PROCEEDINGS

	IN THE CASE OF:     

	BOARD DATE:           29 May 2003                   
	DOCKET NUMBER:   AR2002082258

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

  The following members, a quorum, were present:

	Mr. Luther L. Santiful		Chairperson	
	Mr. Lester Echols		Member	
	Mr. Frank C. Jones, II		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 that her DA Form 5536-R, Health Professionals Loans Repayment (HPLR), be corrected to add her area of concentration (AOC), 66H8A.

3.  The applicant states that her AOC was omitted in error.  This omission has now resulted in finance refusing to pay her student loans.

4.  The applicant’s military records show that she was commissioned as a second lieutenant, USAR, on 16 May 1989 in AOC 66H, Clinical Nurse.

5.  On 15 October 1990, the applicant executed a DA Form 5536-R, which was properly countersigned.  However, Section II – Eligibility, Item 2, “The Army Surgeon General has determined that I am qualified for service in critical medical/nursing specialty”, does not have anything entered in the space provided for the AOC of the individual concerned.

6.  On 2 August 2002, finance and accounting returned the applicant’s request to have her student loans paid under the HPLR program.  The reason for the return was that no AOC was entered on her DA Form 5536-R.

7.  The applicant’s DA Form 2-1, Personnel Qualification Statement, shows that the applicant’s duty AOC has been 66H00 throughout her career.

8.  Army Regulation 135-7, chapter 7, sets forth the policy and procedures for repayment of student loans for health care professionals.  In pertinent part, it states that the HPLR provides for the repayment by the Government of a designated portion of any outstanding student loan(s) secured after 1 October 1975.  The loan amount to be repaid may not exceed $3,000 for each year of eligible service.  The total amount that may be repaid may not exceed $20,000.  To be eligible for the HPLR incentive, a person must perform satisfactory service as an officer in the Selected Reserve and possess professional qualifications in a health profession that the Secretary of Defense has determined to be needed critically in order to meet identified wartime combat medical skill shortages.  Entitlement to the HPLR will terminate if, among other reasons, the officer becomes an unsatisfactory participant, is separated from the Selected Reserve, or enters the inactive National Guard or Individual Ready Reserve.  Each complete satisfactory year of service performed under this HPLR agreement establishes an anniversary date.  Any qualifying loan, which is at least a year old, may then be paid in accordance with the terms of this educational agreement.

CONCLUSIONS:

1.  The applicant executed an HPLR contract which is valid in all respects except for having her AOC entered.

2.  Since the applicant was commissioned in AOC 66H00 and has remained assigned in AOC 66H00, it would be appropriate to enter that AOC in her DA Form 5536-R, Section II – Eligibility, Item 2.

3.  In view of the foregoing, the applicant’s records should be corrected as recommended below.

RECOMMENDATION:

That all of the Department of the Army records related to this case be corrected by showing that the DA Form 5536-R of the individual concerned, Section II – Eligibility, Item 2, have 66H00 entered.

BOARD VOTE:  

___fcj___  ____lls___  ___le___  GRANT AS STATED IN RECOMMENDATION

________  ________  ________  GRANT FORMAL HEARING

________  ________  ________  DENY APPLICATION

		__________Luther L. Santiful_________
		        CHAIRPERSON

INDEX

CASE ID	AR2002082258	
SUFFIX		
RECON	YYYYMMDD	
DATE BOARDED	2002082258	
TYPE OF DISCHARGE	(HD, GD, UOTHC, UD, BCD, DD, UNCHAR)	
DATE OF DISCHARGE	YYYYMMDD	
DISCHARGE AUTHORITY	AR . . . . .  	
DISCHARGE REASON		
BOARD DECISION	GRANT	
REVIEW AUTHORITY		
ISSUES         1.	128.05	
2.		
3.		
4.		
5.		
6.