IN THE CASE OF: BOARD DATE: 5 January 2016 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20150004129 THE BOARD CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING EVIDENCE: 1. Application for correction of military records (with supporting documents provided, if any). 2. Military Personnel Records and advisory opinions (if any). THE APPLICANT'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE: 1. The applicant requests remission of his Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship debt. 2. The applicant states: a. He enrolled in the ROTC Program in his freshman year of college in 2003 and received a scholarship, assuming the first year was a trial period. He decided not to stay with the program and has since served 5 years of active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC). He is currently a captain (CPT) stationed on Okinawa. The tuition debt has followed him and he hired legal counsel to dispute it, thinking it was taken care of, but he recently received notification the debt was still being sought after. His taxes have been withheld for the past 3 years. He would like to be absolved of this debt as he has already served 5 years of active duty. b. He appealed to the Board for Correction of Naval Records (BCNR) and the Chief of Naval Education and Training without a response in 2 years. They directed him to this Board. He is looking for a way to get what he needs to who needs it to prove that he has honorably served his country and is not required to pay back his ROTC scholarship. c. He entrusted the dispute to his legal counsel. After serving over 5 years of active duty in the USMC without clear correspondence that he was in debt to the U.S. government, he assumed his debt was taken care of through legal counsel. He was unaware of owing any money for his ROTC scholarship until his taxes began being withheld. The constant travel without a permanent address while being stationed throughout the country and overseas may have led to this miscommunication. 3. The applicant provides: * A memorandum of disenrollment from the ROTC Program * Defense Finance and Accounting System (DFAS) Account Statement showing the debt * Email regarding his ROTC debt * His correspondence with the USMC regarding his ROTC debt CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE: 1. A 17 June 2005 memorandum from the U. S. Army Cadet Command notified the applicant that he had been disenrolled from the ROTC Program for breach of contract based on his failure to enroll in the ROTC class for spring 2005. 2. The applicant's ROTC contract documents are not available for review. 3. DFAS records show the applicant has an ROTC debt in the amount of $30,394.00. 4. The applicant provides: a. His 1 May 2014 memorandum to the Chief of Naval Education and Training in which he stated that he had been on active duty as a USMC officer since 8 August 2009. He attended Duke University in 2003 on an ROTC scholarship. After a year, he decided to forgo the scholarship believing he would not have to pay back his first year. Unknowingly, the tuition became a debt and went to a collection agency. In the past year, he had been denied his tax refund because of the debt to the federal government. He requested assistance in resolving the debt. He stated he had submitted a petition to resolve the debt to the BCNR. b. An email from an Assistant Professor/Enrollment Officer, U. S. Army Cadet Command, Duke University, states, in part [The applicant] was a cadet in this program. His leave of absence pending disenrollment from ROTC began on 3 [February] 2005 and his disenrollment was confirmed on 22 [February] 2005. If he started school in 2003, then that means he would have been disenrolled in the spring semester of his sophomore year. The Army ROTC Scholarship (DA 597-3) states that the cadet "will incur an active duty and/or reimbursement obligation after the first day of…MS II year (sophomore year)." If [the applicant] was disenrolled as a sophomore (which it appears he was), then he would have incurred a reimbursement obligation, which (for whatever reason) the Army seems to think has not been fulfilled. 5. Title 10, U.S. Code, section 2005(a), states that the Secretary concerned may require, as a condition to the Secretary providing advanced education assistance to any person, that such person enter into a written agreement under the terms of which such person shall agree: (1) to complete the educational requirements specified in the agreement and to serve on active duty for a period specified in the agreement and (2) that if such person fails to complete the education requirements specified in the agreement, such person will serve on active duty for a period specified in the agreement. 6. Title 10, U.S. Code, section 2005(f), states that the Secretary concerned shall require, as a condition to the Secretary providing financial assistance under section 2107a (Financial Assistance Program for Specially Selected Members: Army Reserve and Army National Guard; i.e., ROTC) of this title to any person, that such person enter into an agreement described in subsection (a). In addition to the requirements of clauses (1) through (4) of such subsection, any agreement required by this subsection shall provide (1) that if such person fails to complete the education requirements, the Secretary shall have the option to order such person to reimburse the United States in the manner provided for without the Secretary first ordering such person to active duty as provided for under clause (2) of such subsection. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: 1. The evidence shows the applicant participated in the ROTC program while in college and was disenrolled for breach of contract. 2. DFAS notified him that he is indebted to the government in the amount of $30,394 for recoupment of education expenses paid on his behalf for his participation in the ROTC program. 3. The evidence shows the applicant has been an active duty commissioned officer in the USMC since 2009. His appointment as a commissioned officer in the USMC serves the same purpose as being ordered to active duty in the U.S. Army. In other words, the Department of Defense is still getting the benefit of his service. Therefore, as a matter of equity, it would be appropriate to consider his USMC service to have met the active duty obligation required by his ROTC scholarship contract. BOARD VOTE: ___x____ ___x____ ___x____ GRANT FULL RELIEF _________ ________ _______ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF ________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING ________ ________ ________ DENY APPLICATION BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION: The Board determined that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant a recommendation for relief. As a result, the Board recommends that all Department of the Army records of the individual concerned be corrected by amending his ROTC scholarship contract to show he could satisfy the service obligation under the original terms of the ROTC contract as a USMC commissioned officer. ____________x___________ CHAIRPERSON I certify that herein is recorded the true and complete record of the proceedings of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in this case. ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20130019033 3 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1 ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20150004129 4 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 1