1. Applicant's Name: a. Application Date: 10 August 2017 b. Date Received: 10 October 2017 c. Counsel: None 2. REQUEST, ISSUES, BOARD TYPE, AND DECISION: The applicant requests an upgrade of general (under honorable conditions) discharge to honorable. The applicant seeks relief contending, in effect, that during time in service, the applicant considered oneself to be an exceptional Soldier until the last month or two of service. The applicant made a mistake on 8 November 2014 by drinking and driving. The results of which was a DUI underage. The applicant knew any action such as this was unacceptable and there was little to no tolerance for them left in the US military. However, treatment afterwards was unfair and unusual. After the incident, the applicant was immediately and abruptly taken off all of medications for ADD, Insomnia, and night terrors from PTSD due to their "addictive traits." No replacements were offered and things in the unit changed as well. The applicant's peers were told not to talk to the applicant and NCOs just avoided the applicant. The applicant felt completely alone, alienated, and became very depressed due to this. Between being completely depressed and withdrawing from medications, the applicant felt completely worthless so the applicant just took off and tried to hide from everything. The applicant just could not take it anymore and had to get away. The applicant felt the NCOs and command could have acted better in this situation and their treatment was unfair. The applicant knows now that running from things and hiding was not the right way to handle the situation and, given the chance, would go back and change the way things were handled, but cannot change the past so the applicant is trying to move on with life and keep bettering oneself. The applicant would really just like to put everything that happened behind and move forward with life without this huge scar attached to the record everywhere the applicant goes. Per the Board's Medical Officer, a voting member, based on the information available for review at the time in the service record, the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA), and Joint Legacy Viewer (JLV), notes indicate diagnoses of Chronic PTSD, Post- Traumatic Insomnia, Alcohol Dependence, Insomnia, Adjustment Disorder with Anxiety, and ADHD. The applicant does not have any VA records or a service-connected rating. In summary, the applicant had a BH diagnosis that is mitigating for the misconduct which led to separation from the Army. In a records review conducted at Arlington, VA on 8 May 2019, and by a 5-0 vote, the Board determined the discharge is inequitable based on the applicant's quality of service, the circumstances surrounding the discharge (i.e. in-service diagnosis of PTSD and OBH), and matters surrounding the AWOL. Therefore, the Board voted to grant relief in the form of an upgrade of the characterization of service to honorable and changed to the separation authority to AR 635-200, paragraph 14-12a, the narrative reason for separation to Misconduct (Minor Infractions), and the separation code to JKN. (Board member names available upon request) 3. DISCHARGE DETAILS: a. Reason / Authority / Codes / Characterization: Misconduct (Serious Offense) / AR 635-200 / Chapter 14-12c / JKQ / RE-3 / General (Under Honorable Conditions) b. Date of Discharge: 12 March 2015 c. Separation Facts: (1) Date of Notification of Intent to Separate: 5 February 2015 (2) Basis for Separation: The applicant was informed of the following reasons: for being absent without leave from 23 December 2014 unit he was apprehended on 7 January 2015; and Operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and while under the age of 21. (3) Recommended Characterization: General (Under Honorable Conditions) (4) Legal Consultation Date: 10 February 2015 (5) Administrative Separation Board: NA (6) Separation Decision Date / Characterization: 25 February 2015 / General (Under Honorable Conditions) 4. SERVICE DETAILS: a. Date / Period of Enlistment: 28 May 2013 / 4 years b. Age at Enlistment / Education / GT Score: 19 / HS Graduate / 111 c. Highest Grade Achieved / MOS / Total Service: E-3 / 68W10, Health Care Specialist / 1 year, 8 months, 4 days d. Prior Service / Characterizations: None e. Overseas Service / Combat Service: None f. Awards and Decorations: AAM, NDSM, GWOTSM, ASR g. Performance Ratings: None h. Disciplinary Action(s) / Evidentiary Record: Summarized Record of Proceedings Under Article 15, UCMJ, dated 19 August 2014, for without authority, going from his appointed place of duty on 24 July 2014, and disobeying a lawful order from a senior noncommissioned officer on 16 June 2014, to be available in case there was a recall formation and be able to respond to a phone call or text message within a reasonable time. The punishment consisted of extra duty and restriction for 7 days. Military Police Report for AWOL, apprehension by civilian authorities. General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand, dated 11 December 2014, for being apprehended by the Columbus Police Department for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. At the time of arrest, he was twenty years old, below the legal age to drink alcohol in Georgia. FG Article 15, dated 12 December 2014, for knowingly consuming alcohol while under the age of 21 on 9 November 2014. The punishment consisted of reduction to E-2, forfeiture of $858 pay per month for two months (suspended), and extra duty and restriction for 45 days. Record of Supplementary Action Under Article 15, UCMJ, dated 12 January 2015, vacated the punishment of forfeiture of $858 pay per month for two months imposed on 12 December 2014. The vacation was based on the applicant being absent without leave from his unit 23 December 2014 until he was apprehended on 7 January 2015. Negative counseling statements for various acts of misconduct and duty performance. i. Lost Time / Mode of Return: AWOL 15 days (23 December 2014 to 6 January 2015) / mode of return apprehended; and civilian confinement 2 days (7 January to 9 January 2015). The DD Form 214 under review makes reference to a period of lost time 23 December 2014 to 3 February 2015, documents supporting this length of time were not found in the available record. j. Diagnosed PTSD / TBI / Behavioral Health: Report of Mental Status Evaluation, dated 2 February 2015, which shows the applicant was diagnosed with an Axis I for PTSD w/nightmares onset prior to military service, attention deficit disorder, alcohol dependence in report early remission. It was noted that the applicant had not deployed in the past 24 months and did not have military related PTSD or TBI. The applicant was cleared by behavioral health for chapter separation. 5. APPLICANT-PROVIDED EVIDENCE: DD Form 293. 6. POST SERVICE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: None submitted with the application. 7. REGULATORY CITATION(S): Army Regulation 635-200 sets forth the basic authority for the separation of enlisted personnel. Chapter 14 establishes policy and prescribes procedures for separating members for misconduct. Specific categories include minor disciplinary infractions, a pattern of misconduct, and commission of a serious offense, to include abuse of illegal drugs, convictions by civil authorities and desertion or being absent without leave. Action will be taken to separate a member for misconduct when it is clearly established that rehabilitation is impractical or unlikely to succeed. Army policy states that an under other than honorable conditions discharge is normally considered appropriate; however, a general, under honorable conditions or an honorable discharge may be granted. Paragraph 14-12c states a Soldier is subject to action per this section for commission of a serious military or civilian offense, if the specific circumstances of the offense warrant separation and a punitive discharge is, or would be, authorized for the same or a closely related offense under the Manual for Courts-Martial. National Defense Authorization Act 2017 provided specific guidance to the Military Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records and Discharge Review Boards when considering discharge upgrade requests by Veterans claiming Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in connection with combat or sexual assault or sexual harassment as a basis for discharge review. Further, it provided that Boards will include, as a voting board member, a physician trained in mental health disorders, a clinical psychologist, or a psychiatrist when the discharge upgrade claim asserts a mental health condition, including PTSD; TBI; as a basis for the discharge. In August 2017, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness provided further clarifying guidance to the Military Discharge Review Boards and Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records when considering requests by Veterans for modification of their discharge due to mental health conditions, including PTSD; TBI; sexual assault; or sexual harassment. Liberal consideration will be given to Veterans petitioning for discharge relief when the application for relief is based in whole or in part on matters relating to mental health conditions, including PTSD; TBI; sexual assault; or sexual harassment. Special consideration will be given to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) determinations that document a mental health condition, including PTSD; TBI; or sexual assault/harassment potentially contributed to the circumstances resulting in a less than honorable discharge characterization. Special consideration will also be given in cases where a civilian provider confers diagnoses of a mental health condition, including PTSD; TBI; or sexual assault/harassment if the case records contain narratives supporting symptomatology at the time of service or when any other evidence which may reasonably indicate that a mental health condition, including PTSD; TBI; or sexual assault/harassment existed at the time of discharge might have mitigated the misconduct that caused a discharge of lesser characterization. Conditions documented in the service record that can reasonably be determined to have existed at the time of discharge will be considered to have existed at the time of discharge. In cases in which a mental health condition, including PTSD; TBI; or sexual assault/harassment may be reasonably determined to have existed at the time of discharge, those conditions will be considered potential mitigating factors in the misconduct that caused the characterization of service in question. All Boards will exercise caution in weighing evidence of mitigation in cases in which serious misconduct precipitated a discharge with a less than Honorable characterization of service. Potentially mitigating evidence of the existence of undiagnosed combat related PTSD, PTSD-related conditions due to TBI or sexual assault/harassment as causative factors in the misconduct resulting in discharge will be carefully weighed against the severity of the misconduct. PTSD is not a likely cause of premeditated misconduct. Caution shall be exercised in weighing evidence of mitigation in all cases of misconduct by carefully considering the likely causal relationship of symptoms to the misconduct. 8. DISCUSSION OF FACT(S): The applicant requests an upgrade of his general (under honorable conditions) discharge to honorable. The applicant's available/record of service, the issues and documents submitted with his application were carefully reviewed. The record confirms the applicant's discharge was appropriate because the quality of his service was not consistent with the Army's standards for acceptable personal conduct and performance of duty by military personnel. It brought discredit on the Army, and was prejudicial to good order and discipline. The applicant provided no independent corroborating evidence demonstrating that either the command's action was erroneous or that the applicant's service mitigated the misconduct or poor duty performance, such that he should have been retained on Active duty. The applicant seeks relief contending that during his time in service he considered himself an exceptional Soldier until the last month or two of service. He made a mistake on 8 November 2014, by drinking and driving. The results of which was a DUI underage. He knew any action such as this was unacceptable and there was little to no tolerance for him left in the US military. However, his treatment afterwards was unfair and unusual, after his incident, he was taken off all of his medications for ADD, Insomnia, and night terrors from PTSD immediately and abruptly due to their "addictive traits." No replacement was offered, things in his unit changed as well, his peers were told not to talk to him and NCO's just avoided him. He felt completely alone and alienated and became very depressed due to this. Between being completely depressed and withdrawing from his medications he felt like he was completely worthless so he just took off and tried to hide from everything. He just could not take it anymore, he had to get away. He felt his NCO's and command could have acted better in this situation and their treatment to him was unfair. He knows now that running from things and hiding was not the right way to handle the situations as such and given the chance he would go back and change the way he handled things, but he cannot change the past so he is trying to move on with his life and keep bettering himself. He would really just like to put everything that happened behind him and move forward with his life without this huge scar attached to his record everywhere he goes. The applicant's contentions were noted; however, there is a presumption of regularity in the conduct of governmental affairs that shall be applied in any review unless there is substantial credible evidence to rebut the presumption. The applicant bears the burden of overcoming this presumption through the presentation of substantial and credible evidence to support this issue. There is no evidence in the record, nor has the applicant produced any evidence to support the contention that he was unfairly treated at the time of discharge. In fact, the applicant's two Articles 15 and negative counseling statements justify reason for discharge. The applicant's statements alone do not overcome the government's presumption of regularity and no additional corroborating and supporting documentation or further evidence has been provided with the request for an upgrade of the discharge. The evidence of record shows the command attempted to assist the applicant in performing and conducting himself to Army standards by providing counseling and by the imposition of non- judicial punishment. The applicant failed to respond appropriately to these efforts. It should be noted; by regulation, an under other than honorable conditions (UOTHC) discharge is normally appropriate for a member separated by reason of misconduct (serious offense). It appears the applicant's generally good record of service was the basis for his receiving a GD instead of the normal UOTHC discharge. The record does not contain any indication or evidence of arbitrary or capricious actions by the command and all requirements of law and regulation were met and the rights of the applicant were fully protected throughout the separation process. The character of the applicant's discharge is commensurate with his overall service record. The discharge was consistent with the procedural and substantive requirements of the regulation, was within the discretion of the separation authority, and the applicant was provided full administrative due process. 9. BOARD DETERMINATION: In a records review conducted at Arlington, VA on 8 May 2019, and by a 5-0 vote, the Board determined the discharge is inequitable based on the applicant's quality of service, the circumstances surrounding the discharge (i.e. in-service diagnosis of PTSD and OBH), and matters surrounding the AWOL. Therefore, the Board voted to grant relief in the form of an upgrade of the characterization of service to honorable and changed to the separation authority to AR 635-200, paragraph 14-12a, the narrative reason for separation to Misconduct (Minor Infractions), and the separation code to JKN. 10. BOARD ACTION DIRECTED: a. Issue a New DD-214: Yes b. Change Characterization to: Honorable c. Change Reason to: Misconduct (Minor Infractions) d. Change Authority to: AR 635-200, paragraph 14-12a e. Change SPD / RE Code to: JKN / No Change Authenticating Official: Legend: AWOL - Absent Without Leave GD - General Discharge NCO - Noncommissioned Officer SCM - Summary Court Martial BCD - Bad Conduct Discharge HS - High School NIF - Not in File SPCM - Special Court Martial BH - Behavioral Health HD - Honorable Discharge NOS - Not Otherwise Specified SPD - Separation Program Designator CG - Company Grade Article 15 IADT - Initial Active Duty Training OAD - Ordered to Active Duty TBI - Traumatic Brain Injury CID - Criminal Investigation Division MP - Military Police OMPF - Official Military Personnel File UNC - Uncharacterized Discharge ELS - Entry Level Status MST - Military Sexual Trauma PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder UOTHC - Under Other Than Honorable Conditions FG - Field Grade Article 15 NA - Not applicable RE - Reentry VA - Veterans Affairs ARMY DISCHARGE REVIEW BOARD CASE REPORT AND DIRECTIVE AR20170017915 3