1. Applicant's Name: a. Application Date: 19 December 2018 b. Date Received: 19 December 2018 c. Counsel: 2. REQUEST, ISSUES, BOARD TYPE, AND DECISION: The current characterization of service for the period under review is under other than honorable conditions. The applicant, through counsel, requests an upgrade of her under other than honorable conditions discharge to honorable and a narrative reason change. The applicant seeks relief contending, in effect, the applicant's chain of command failed to follow proper notice procedures while she was missing drills in an unexcused status. This failure in due process caused the applicant to be separated unfavorably from the Army without the opportunity to address the reason as to why. Further, her chain of command failed her when she reported an assault by SGT C. while they were deployed to Iraq, which is corroborated by SSG G. Finally, the applicant's discharge status is causing her continuous undue harm and will continue to do so until her discharge paperwork is corrected. Since her discharge, the applicant has excelled in her civilian life. Counsel, further details the contentions in an allied legal brief provided with the application In a records review conducted on 9 July 2021, and by a 5-0 vote, the Board determined the discharge was inequitable based on the applicant's length and quality of service to include combat service, and the circumstances surrounding the discharge (MST), and prior period of honorable service. Accordingly, the Board voted to grant relief in the form of an upgrade of the characterization of service to Honorable. Please see Section 9 of this document for more detail regarding the Board's decision (Board member names available upon request) 3. DISCHARGE DETAILS: a. Reason / Authority / Codes / Characterization: NIF / AR 135-178 / NIF / NIF / NIF / Under Other Than Honorable Conditions b. Date of Discharge: 16 February 2012 c. Separation Facts: (1) Date of Notification of Intent to Separate: NIF (2) Basis for Separation: NIF (3) Recommended Characterization: NIF (4) Legal Consultation Date: NIF (5) Administrative Separation Board: NIF (6) Separation Decision Date / Characterization: NIF 4. SERVICE DETAILS: a. Date / Period of Enlistment: 15 March 2004 / 8 years (USAR) b. Age at Enlistment / Education / GT Score: 18 / HS Graduate / NIF c. Highest Grade Achieved / MOS / Total Service: E-5 / 35F20, Intelligence Analyst / 7 years, 11 months, 2 days d. Prior Service / Characterizations: AD, 25 February 2006 - 28 January 2007 / HD (Concurrent Service) AD, 13 April 2009 - 12 May 2010 / HD (Concurrent Service) e. Overseas Service / Combat Service: SWA / Afghanistan - Kuwait (11 March 2006 - 6 January 2007); Iraq (20 May 2009 - 24 March 2010) f. Awards and Decorations: JSCM-2, NDSM, ACM-2CS, GWOTSM, ICM-CS, ASR, OSR- 2, AFRMMD, NATOMDL g. Performance Ratings: 1 July 2009 - 15 March 2010 / Among The Best h. Disciplinary Action(s) / Evidentiary Record: NIF i. Lost Time / Mode of Return: NIF j. Diagnosed PTSD / TBI / Behavioral Health: None 5. APPLICANT-PROVIDED EVIDENCE: DD Form 293; Legal Brief; DD Form 4/1; two DD Forms 214; Orders 087-0011; 10-133-00024; 12-040-00016; self-authored statement; letter of support. 6. POST SERVICE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The applicant states, she has excelled in her civilian life and is married with four children. She is a federal law enforcement officer for the United States Park Police. 7. STATUTORY, REGULATORY AND POLICY REFERENCE(S): a. Section 1553, Title 10, United States Code (Review of Discharge or Dismissal) provides for the creation, composition, and scope of review conducted by a Discharge Review Board(s) within established governing standards. As amended by Sections 521 and 525 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, 10 USC 1553 provides 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), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), sexual trauma, intimate partner violence (IPV), or spousal abuse, as a basis for discharge review. The amended guidance provides 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, sexual trauma, IPV, or spousal abuse, as a basis for the discharge. Further, the guidance provides that Military Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records and Discharge Review Boards will develop and provide specialized training specific to sexual trauma, IPV, spousal abuse, as well as the various responses of individuals to trauma. b. Multiple Department of Defense Policy Guidance Memoranda published between 2014 and 2018. The documents are commonly referred to by the signatory authorities' last names (2014 Secretary of Defense Guidance [Hagel memo], 2016 Acting Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness [Carson memo], 2017 Official Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness [Kurta memo], and 2018 Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness [Wilkie memo]. (1) Individually and collectively, these documents provide further clarification 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. (2) 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. c. Army Regulation 15-180 (Army Discharge Review Board), sets forth the policies and procedures under which the Army Discharge Review Board is authorized to review the character, reason, and authority of any Servicemember discharged from active military service within 15 years of the Servicemember's date of discharge. Additionally, it prescribes actions and composition of the Army Discharge Review Board under Public Law 95-126; Section 1553, Title 10 United States Code; and Department of Defense Directive 1332.41 and Instruction 1332.28. d. Army Regulation 135-178 sets forth the policies, standards, and procedures to ensure the readiness and competency of the U.S. Army while providing for the orderly administrative separation of Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) enlisted Soldiers for a variety of reasons. The separation policies throughout the different Chapters in this regulation promote the readiness of the Army by providing an orderly means to judge the suitability of persons to serve on the basis of their conduct and their ability to meet required standards of duty performance and discipline. Specific categories include minor disciplinary infractions, a pattern of misconduct, and commission of a serious offense, to include abuse of illegal drugs, and convictions by civil authorities. (1) Paragraph 2-7, prescribes possible characterizations of service include an honorable, general (under honorable conditions), under other than honorable conditions, or uncharacterized if the Soldier is in entry-level status. However, the permissible range of characterization varies based on the reason for separation. (2) Paragraph 2-8, prescribes the characterization is based upon the quality of the Soldier's service, including the reason for separation and determined in accordance with standards of acceptable personal conduct and performance of duty as found in the UCMJ, Army regulations, and the time-honored customs and traditions of the Army. The reasons for separation, including the specific circumstances that form the basis for the discharge are considered on the issue of characterization. 8. DISCUSSION OF FACT(S): The Army Discharge Review Board considers applications for upgrade as instructed by Department of Defense Instruction 1332.28. The applicant, through counsel, requests an upgrade of her under other than honorable conditions discharge to honorable and a narrative reason change. The applicant's record of service, the issues and documents submitted with the application were carefully reviewed. The AMHRR is void of the specific facts and circumstances concerning the events which led to the applicant's discharge from the Army Reserve. The applicant's AMHRR does contain a properly constituted discharge order: Orders 12-040-00016, dated 9 February 2012. The orders indicate the applicant was discharged under the provisions of AR 135-178, with a characterization of service of under other than honorable conditions. The applicant requests a narrative reason change. Orders are published when service members are discharged from the U.S. Army Reserve, which indicate the effective date and characterization of the discharge. Narrative reasons usually are not included in the order. In insomuch as the applicant's discharge order does not have a narrative reason, the ADRB has no basis for changing the discharge order. The applicant contends she was not aware her command did not transfer her to the IRR; and, her command did not properly notify her after her unexcused absences. The AMHRR does not contain any indication or evidence of arbitrary or capricious actions by the command. The applicant contends she was sexually assaulted by a member of her unit. The applicant provided a third party letter as evidence of a domestic violence incident. There is no evidence in the AMHRR and the applicant ever sought assistance or reported the incident. The applicant contends she had good service, which included two combat tours. The applicant's service accomplishments and the quality of her service prior were carefully considered. The applicant contends has excelled in her civilian life and is married with four children. She is a federal law enforcement officer for the United States Park Police. The Army Discharge Review Board is authorized to consider post-service factors in the re-characterization of a discharge. However, there is no law or regulation which provides an unfavorable discharge may be upgraded based solely on the passage of time or good conduct in civilian life subsequent to leaving the service. Outstanding post-service conduct, to the extent such matters provide a basis for a more thorough understanding of the applicant's performance and conduct during the period of service under review, is considered during Board proceedings. The Board reviews each discharge on a case-by-case basis to determine if post-service accomplishments help demonstrate previous in-service misconduct was an aberration and not indicative of the member's overall character. The applicant contends the discharge robs her of her good name and an upgrade will allow her to obtain better employment. The Board does not grant relief for the purpose of enhancing employment opportunities or opportunities in general. 9. BOARD DISCUSSION AND DETERMINATION: a. As directed by the 2017 memo signed by A.M. Kurta, the board considered the following factors: (1) Did the applicant have a condition or experience that may excuse or mitigate the discharge? (YES) While the applicant does not hold a BH diagnosis, a self-authored MST statement and witness statement allege MST. Per liberal consideration policies, it is the opinion of the Board's BH Doctor, a voting member, that this event could potentially mitigate the misconduct which led to separation from the Army. (2) Did the condition exist or experience occur during military service? (YES) The allege offenses occurred during deployment. (3) Does the condition or experience actually excuse or mitigate the discharge? (YES) Per liberal consideration, the Board considered the applicant's asserted MST with supporting statement. However, the basis for separation is unknown, making weighing the severity of the misconduct against the asserted MST challenging. (4) Does the condition or experience outweigh the discharge? (YES) It is the opinion of the Board's BH Doctor, a voting member, that MST is often associated with the applicant's possible reason for discharge - unexcused absences. As a result, the ADRB applied liberal consideration and found that the MST outweighs that reason and granted relief. b. The applicant contends she was not aware her command did not transfer her to the IRR; and, her command did not properly notify her after her unexcused absences. This was taken as the reason for separation since the separation packet was not in the official records and the applicant did not include with the application. c. The applicant contends she was sexually assaulted by a member of her unit. This was accepted as mitigating the unexcused absenses and relief was granted. d. The applicant contends she had good service. The Board considered this contention, but relief was already granted. e. The applicant contends the discharge robs her of her good name and an upgrade will allow her to obtain better employment. The Board considered this contention, but relief was already granted. f. The applicant contends has excelled in her civilian life. The Board considered this contention, and determined it valid and granted relief. g. The Board determined the discharge was inequitable based on the applicant's length and quality of service to include combat service, and the circumstances surrounding the discharge (MST), and prior period of honorable service. h. Rationale for Decision: (1) The board voted to change the applicant's characterization of service to Honorable because MST mitigated unexcused absences. Thus the prior characterization is no longer appropriate. (2) The Board determined that the authority unknown as it is not listed on the separation orders, and voted not to change it. 10. BOARD ACTION DIRECTED: a. Issue a New DD-214: Yes b. Change Characterization to: Honorable d. Change Authority to: No Change Authenticating Official: Legend: AWOL - Absent Without Leave AMHRR - Army Military Human Resource Record BCD - Bad Conduct Discharge BH - Behavioral Health CG - Company Grade Article 15 CID - Criminal Investigation Division ELS - Entry Level Status FG - Field Grade Article 15 GD - General Discharge HS - High School HD - Honorable Discharge IADT - Initial Active Duty Training MP - Military Police MST - Military Sexual Trauma NA - Not applicable NCO - Noncommissioned Officer NIF - Not in File NOS - Not Otherwise Specified OAD - Ordered to Active Duty OMPF - Official Military Personnel File PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder RE - Reentry SCM - Summary Court Martial SPCM - Special Court Martial SPD - Separation Program Designator TBI - Traumatic Brain Injury UNC - Uncharacterized Discharge UOTHC - Under Other Than Honorable Conditions VA - Department of Veterans Affairs ARMY DISCHARGE REVIEW BOARD CASE REPORT AND DIRECTIVE AR20180016740 5