BOARD DATE: 12 September 2017 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20160004329 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 BOARD DATE: 12 September 2017 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20160004329 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. BOARD DATE: 12 September 2017 DOCKET NUMBER: AR20160004329 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 award of the Purple Heart. 2. The applicant states: a. On approximately 7 May 1984, while assigned to Fort Campbell, KY, he was shot. After getting off duty, while still in uniform, he left post and headed to his quarters in off-post housing. He was giving a Soldier from his unit a ride into the town area, because he needed to pick up a few things prior to arriving at home. b. They headed to a local K-Mart in Clarksville, TN, outside the base. It was late and already dark. K-Mart was not busy, the parking lot was pretty empty, and he does not recall seeing anyone else outside. While outside in the parking lot, prior to entering, a shot rang out and they were both hit with multiple metallic fragments. He suffered injuries to both hands, right thigh, and abdomen, which bother him to this day. First he was filled with fight or flight fear and a big adrenaline dump, so he ran. It was over as fast as it happened. When things settled down, he realized a definite attempt was made to try and kill him. The person responsible was never found. c. He implores the Board to please take a brief moment, a small amount of time, and a little consideration. He believes he has earned the Purple Heart after 13-plus years of service to his country. However, this is a problem and easier tossed aside because he is just one little old Soldier, not that important. d. He believes rules and criteria are important for outlining the reason and justification for military awards. However, they nor those before them are all knowing and capable of drawing an outline that fits all situations, every time, without fail. Furthermore, our enemies are advancing, utilizing technology, changing tactics, and the whole way we conduct war with each other. New criteria and justification for awards must keep pace. e. While on duty as a United States Soldier, in service to his country, he was shot. He has read the criteria for award of the Purple Heart many times. While he has personally experienced the injury and pain. Do we not owe it to our Soldiers to give them the benefit of the doubt in matters that are not crystal clear? How can the burden of proof rest on them? f. The person responsible was never found. Nobody can say if they were foreign or not or whether they did or did not oppose the U.S. government. Nobody can say if they are recognized or not as a force of opposition by our government. g. In all fairness nobody can say that he does not meet the criteria exactly as written. There are questions that cannot be answered. Those questions however, should not stand in the way of a just reward. Nobody spoke of terrorist cells or possible foreign militants existing in America in 1984, but they surely did exist. Many groups showed blatant hatred of the U.S. Government. h. He can state without doubt that whomever they were, local, foreign, known, or unknown to the U.S. Government, they were not patriots, friendlies, or ones unopposed to or allied with the U.S. Government. In his mind, he was a symbol of the U.S. Government and a great target of opportunity. The opportunity was taken and he has a great number of shell fragments in both hands and right thigh. i. He does not wish to take away from or belittle any past recipient of the Purple Heart. He has fully read the award's criteria. However, it still remains that he was shot. Had the same thing happened to him in Somalia, Afghanistan, or Iraq, he would most certainly have been awarded the Purple Heart and maybe sent home. Instead, it happened here in his own country and all his country did was slap a Band-Aid on his wounds and ship him overseas. j. Was what he went through any less painful, any less traumatic, any less stressful, simply because it happened here? Was anything different because our government cannot identify the shooter? He was a U.S. Soldier in uniform and he was shot. Since he had never been shot before or after he served might lead one to believe his service had a significant role in the event. In light of what we know today, and all that has happened, things we did not talk about or see going down in 1984, the rules need to be relocked and rewritten. His suffering was equal to any other Purple Heart recipient. He asks that the Board help by awarding him the Purple Heart. 3. The applicant provides his DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty), 11 pages of medical records, and an excerpt of Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards) pertaining to the Purple Heart criteria. CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE: 1. Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1552(b), provides that applications for correction of military records must be filed within 3 years after discovery of the alleged error or injustice. This provision of law also allows the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) to excuse an applicant's failure to timely file within the 3-year statute of limitations if the ABCMR determines it would be in the interest of justice to do so. While it appears the applicant did not file within the time frame provided in the statute of limitations, the ABCMR has elected to conduct a substantive review of this case and, only to the extent relief, if any, is granted, has determined it is in the interest of justice to excuse the applicant's failure to timely file. In all other respects, there are insufficient bases to waive the statute of limitations for timely filing. 2. The applicant enlisted in the Regular Army on 27 October 1982. He arrived at Fort Campbell, KY, on or around 8 April 1983. 3. The applicant provided 11 pages of medical records that show he was admitted to the U.S. Army Hospital, Fort Campbell, KY, on 7 May 1984, for treatment for a shotgun injury. These documents do not include a description of the circumstances surrounding the applicant's injury. 4. The applicant was discharged on 12 November 1995. 5. There is no evidence in the applicant's records that shows the injuries he sustained on 7 May 1984 were the result of hostile action by an enemy of the United States. REFERENCES: 1. Army Regulation 600-8-22 states the Purple Heart is awarded for a wound sustained while in action against an enemy or as a result of hostile action. Substantiating evidence must be provided to verify that the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment by medical personnel, and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record. 2. Army Regulation 600-8-22 further states the Purple Heart is awarded in the name of the President of the United States and, in accordance with Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1131, effective 19 May 1998, is limited to members of the Armed Forces of the United States who, while serving under competent authority in any capacity with one of the U.S. Armed Services after 5 April 1917, have been wounded, were killed, or who have died or may hereafter die of wounds received under any of the following circumstances: a. In any action against an enemy of the United States. b. In any action with an opposing armed force of a foreign country in which the Armed Forces of the United States are or have been engaged. c. While serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party. d. As the result of an act of any such enemy of opposing armed forces. e. As the result of an act of any hostile foreign force. f. After 28 March 1973, as a result of an international terrorist attack against the United States or a foreign nation friendly to the United States, recognized as such an attack by the Secretary of the Army (SECARMY), or jointly by the Secretaries of the separate armed services concerned if persons from more than one Service are wounded in the attack. g. After 28 March 1973, as a result of military operations while serving outside the territory of the United States as part of a peacekeeping force. h. Service members who are killed or wounded in action by friendly fire. In accordance with Title 10, U.S. Code, section 1129, for award of the Purple Heart, the SECARMY will treat a service member of the Armed Forces in the same manner as a service member who is killed or wounded in action as the result of an act of an enemy of the United States. DISCUSSION: 1. The applicant contends he is entitled to the Purple Heart for a gunshot wound he sustained in Clarksville, TN, on or about 7 May 1984. 2. The regulation provides that substantiating evidence must be provided to verify the wound was the result of hostile action. There is no evidence in the applicant's military records, and he failed to provide evidence that shows the injuries he sustained resulted from hostile action committed by an enemy of the United States. //NOTHING FOLLOWS// ABCMR Record of Proceedings AR20150000953 Enclosure 1 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20160004329 2 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Enclosure 1 ABCMR Record of Proceedings (cont) AR20160004329 5 ARMY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF MILITARY RECORDS RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Enclosure 2