about the 6th year of warrant officer service.  The course is a prerequisite to the resident WOAC and to any nonresident WOAC offered by a proponent.  The course is administered by the WOCC and enrollment is mandatory.  No application is necessary.  Any officer who reaches 6 years of warrant officer service and has not been notified of enrollment in this course should notify his career management.  Upon selection for promotion to CW3, a warrant officer will attend the advanced course.    

DA Pamphlet 350-59 provides a listing of correspondence courses available to the active duty and Reserve component soldier.  The WOAC prerequisites studies phase is the nonresident phase of level three of the five-level warrant officer education system.  The course, the action officer development course (ST7000), was designed to present the newly promoted CW2 the common leader development tools necessary to function within their operational environment, and is the foundation to the follow-on branch resident phase of the WOAC.  It is a mandatory nonresident course that must be completed prior to attending resident WOAC training.  

The Food Service Technician WOAC – Reserve Component is a two week resident course conducted at Fort Lee Virginia for Reserve component warrant officers in MOS 922A.  Army Reserve warrant officers must be in the grade of CW3 or CW2 (P) in a senior warrant officer position in order to attend.

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.  Despite the applicant’s contentions, he has provided no evidence to show that an error in scheduling him for the wrong advanced course, or that his injuries prevented him from attending the WOAC in order to be eligible for consideration for promotion.  Although the 1996 PQRs that he submits with his application shows a MOS of 350L0, his primary MOS on both those reports show 922A0.  Furthermore, it would appear to this Board that there would have been PQRs subsequent to 1996, and that the applicant would have seen them, and taken action to correct any errors reflected on them, well prior to January 2000, the date that he states that he was erroneously scheduled to attend the 350G/350L course.

2.  Notwithstanding the above, the Board notes that the applicant was promoted to CW3 in February 1995.  It would appear that from the time of his selection for promotion to CW3 until the time of his second nonselection for promotion to CW4, a 6-year period, he would have been able to attend the WOAC at Fort Lee. The applicant was aware of the eligibility requirements for promotion.  He has some responsibility to get himself to that course.  Instead, as he implies, he waited until the Army Reserve Personnel Command scheduled him in January 2000 to be scheduled, and then did not attend resulting in his second passover for promotion. 

3.  The applicant has submitted neither probative evidence nor a convincing argument in support of his request.   

4.  In order to justify correction of a military record the applicant must show to the satisfaction of the Board, or it must otherwise satisfactorily appear, that the record is in error or unjust.  The applicant has failed to submit evidence that would satisfy that requirement.

5.  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

________  ________  _JTM____  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

___JNS _  ___LDS      __               DENY APPLICATION

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

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2001064687	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	20020321	
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.	131.00	
2.	136.00	
3.	310	
4.		
5.		
6.