1. Applicant's Name: a. Application Date: 7 February 2019 b. Date Received: 11 March 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 he requests an upgrade due to a stupid mistake he made as a young man. The applicant contends that after sustaining a couple traumatic instances family related and combat related he regrettably smoked marijuana on leave. He made a mistake that ruined his reputation and career. He embarrassed himself, his unit, and the military as a whole. After this happen he spiraled into a deep depression resulting in suicide attempt, and hospital stay for mental health. He was eventually able to gain control of his life with the help of the VA and intense counseling. It has been almost 10 years and he look at the time he spent serving his country as the most important time of his life besides the present. Today he is a great father, small business co-owner, and ask the board to help him further grow. In a records review conducted on 5 May 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, and the circumstances surrounding the discharge (OBHI and PTSD diagnoses). 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), the separation code to 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: 13 April 2012 c. Separation Facts: (1) Date of Notification of Intent to Separate: 27 March 2012 (2) Basis for Separation: The applicant was informed of the following reasons: for wrongfully using marijuana (3) Recommended Characterization: General (Under Honorable Conditions) (4) Legal Consultation Date: 28 March 2012 (5) Administrative Separation Board: None (6) Separation Decision Date / Characterization: 29 March 2012 / General (Under Honorable Conditions) 4. SERVICE DETAILS: a. Date / Period of Enlistment: 7 July 2010 / 3 years, 20 weeks b. Age at Enlistment / Education / GT Score: 24 / HS Graduate / 97 c. Highest Grade Achieved / MOS / Total Service: E-3 / 13D10, Army Field Artillery Specialist / 1 year, 8 months, 23 days d. Prior Service / Characterizations: None e. Overseas Service / Combat Service: SWA / Iraq (30 July 2011 to 12 November 2011) f. Awards and Decorations: AAM, NDSM, GWOTSM, ICM-CS, ASR g. Performance Ratings: None h. Disciplinary Action(s) / Evidentiary Record: FG Article 15, dated 27 February 2012, for wrongfully using marijuana between 19 December 2011 and 17 January 2012. The punishment consisted of reduction to E-1, forfeiture of $700.00 pay, and extra duty and restriction for 45 days. DA Form 4187, which changed the applicant's duty status from present for duty (PDY) to absent without leave (AWOL), 30 March 2012. Report of Mental Status Evaluation, dated 9 February 2012, which indicates the applicant could understand and participated in administrative proceedings and appreciate the difference between right and wrong. The applicant was cleared for administrative proceedings. Several negative counseling statements for various acts of misconduct, to include testing positive for THC 51. i. Lost Time / Mode of Return: Absent Without Leave 15 days (30 March 2012 to 13 April 2012) / mode of return unknown. j. Diagnosed PTSD / TBI / Behavioral Health: NIF 5. APPLICANT-PROVIDED EVIDENCE: DD Form 293 6. POST SERVICE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: None submitted with the application. 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 Service member discharged from active military service within 15 years of the Service member'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) 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. (5) 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. (6) 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, paragraph 12c(2), 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's record of service, the issues and documents submitted with the application were carefully reviewed. Separation packet indicates applicant was discharged under the provisions of AR 635-200, Chapter 14, paragraph 14-12c(2), by reason of Misconduct (Drug Abuse), with a characterization of service of General, Under Honorable Conditions. Barring evidence to the contrary, it appears that all requirements of law and regulation were met and the rights of the applicant would have been protected throughout the separation process. The applicant contends that after sustaining a couple traumatic instances family related and combat related he regrettably smoked marijuana on leave. 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) AHLT medical documented records indicate diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and post-service, combat related PTSD and MDD. (2) Did the condition exist or experience occur during military service? (YES) AHLTA medical documented records indicate the applicate held an in-service diagnosis of MDD and post service the applicant is service connected for combat related PTSD and MDD. However, records are insufficient to determine if PTSD existed in service. (3) Does the condition or experience actually excuse or mitigate the discharge? (YES) Based on liberal consideration, and the nexus between PTSD and substance use, the applicant's basis of separation is mitigated. (4) Does the condition or experience outweigh the discharge? (YES) Applicant was discharged for wrongfully using marijuana and the Board's BH Doctor following the liberal consideration guidance determined there is a nexus between PTSD and using marijuana. b. The applicant contends that after sustaining a couple traumatic instances family related and combat related he regrettably smoked marijuana on leave. The applicant's record consist of medical documentation in AHLTA and JLV that substantiate combat related trauma and other traumatic stressors. c. The Board determined based on the information available for review at the time in the service record, the AHLTA and JLV medical documentation, the applicant holds diagnoses of MDD, Cannabis Related Disorder, Opioid Use Disorder, and Anxiolytic Use Disorder with a notation. The applicant has a BH diagnosis that is mitigating for the misconduct which led to separation from the Army, thus the discharge is inequitable. d. Rationale for Decision: (1) The board voted to change the applicant's characterization of service because the misconduct is mitigated due to diagnosed PTSD and MDD. (2) The board voted to change the narrative reason to Misconduct (Minor Infractions) because the applicant's drug use is mitigated by the diagnosed BH conditions and no longer equates to the basis of separation. (3) The SPD code of JKK for Misconduct (Drug Abuse) will change to JKN to align with Misconduct (Minor Infractions) per Army Regulation 635-5-1 (Separation Program Designator (SPD) Codes, and the RE-code will be upgraded to 3 to match the new reason for discharge. 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 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 AR20190005570 6