IN THE CASE OF: BOARD DATE: 29 March 2016 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20160003137 BOARD VOTE: _________ _______ ________ GRANT FULL RELIEF ________ ________ ________ GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF ________ ________ ________ GRANT FORMAL HEARING ____X____ __X______ ___X_____ DENY APPLICATION 2 Enclosures 1. Board Determination/Recommendation 2. Evidence and Consideration IN THE CASE OF: BOARD DATE: 29 March 2016 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20160003137 BOARD DETERMINATION/RECOMMENDATION: The evidence presented does not demonstrate the existence of a probable error or injustice. Therefore, the Board determined the overall merits of this case are insufficient as a basis for correction of the records of the individual concerned. ______________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. IN THE CASE OF: BOARD DATE: 29 March 2016 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20160003137 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 the Academic Evaluation Report (AER) for the period 31 March 2009 through 12 May 2009 (hereafter referred to as the subject AER) be removed from his interactive Personnel Electronic Records Management System (iPERMS) record. 2. The applicant states he initially failed the Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course (BNCOC). He later repeated the course (re-designated the Advanced Leaders Course (ALC)) and passed it. 3. The applicant provides copies of three AERs. CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE: 1. The applicant enlisted in the Regular Army on 1 August 2001. He completed training and progressed normally. 2. He was a sergeant, pay grade E-5, when he attended BNCOC and failed to achieve course standards in May 2009. He then successfully completed ALC on 11 May 2011. The AER for each course is filed in the performance folder of his iPERMS record. 3. The applicant was promoted to staff sergeant, pay grade E-6, on 1 January 2015. REFERENCES: 1. Army Regulation 623-3 (Evaluation Reporting System) prescribes the policy for completing evaluation reports that are the basis for the Army’s Evaluation Reporting System. This regulation emphasizes the fact that an erroneous evaluation report should be corrected as soon as possible. Substantive appeals must be submitted within 3 years of the evaluation report “THRU” date. Appeals must be processed through the Human Resources Command (HRC), Evaluations and Appeals Branch, prior to submission to the Army Special Review Board. The burden of proof rests with the appellant to produce evidence that clearly and convincingly refutes the presumption of administrative regularity and that action is warranted to correct a material error, inaccuracy, or injustice in the evaluation report. Failure to submit an appeal within this time frame will require the appellant to submit his appeal to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR). 2. Army Regulation 600-8-104 (Army Military Human Resource Records Management) provides policies, operating tasks, and steps governing personnel records. Depending on the purpose, documents will be filed in one of three folders: performance, service, or restricted. Once placed in the record, the document becomes a permanent part of that file. a. The Authorized Documents list provides guidance for filing of documents. It shows the DA Form 1059 will be filed in the performance folder. b. A review of the additional filing instructions for the form fails to show that a DA Form 1059 documenting a course failure will be removed or transferred to the restricted folder upon subsequent successful completion of the course or that the DA Form 1059 will be removed. 3. Army Regulation 600-37 (Unfavorable Information) sets forth policies and procedures to authorize placement of unfavorable information about Army members in individual official personnel files; ensure that unfavorable information that is unsubstantiated, irrelevant, untimely, or incomplete is not filed in individual official personnel files; and ensure that the best interests of both the Army and the Soldier are served by authorizing unfavorable information to be placed in and, when appropriate, removed from official personnel files. Chapter 7 (Appeals and Petitions) provides the policies and procedures for appeals and petitions for removal of unfavorable information. Paragraph 7-2 (Appeals for removal of entries) shows that once an official document has been properly filed, it is presumed to be administratively correct and to have been filed pursuant to an objective decision by competent authority. Thereafter, the burden of proof rests with the individual concerned to provide evidence of a clear and convincing nature that the document is untrue or unjust, in whole or in part, thereby warranting its alteration or removal. DISCUSSION: 1. The applicant contends, in effect, that the subject AER should be removed from his record because he subsequently successfully completed the ALC. 2. It is noted that the applicant did not submit an appeal to HRC within that board’s 3-year filing guidelines, presumably because the applicant does not contest the validity of the contested AER, but instead simply wants it removed. 3. The subject AER is properly filed in the performance folder of the applicant's record. 4. An evaluation report accepted for inclusion in the rated Soldier's record is presumed to be administratively correct, to have been prepared by the proper rating officials, and to represent the considered opinion and objective judgment of the rating officials at the time of preparation. 5. The governing Army regulation does not provide for the transfer or removal of an AER upon subsequent successful completion of the course. 6. By regulation, in order to remove a document there must be compelling evidence to support its removal. The applicant failed to submit evidence to show that the subject AER filed in the performance folder is untrue, in error, or unjust. //NOTHING FOLLOWS// ABCMR Record of Proceedings AR20150000953 Enclosure 1 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20160003137 2 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Enclosure 1 ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20160003137 3 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Enclosure 2