1. Applicant's Name: a. Application Date: 17 April 2020 b. Date Received: 5 May 2020 c. Counsel: none 2. REQUEST, ISSUES, BOARD TYPE, AND DECISION: a. Applicant's Requests and Issues: The current characterization of service for the period under review is bad conduct discharge (BCD). The applicant requests an upgrade to general (under honorable conditions) and a narrative reason change. The applicant seeks relief contending, in effect, undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was a mitigating factor in the separation. The applicant tried to seek treatment while on active duty. The applicant has not been diagnosed with PTSD and desires to see a professional to determine if there is a PTSD issue. b. Board Type and Decision: In a records review conducted on 28 April 2023, and by a 5-0 vote, the Board determined the discharge is inequitable based on the applicant's length and combat service and PTSD mitigated the applicant's AWOLs, failures to report to appointed place of duty, treat NCO with contempt, and wrongful use of methamphetamine. 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), with a corresponding separation code of JKN. The Board determined the RE code was proper and equitable and voted not to change it. 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: Court-Martial, Other / AR 635-200, Chapter 3 / JJD / RE-4 / Bad Conduct b. Date of Discharge: 31 August 2006 c. Separation Facts: (1) Pursuant to Special Court-Martial Empowered to Adjudge a Bad-Conduct Discharge: As announced by Special Court-Martial Order Number 8, dated 14 April 2005, reflects the applicant was found guilty of the following: being absent without authority from on or about 30 August 2004 to on or about 1 September 2004; being absent from authority from on or about 21 October 2004 to on or about 4 November 2004; failing to go at the prescribed time to the appointed place of duty on or about 30 June 2004 and 29 July 2004; failed to go at the prescribed time to the appointed place of duty on or about 29 July 2004 and 2 August 2004; treat a noncommissioned officer contempt on or about 3 August 2004; and wrongfully used methamphetamine between on or about 4 September 2004 and 7 September 2004. (2) Adjudged Sentence: To be reduced to grade of E-1; forfeiture of $822 pay per month for five months; confinement for 146 days; and to be discharged with a BCD. (3) Date/Sentence Approved: 27 January 2005 / only so much of the sentence as provides for reduction to the grade of E-1, forfeiture of $822 pay per month for five months, and confinement for 146 days will be executed. The applicant was credited with 86 days of confinement against the sentence to confinement (4) Appellate Reviews: On 16 December 2005, the findings of guilty and the sentence was approved by the convening authority correct in law and fact. Accordingly, the findings of guilty and the sentence was Affirmed. (5) Date Sentence of BCD Ordered Executed: 12 May 2006 4. SERVICE DETAILS: a. Date / Period of Enlistment: 6 November 2001 / 4 years b. Age at Enlistment / Education / GT Score: 19 / GED / 114 c. Highest Grade Achieved / MOS / Total Service: E-4 / 25Q10, Multichannel Transmission Operator/Maintainer / 4 years, 4 months, 8 days d. Prior Service / Characterizations: None e. Overseas Service / Combat Service: Germany / NIF f. Awards and Decorations: NDSM, ASR g. Performance Ratings: NA h. Disciplinary Action(s) / Evidentiary Record: Special Court-Martial Order as described in paragraph 3c. i. Lost Time / Mode of Return: The applicant's DD Form 214 shows the follow periods of lost time: 29 days (30 June 2004 - 28 July 2004), 3 days (29 July 2004 - 1 August 2004), 2 days (30 August 2004 - 31 August 2004),12 days (21 October 2004 - 1 November 2004), 85 days (2 November 2004 - 26 January 2005), 34 days (27 January 2005 - 2 March 2005) j. Behavioral Health Condition(s): (1) Applicant provided: None (2) AMHRR Listed: None 5. APPLICANT-PROVIDED EVIDENCE: DD Form 293, DD Form 149, Letters of support. 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. (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) Section IV establishes policy and procedures for separating members with a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge; and provides that a Soldier will be given a bad conduct discharge pursuant only to an approved sentence of a general or special court-martial; and that the appellate review must be completed, and the affirmed sentence ordered duly executed. Because relevant and material facts stated in a court-martial specification are presumed by the ADRB to be established facts, issues relating to the applicant's innocence of charges for which he was found guilty cannot form a basis for relief. With respect to a discharge adjudged by a special court-martial, the action of the ADRB is restricted to upgrades based on clemency. Clemency is an act of leniency that reduces the severity of the punishment. 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 requests an upgrade to honorable. The applicant's Army Military Human Resources Record (AMHRR), the issues, and documents submitted with the application were carefully reviewed. The Board is empowered to change the discharge only if clemency is determined to be appropriate. Clemency is an act of mercy, or instance of leniency, to moderate the severity of the punishment imposed. The applicant seeks contends undiagnosed PTSD was a mitigating factor in the separation. The applicant has not been diagnosed with PTSD and desires to see a professional to determine if there is a PTSD issue. The applicant's AMHRR is void of a PTSD diagnosis. The applicant did not submit any evidence, other than the applicant's statement, to support the contention the discharge resulted from any medical condition. The Army Review Boards Agency sent a letter to the applicant at the address in the application on 27 July 2021 requesting documentation to support a PTSD diagnosis but received no response from the applicant. The third-party statements provided with the application speak highly of the applicant's performance. They all recognize the applicant good conduct after leaving the Army; however, the persons providing the character reference statements were not in a position to fully understand or appreciate the expectations of the applicant's chain of command. As such, none of these statements provide any evidence sufficiently compelling to overcome the presumption of government regularity. 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 Board's Medical Advisor, a voting member, reviewed the applicant's DOD and VA health records, applicant's statement, and/or civilian provider documentation and found that the applicant has the following potentially mitigating diagnoses/experiences: Self-asserted PTSD. (2) Did the condition exist, or experience occur during military service? Yes. The Board's Medical Advisor found the applicant asserts suffering from combat-related PTSD which led to post-deployment misconduct. (3) Does the condition or experience actually excuse or mitigate the discharge? Yes. The Board's Medical Advisor applied liberal consideration and opined that review of the applicant's pattern of misconduct indicates that it is the type of misconduct consistent with an underlying diagnosis of PTSD. Based on this information, it is the Behavioral Health Advisor's opinion that it is more likely than not the applicant suffers from combat-related PTSD which led to post-deployment misconduct. As there is an association between PTSD and avoidant behaviors, there is a nexus between applicant's self-asserted PTSD and applicant's multiple failures to report. As there is an association between PTSD and difficulty with authority figures, there is a nexus between applicant's self-asserted PTSD and disrespect towards a superior NCO. As there is an association between PTSD and the use of illicit drugs to self-medicate painful emotional symptoms, there is a nexus between applicant's self-asserted PTSD and applicant's wrongful use of methamphetamine. (4) Does the condition or experience outweigh the discharge? Yes. The Board concurred with the opinion of the Board's Medical Advisor, a voting member. As a result, the ADRB applied liberal consideration and found that the applicant's self-assert PTSD outweighed the applicant's AWOLs, failures to report to appointed place of duty, treating an NCO with contempt, and wrongful use of methamphetamine basis for separation for the aforementioned reasons. b. Response to Contention(s): The applicant seeks contends undiagnosed PTSD was a mitigating factor in the separation. The Board considered this contention and determined this contention was valid and relief was warranted based on the applicant's self-asserted PTSD outweighing the misconduct - AWOLs, failures to report to appointed place of duty, treating an NCO with contempt, and wrongful use of methamphetamine basis for separation for the aforementioned reasons. c. The Board determined the discharge is inequitable based on the applicant's self- asserted PTSD mitigated the applicant's AWOLs, failures to report to appointed place of duty, treat NCO with contempt, and wrongful use of methamphetamine. 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), with a corresponding separation code of JKN. Also, you have now exhausted your appeals with the Army Discharge Review Board and may request a reconsideration only if you have new, substantial, and relevant evidence to present which was not readily available during this review. If not, your recourse is to apply to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records. d. Rationale for Decision: (1) The Board voted to change the applicant's characterization of service to Honorable because the applicant's self-asserted PTSD mitigated the applicant's AWOLs, failures to report to appointed place of duty, treating an NCO with contempt, and wrongful use of methamphetamine. Thus, the prior characterization is no longer appropriate. (2) The Board voted to change the reason for discharge to Misconduct (Minor Infractions) under the same pretexts, thus the reason for discharge is no longer appropriate. The SPD code associated with the new reason for discharge is JKN. (3) The RE code will not change, as the current code is consistent with the procedural and substantive requirements of the regulation. 10. BOARD ACTION DIRECTED: a. Issue a New DD-214 / Separation Order: Yes b. Change Characterization to: Honorable c. Change Reason / SPD code to: Misconduct (Minor Infractions)/JKN d. Change RE Code to: No Change e. Change Authority to: AR 635-200, paragraph 14-12a 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 AR20200006590 1