1. Applicant's Name: a. Application Date: 20 December 2018 b. Date Received: 19 April 2019 c. Counsel: None 2. REQUEST, ISSUES, BOARD TYPE, AND DECISION: The current characterization of service for the period under review is general (under honorable conditions). The applicant requests an upgrade to honorable. The applicant seeks relief contending, in effect, that after returning home from Iraq in July of 2003 and immediately going home to Jacksonville, Florida for leave; this is apparently the time frame when the incident happened that ended up getting him in trouble. The applicant contends that the incident leading to his discharge is very foggy and he doesn't remember the incident at all. The applicant contends that the days immediately following the war were extremely hard and readjustment was difficult. He was a very young man, naïve and impressionable. He turned 19 in basic training, turned 20 & 21 in Germany, then 22 on the banks of the Euphrates River. Even after serving two tours overseas, as a 22-year-old he was very immature. He feels the mistake that he made while in the Army were due to that and due to the extremely stressful scenario that he was in. When he received his Article 15 they took him from Corporal down to E-1 and gave him 45 days of extra duty, 45 days of restriction to the barracks, took half his pay for two months, stripped him of his GI benefits that went along with it as well as fiving him a general (under honorable conditions) discharge. He strongly feels that this punishment was too great, although he had minor disciplinary actions while in the Army. He was a very good Soldier, especially when it got serious and it was time for war. He doesn't feel he deserves to be shamed with the discharge he has and he doesn't feel that he GI Bill benefits should have been taken. He served his country honorably and with great pride and he still loves the military and his country. The applicant also indicates in the application that he is receiving disability for Post-Traumatic stress disorder from his service. In a records review conducted on 23 July 2021, and by a 5-0 vote, the Board determined the discharge is inequitable based on the applicant's length and quality of service, to include combat service, the circumstances surrounding the discharge (OBHI and PTSD diagnoses), and post-service accomplishments. Therefore, the Board voted to grant relief in the form of an upgrade of the characterization of service to Honorable and changed the separation authority to AR 635-200, paragraph 14-12a, the narrative reason for separation to Misconduct (Minor Infractions), with a corresponding separation code of JKN, and the reentry code to RE-3. 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: Misconduct (Drug Abuse) / AR 635- 200 / Chapter 14-12c (2) / JKK / RE-4 / General (Under Honorable Conditions) b. Date of Discharge: 19 March 2004 c. Separation Facts: (1) Date of Notification of Intent to Separate: 27 January 2004 (2) Basis for Separation: The applicant was informed of the following reason: for testing positive for cocaine and marijuana on 30 July 2003 (3) Recommended Characterization: General (Under Honorable Conditions) (4) Legal Consultation Date: 28 January 2004 (5) Administrative Separation Board: None (6) Separation Decision Date / Characterization: 4 February 2004 / General (Under Honorable Conditions) 4. SERVICE DETAILS: a. Date / Period of Enlistment: 20 March 2000 / 4 years b. Age at Enlistment / Education / GT Score: 18 / HS Graduate / NIF c. Highest Grade Achieved / MOS / Total Service: E-4 / 13F10, Fire Support Specialist / 4 years d. Prior Service / Characterizations: None e. Overseas Service / Combat Service: SWA, Germany / Kosovo (2 September 2000 to 7 December 2000) and Kuwait/Iraq (21 January 2003 to 17 July 2003) f. Awards and Decorations: AGCM, AAM, PUC, ICM-2BSS, GWOTEM, KCM, ASR, OSR, NATOMDL g. Performance Ratings: None h. Disciplinary Action(s) / Evidentiary Record: Electronic copy of the DD Form 2624, dated 14 August 2003, reflects the applicant tested positive for COC 509 and THC 161 during an Inspection Random (IR) urinalysis testing conducted on 30 July 2003. FG Article 15, dated 3 October 2003, for failure to go at the time prescribed to his appointed place of duty on 4 September 2003, willfully disobeying a law order from a noncommissioned officer on 4 September 2003, wrongfully using marijuana between on or about 29 June 2003 and 30 July 2003, and wrongfully using cocaine between on or about 25 July 2003 and 30 July 2003. The punishment consisted of reduction to E-1, forfeiture of $575.00 pay per month for two months, and extra duty and restriction for 45 days. Report of Mental Status Evaluation, dated 18 November 2003, which indicates the applicant had the mental capacity to understand and participate in the proceedings and was mentally responsible. The applicant presented a clear mental status and was psychiatrically cleared for any administrative action deemed appropriated by his command. Negative counseling statements for various acts of misconduct and duty performance. i. Lost Time / Mode of Return: None j. Diagnosed PTSD / TBI / Behavioral Health: NIF; however, documents submitted by the applicant from the Department of Veterans Affairs, indicate he has been awarded 40 percent service connected disability. It was not noted what the award was based on. 5. APPLICANT-PROVIDED EVIDENCE: DD Form 293; self-authored statement; letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs; several letters of support/recommendation; and DD Form 214 for the period of service under review. 6. POST SERVICE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The applicant contends that after years of climbing out of the fog of Iraq, he went to college and got his degree as a surgical technologist where he worked for a few years but eventually found his way into recruiting. He is currently working as the Senior Regional Recruiter for a major security company in Florida, where it gives him the opportunity to work with and to hire veterans. After struggling so much after Iraq and looking for work, he grew a passion for finding veterans jobs. 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), dated 25 September 2019, 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 635-200 provides the basic authority for the separation of enlisted personnel. (1) Chapter 3, Section II provides the authorized types of characterization of service or description of separation. (2) Paragraph 3-7a states an Honorable discharge is a separation with honor and is appropriate when the quality of the Soldier's service generally has met the standards of acceptable conduct and performance of duty for Army personnel or is otherwise so meritorious that any other characterization would be clearly inappropriate. (3) Paragraph 3-7b states a General discharge is a separation from the Army under honorable conditions and is issued to a Soldier whose military record is satisfactory but not sufficiently meritorious to warrant an honorable discharge. (4) Paragraph 3-7c states Under other-than-honorable-conditions discharge is an administrative separation from the Service under conditions other than honorable and it may be issued for misconduct, fraudulent entry, security reasons, or in lieu of trial by court martial based on certain circumstances or patterns of behavior or acts or omissions that constitute a significant departure from the conduct expected of Soldiers in the Army. (5) 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. (6) Paragraph 14-3 prescribes a discharge under other than honorable conditions is normally appropriate for a Soldier discharged under this chapter. However, the separation authority may direct a general discharge if such is merited by the Soldier's overall record. (7) Paragraph 14-12c(2) terms abuse of illegal drugs as serious misconduct. It continues; however, by recognizing relevant facts may mitigate the nature of the offense. Therefore, a single drug abuse offense may be combined with one or more minor disciplinary infractions or incidents of other misconduct and processed for separation under paragraph 14- 12a or 14-12b as appropriate. e. Army Regulation 635-5-1 (Separation Program Designator (SPD) Codes) provides the specific authorities (regulatory or directive), reasons for separating Soldiers from active duty, and the SPD codes to be entered on the DD Form 214. It identifies the SPD code of "JKK" as the appropriate code to assign enlisted Soldiers who are discharged under the provisions of Army Regulation 635-200, Chapter 14, misconduct (drug abuse). The SPD Code/RE Code Cross Reference Table shows that a Soldier assigned an SPD Code of "JKK" will be assigned an RE Code of "4." 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 requests an upgrade to honorable. The applicant's AMHRR of service, the issues and documents submitted with the application were carefully reviewed. The AMHRR shows that on 27 January 2004, separation action was initiated against the applicant for testing positive for cocaine and marijuana on 30 July 2003. The applicant seeks relief contending that after returning home from Iraq in July of 2003 and immediately going home to Jacksonville, Florida for leave; this is apparently the time frame when the incident happened that ended up getting him in trouble. The applicant contends that the incident leading to his discharge is very foggy and he doesn't remember the incident at all. The applicant contends that the days immediately following the war were extremely hard and readjustment was difficult. He was a very young man, naïve and impressionable. He turned 19 in basic training, turned 20 & 21 in Germany, then 22 on the banks of the Euphrates River. Even after serving two tours overseas, as a 22-year-old he was very immature. He feels the mistake that he made while in the Army were due to that and due to the extremely stressful scenario that he was in. When he received his Article 15 they took him from Corporal down to E-1 and gave him 45 days of extra duty, 45 days of restriction to the barracks, took half his pay for two months, stripped him of his GI benefits that went along with it as well as fiving him a general (under honorable conditions) discharge. He strongly feels that this punishment was too great, although he had minor disciplinary actions while in the Army. He was a very good Soldier, especially when it got serious and it was time for war. He doesn't feel he deserves to be shamed with the discharge he has and he doesn't feel that he GI Bill benefits should have been taken. He served his country honorably and with great pride and he still loves the military and his country. The applicant also indicates in the application that he is receiving disability for Post-Traumatic stress disorder from his service. The applicant's contentions were noted; evidence of record shows that the applicant's incidents of misconduct adversely affected the quality of his service, brought discredit on the Army, and were prejudicial to good order and discipline. By violating the Army's policy not to possess or use illegal drugs, the applicant compromised the trust and confidence placed in a Soldier. The applicant, as a Soldier, had the duty to support and abide by the Army's drug policies. By abusing illegal drugs, the applicant knowingly risked a military career and diminished the quality of his service below that meriting an honorable discharge. The applicant contends he was a very young man, naïve and impressionable. He turned 19 in basic training, turned 20 & 21 in Germany, then 22 on the banks of the Euphrates River. Even after serving two tours overseas, as a 22-year-old he was very immature. He feels the mistake that he made while in the Army were due to that and due to the extremely stressful scenario that he was in. The record shows the applicant met entrance qualification standards to include age. There is no evidence to indicate the applicant was any less mature than other Soldiers of the same age who successfully completed military service. The applicant contends that he strongly feels that this punishment was too great, although he had minor disciplinary actions while in the Army. He was a very good Soldier, especially when it got serious and it was time for war. He doesn't feel he deserves to be shamed with the discharge he has and he doesn't feel that he GI Bill benefits should have been taken. He served his country honorably and with great pride and he still loves the military and his country. Additionally, eligibility for veteran's benefits to include educational benefits under the Post-9/11 or Montgomery GI Bill does not fall within the purview of the Army Discharge Review Board. Accordingly, the applicant should contact a local office of the Department of Veterans Affairs for further assistance. The applicant also indicates in his application that he is receiving disability for Post-Traumatic Stress disorder from his service. The evidence submitted by the applicant with his application indicates the applicant has been awarded 40 percent service connected disability but it is unclear as to the medical conditions relating to that awarded percentage. 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) The VA has service connected the applicant for PTSD. (2) Did the condition exist or experience occur during military service? (YES) The VA has established that the applicant developed PTSD while serving in the military. (3) Does the condition or experience actually excuse or mitigate the discharge? (YES) As there is an association between PTSD and self-medication with illicit substances, there is a nexus between PTSD and the applicant's wrongful use of marijuana and cocaine post deployment. (4) Does the condition or experience outweigh the discharge? (YES) Applicant's PTSD diagnosis outweighs his discharge and warrants a discharge upgrade. b. The applicant's contentions of minor trouble in the unit and reduction in rank were noted, but relief was already granted due to mitigating PTSD diagnosis. c. The Board determined the discharge is inequitable based on the applicant's length and quality of service, to include combat service, the circumstances surrounding the discharge (OBHI and PTSD diagnoses), and post-service accomplishments. d. Rationale for Decision: (1) The board voted to change the applicant's characterization of service because PTSD mitigated his drug use. (2) The board voted to change the reason to Misconduct (Minor Infractions) because, while the misconduct still occurred, it is considered relative in nature after mitigation. (3) The new SPD/RE-codes associated with minor misconduct discharge is JKN/RE-3. 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 / RE-3 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 N/A - Not applicable NCO - Noncommissioned Officer NIF - Not in File NOS - Not Otherwise Specified OAD - Ordered to Active Duty OBH (I) - Other Behavioral Health (Issues) OMPF - Official Military Personnel File PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder RE - Re-entry 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 AR20190005250 1