1. Applicant's Name: a. Application Date: 18 November 2019 b. Date Received: 16 March 2020 c. Counsel: 2. REQUEST, ISSUES, BOARD TYPE, AND DECISION: a. Applicant's Requests and Issues: The current characterization of service for the period under review is general (under honorable conditions). The applicant requests, through counsel, an upgrade to honorable. The applicant's counsel seeks relief contending, in effect, the discharge was unjust and infected with errors. The applicant made a request for transfer into the individual ready reserve (IRR), but the request was never acted upon which would have avoided the involuntary discharge. b. Board Type and Decision: In a records review conducted on 3 March 2023, and by a 5-0 vote, the Board determined that the discharge was improper based on the applicant's length and quality of service, to include combat service, and the evidence in the record confirms that the applicant requested to attend a professional military school during the unexcused absences in question and the applicant's personnel action was not processed in a timely manner, which would have avoided the involuntary discharge. 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 / NA / General (Under Honorable Conditions) b. Date of Discharge: 2 January 2014 c. Separation Facts: (1) Date of Notification of Intent to Separate: NIF (2) Basis for Separation: The applicant was informed of the following reasons: Unsatisfactory Participation due to accumulating 12 unexcused absences. (3) Recommended Characterization: NIF (4) Legal Consultation Date: NA (5) Administrative Separation Board: NIF (6) Separation Decision Date / Characterization: NIF 4. SERVICE DETAILS: a. Date / Period of Enlistment: NIF (There is no contract on file for the period of service under review) b. Age at Enlistment / Education / GT Score: NIF / HS Graduate / 91 c. Highest Grade Achieved / MOS / Total Service: E-4 / 92F10, Petroleum Supply Specialist / NIF (Applicant is currently serving in the USAR) d. Prior Service / Characterizations: RA, 20 August 2008 - 16 December 2012 / HD e. Overseas Service / Combat Service: SWA / Iraq (27 August 209 - 7 July 2010) f. Awards and Decorations: ARCOM, AAM, NDSM, AGCM, GWOTSM, ICM-CS, NCOPDR, ASR, OSR, g. Performance Ratings: NA h. Disciplinary Action(s) / Evidentiary Record: Applicant provides a DA Form 4651 (Request for Reserve Component or Attachment), dated 25 February 2013, which reflects the applicant requested a transfer to the IRR. This form is not signed or dated by the commander. The applicant provides a DA Form 4856 (Developmental Counseling Form) dated 25 February 2013, which indicates the applicant was being counselled on the request to be transferred to the IRR to attend school fulltime. The form indicated it was the leader's responsibility to ensure the packet was sent up for processing The applicant provides a DA Form 4187 (Personnel Action), signed by the applicant on 25 February 2013, requesting transfer to the IRR. The DA Form 4187 was not signed by the commander The applicant provides a DA Form 4856 (Developmental Counseling Form) dated 10 October 2013, which indicate the commander was notifying the applicant of the intent for separation for unsatisfactory participation. The form states, in part, the applicant has been advised to find a new TPU unit to transfer tom attend battle assembly with the unit or request a transfer to the IRR. The applicant had not done any and the commander had no choice but to separate the applicant from the USAR i. Lost Time / Mode of Return: None j. Applicant Provided and/or AMHHR Listed PTSD / TBI / Behavioral Health Condition(s): None 5. APPLICANT-PROVIDED EVIDENCE: DD Form 149, Brief in Support of Application for Discharge Upgrade, DD Form 214, DA Form 4187-2, Attorney's letter, DA Form 4651, Letter of Instructions-Unexcused Absence-2, DA Form 4856, Orders 13-360-00028, dated 26 December 2013, DD Form 4/1, DA Form 638-2, Applicant's complete AMHRR-183 pages 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 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. e. Army Regulation 135-178 sets forth the basic authority for the separation of enlisted personnel from the United States Army Reserve. (1) Chapter 13 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, and convictions by civil authorities. Action will be taken to separate a member for misconduct when it is clearly established that rehabilitation is impractical or unlikely to succeed. (2) Paragraph 13-1a (1), prescribes a Soldier is subject to discharge for unsatisfactory participation when it is determined that the Soldier is unqualified for further military service because the Soldier is an unsatisfactory participant. (3) 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. 8. SUMMARY OF FACT(S): The Army Discharge Review Board considers applications for upgrade as instructed by Department of Defense Instruction 1332.28. The applicant's Army Military Human Resource Record (AMHRR), the issues and documents submitted with the application were carefully reviewed. The applicant requests an upgrade to honorable. The applicant's counsel contends the applicant's discharge was unjust and infected with error. The applicant a request for transfer into the IRR was never acted upon which would have avoided the involuntary discharge. The evidence shows the applicant submitted a request for transfer to the IRR, but there is no evidence the request was approved. 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? No. The Board's Medical Advisor reviewed DoD and VA medical records and found no mitigating BH diagnoses on the applicant. The applicant provided no documents or testimony of a condition or experience, that, when applying liberal consideration, could have excused or mitigated a discharge. (2) Did the condition exist or experience occur during military service? N/A (3) Does the condition or experience actually excuse or mitigate the discharge? N/A (4) Does the condition or experience outweigh the discharge? N/A b. Response to Contentions: The applicant's counsel contends the applicant's discharge was unjust and infected with error because a request for transfer into the IRR was never acted upon which would have avoided the involuntary discharge. The Board considered this contention along with the totality of the applicant's service records. In this case, the Board determined that the discharge was improper based on the applicant's length and quality of service, to include combat service, and the evidence in the record confirms that the applicant requested to attend a professional military school during the unexcused absences in question and the applicant's personnel action was not processed in a timely manner, which would have avoided the involuntary discharge. The records show the proper discharge and separation procedures were not followed in this case. Accordingly, the Board voted to grant relief in the form of an upgrade of the characterization of service to honorable. c. The Board determined that the discharge was improper based on the applicant's length and quality of service, to include combat service, and the evidence in the record confirms that the applicant requested to attend a professional military school during the unexcused absences in question and the applicant's personnel action was not processed in a timely manner, which would have avoided the involuntary discharge. Accordingly, the Board voted to grant relief in the form of an upgrade of the characterization of service to honorable. d. Rationale for Decision: (1) The Board voted to change the applicant's characterization of service to Honorable because the applicant's records show the applicant's personnel action was not processed in a timely manner, which would have avoided the involuntary discharge and the proper discharge and separation procedures were not followed in this case. Thus, the prior characterization is no longer appropriate. (2) As there were no Reasons/SPD Codes/RE-codes listed on the applicant's discharge paperwork, due to being in the Army Reserves, no upgrade actions are required for these items. 10. BOARD ACTION DIRECTED: a. Issue a New DD-214 / Separation Order: Yes b. Change Characterization to: Honorable c. 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 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 AR20200005734 1