BOARD DATE: 3 April 2018 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20160004265 BOARD VOTE: Mbr 1 Mbr 2 Mbr 3 : : : GRANT FULL RELIEF : : : GRANT PARTIAL RELIEF : : : GRANT FORMAL HEARING :X :X :X DENY APPLICATION 2 Enclosures 1. Board Determination/Recommendation 2. Evidence and Consideration BOARD DATE: 3 April 2018 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20160004265 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 correction of her Officer Evaluation Reports (OER) for the periods ending 29 July 2011 and 22 June 2012. 2. The applicant states: a. She received an OER for the period 30 July 2010 to 29 July 2011, but she was actually in command until 8 November 2011. b. She requests specific rater and senior rater comments be masked on the 2011 DA Form 67-9 (OER) concerning her performance and potential due to discrepancies within their statements in comparison to her significant duties and responsibilities shown in Part IIIc (Duty Description). She commanded 370 Soldiers on 18 forward operating bases (FOBs) across Afghanistan, not 295 Soldiers in 11 locations, a difference of 75 Soldiers and seven locations as stated by her rating officials. c. While in command she was exposed to unwarranted stress which led to hypertension causing her to deliver her children early. d. The second OER for the period ending 22 June 2012 has incorrect rating dates and nonrated period codes. Remove codes "Z" and "Q." 3. The applicant provides copies of – * eight OERs * 29 October 2010 Unit Personnel Accountability Report * an Army Commendation Medal Certificate * 16 pages of service medical records * Financial Liability Investigation of Property Loss (FLIPL) packet with appeal documents * redacted Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) Army Docket Number AR20110021642 COUNSEL'S REQUEST, STATEMENT, AND EVIDENCE: 1. Counsel requests correction of two of the applicant's OERs for the periods ending 29 July 2011 and 22 June 2012. 2. Counsel states the following areas should be amended: a. For the 2011 OER – (1) Part lh (Reason for Submission) from "Annual" to "Optional Extended Annual" or "Extended Annual" as this is appropriate given the rated Soldier was scheduled to redeploy from Afghanistan within 120 days after the annual report was due and the rated Soldier maintained the same duty position and same rating officials. (2) Part Ii (Period Covered) from 30 July 2010 to 29 July 2010 to 30 July 2010 to 8 November 2011, which accurately reflects the period of time from which the applicant took command to her redeployment from Afghanistan after relinquishing command. (3) Part Ij (Rated Months) from "12" to "16" to accurately reflect the rating period for which the applicant was in command under the same rating officials. (4) Mask the rater and senior rater comments (Part Vb and VIIc) of "295 Soldiers spread between Bagram Airfield, Heyraten Gate, Forward Operating Base (FOB) Gamberi, FOB Gardez and 7 others FOB's" as this does not accurately reflect the applicant's significant duties and responsibilities. Specifically, this narrative fails to accurately reflect the total number of Soldiers as "370 Soldiers dispersed across 18 different Forward Operating Bases" (See Part Illa). b. For the 2012 OER – (1) (Part Ii) from 30 July 2011 to 29 July 2012 to 8 November 2011 to 22 June 2012 which accurately covers the period of time since the previous report. (2) Part Ik (Nonrated Codes) from "Z, Q, I" to only "I". c. The applicant's promotion record was considered by the major (O-4) promotion board held from 30 March to 24 April 2015. On 18 November 2015, she received notification from her Battalion Commander, LTC JR that she was not selected. Based on LTC JR's review of her OERs and promotion board statistics he informed her that her selection failure might have been a result of nonrated time, the subject of this application. 3. Counsel provides copies of – * applicant’s DD Form 149 with 15 enclosures * applicant's Officer Record Brief * eight award certificates CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE: 1. The applicant has provided no explanation as to why she and counsel included the FLIPL (for which she was ultimately cleared of any liability) and it is not mentioned in the OERs being considered; therefore, it will not be addressed further. 2. The applicant, as an active duty captain, was assigned as the company commander for Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Special Troops Battalion and 101st Sustainment Brigade, Fort Campbell, KY (units WAB8T0, WABAT0, and WAB899). 3. A 30 July 2010 DA Form 67-9-1 (OER Support Form) shows the applicant assumed command of the combined Headquarters and Headquarters Company Special Troops Battalion and 101st Sustainment Brigade consisting of 370 Soldiers. (This date is also supported by an entry on her ORB.) 4. Deployment orders, dated 7 September 2010, reassigned her to support Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, effective 4 November 2010. 5. The personnel rosters provided by the applicant show four units totaling 376 personnel assigned and attached as shown below: * WAB8T0 assigned – 185 enlisted, 13 warrant officers, 42 officers (total 240 personnel) * WAB8T0 attached – 26 enlisted, 4 officers (total 30 personnel) * WAB8A0 assigned – 59 enlisted, 4 warrant officers, 27 officers (total 90 personnel) * WAB8AA – 1 enlisted, 1 warrant officer, 4 officers (total 6 personnel) * WAB8AA attached – 1 warrant officer, 5 officers (total 6 personnel) * WAB899 – 4 enlisted 6. On 20 June 2011, the applicant received the Army Commendation Medal for the period 7 November 2010 to 8 November 2011. The DA Form 638 (Recommendation for Award) states the applicant was responsible for over 410 U.S. Soldiers. She commanded an element of personnel over 35 different military occupational specialties, spread over 18 different FOBs in Afghanistan. 7. Her OER for the period 30 July 2010 through 29 July 2011 shows: a. 12 months rated; b. assignment to unit identification code (UIC) WAB8T0; c. her rater as Lieutenant Colonel RJD; d. her senior rater as Colonel MPP; e. at Part IIIc (Significant Duties and Responsibilities), "Company Commander of the combined Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the Special Troops Battalion and the 101st Sustainment Brigade consisting of 370 Soldiers dispersed across 18 different Forward Operating Bases in Regional Command East, North, and Capital regions of Afghanistan in over 35 CMF [career management field] Military Occupational Specialties"; and f. at Part V (Performance and Potential Evaluation), states, in effect, her performance was outstanding: "She is a talented CPT… she commands the Special Troops Battalion Headquarters and Headquarters Company of 295 soldiers spread between Bagram Air Field, Heyraten Gate, Forward Operating Bases (FOB) Gamberi, FOB Gardez, and 7 others FOB's in support of Operation Enduring Freedom 10-11." 8. The applicant was assigned to duty with Headquarters, 501st Sustainment Brigade, Korea, and is shown to have arrived at that command on or about 15 December 2011. 9. Her OER for the period ending 22 June 2012 shows: a. assignment to Headquarters, 501st Sustainment Brigade, UIC WEHSAA, b. Part Ii – 30 July 2011 through 22 June 2012, c. 7 months rated, d. Part Ik (Nonrated Codes) "Z, Q, I," e. Lieutenant Colonel JMR was her rater, and f. Colonel DCD was her senior rater. 10. Each senior rater identified her as "Best Qualified" and "must" promote or promote "at first opportunity" to major. 11. On 1 September 2017, the applicant was promoted to major. REFERENCES: Army Regulation 623-3 (Evaluation Reporting System) states: a. Once an OER is accepted by Headquarters, Department of the Army, and included in the official record of an officer, is presumed to be administratively correct, to have been prepared by the properly designated rating officials, and to represent the considered opinion and objective judgment of the rating officials at the time of preparation. b. The Evaluation Redress Program consists of several elements at various levels of command. The program is both preventive and corrective, in that it is based upon principles structured to prevent, and provide a remedy for, alleged injustices or regulatory violations, as well as to correct them once they have occurred. c. Substantive appeals will be submitted within 3 years of an OER THRU date. Failure to submit an appeal within this time may be excused only if the appellant provides exceptional justification to warrant this exception. d. Administrative appeals will be considered regardless of the period of the report and a decision will be made in view of the regulation in effect at the time the report was rendered. The likelihood of successfully appealing a report diminishes, as a rule, with the passage of time. e. Normally, to be eligible for an OER, a Soldier will complete between 90 and 120 calendar days in the same position under the same rater. Nonrated periods are not included in this 90–day period. f. Generally Soldiers will have a continuous rating history of sequential evaluations. Rated time encompasses the time when a rated Soldier has been assigned under a valid rating chain for the purposes of counseling, guidance and evaluation of their performance and potential. Nonrated time encompasses periods of time when a rated Solider cannot be evaluated. DA Pamphlet 623-3 provides for the definition of the codes used on the OER. (1) Code "I" is for an in transit period (2) Code "Q" is for a lack of a qualified rater (3) Code "Z" applies when none of the codes in Table 2-9 (Codes and reasons for nonrated periods) is applicable to the nonrated period. DISCUSSION: 1. The inclusive dates on the 29 July 2011 OER are correct. This OER was given to the applicant as an annual report. At the time it was written, there is no indication that the applicant was going to be transferred prior to the date the next annual OER would have been written. 2. The applicant's 29 July 2011 OER shows two different numbers of personnel and their locations under the responsibility of the applicant. The personnel rosters do not list the FOBs to which the personnel were being assigned, and the numbers of personnel assigned and attached does not match either of the figures on the OER, Army Commendation Medal recommendation or the unit personnel reports. 3. There is no record as to why no OER was prepared for the period between 29 July 2011 and her reported departure date from the 101st Sustainment Brigade of 8 November 2011. The period from the end of her 2011 OER to her departure was within the optional period for an OER (less than 120 days). 4. The applicant reports she left the 101st Sustainment Brigade effective 8 November 2011. Her records shows she arrived at her new command in Korea on 15 December 2011. The period between these dates is an in-transit nonrated period properly recorded with the nonrated code "I". 5. By regulation, her next rating chain was required to include the nonrated period in her OER starting on 30 July 2011. The "Q" and "Z" nonrated codes properly reflect the nonrated period from 30 July 2011 through 8 November 2011 as due to the nonavailalbility of the proper rating officials or no other code was applicable. BOARD DATE: 3 April 2018 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20160004265 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. 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. //NOTHING FOLLOWS// ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20160004265 2 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont.) AR20160004265 7 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Enclosure 2