Applicant's Name: Application Date: 26 April 2021 Date Received: 26 April 2021 Counsel: None REQUEST, ISSUES, BOARD TYPE, AND DECISION: Applicant's Requests and Issues: The current characterization of service for the period under review is honorable. The applicant requests a narrative reason change, an SPD code change, and a reentry eligibility (RE) code change. The applicant seeks relief contending, in effect, the punishment was too harsh for a first offense and should not have been discharged. The applicant understood the one purpose Boot Camp and AIT was to weed out all the unfit Soldiers for which they were not. Before the military, and now, the applicant never had any legal trouble. The applicant has never been arrested, taken drugs, or committed anything to jeopardize their future. In Boot Camp, the applicant was elected to hold certain titles and given privileges for their hard work. Knowing every time they were given leave that they would be drug tested, the applicant knew the consequences of doing drugs. The applicant's noncommissioned officers knew of their innocence and allowed them to finish school. The applicant is an honorable person who wants nothing more than to serve and accomplish great feats with the power, trust, and tools given. The applicant lost this opportunity and requests reconsideration. The applicant is requesting an RE code change to re-enlist. Board Type and Decision: In a records review conducted on 25 August 2023, and by a 5-0 vote, the Board determined the discharge is inequitable because the applicant's MST outweighed the basis for separation - positive UA for controlled substances, FTR, consuming alcohol, and AWOL. Therefore, the Board voted to grant relief in the form of an upgrade of the separation authority to AR 635-200, Chapter 15, and the narrative reason for separation to Secretarial Authority, with a corresponding separation code to JFF, and a change to the reentry eligibility (RE) code to 1. The Board determined that the current characterization of service is proper and equitable. Please see Section 9 -of this document for more detail regarding the Board's decision. (Board member names available upon request) DISCHARGE DETAILS: Reason / Authority / Codes / Characterization: Misconduct (Minor Infractions) / AR 635- 200, Chapter 14-12a / JKN / RE-4 / Honorable Date of Discharge: 8 April 2011 Separation Facts: (1) Date of Notification of Intent to Separate: 21 March 2011 (2) Basis for Separation: The applicant was informed of the following reasons: For providing a urine sample which tested positive for D-Amphetamine and D-Methamphetamine schedule II controlled substances; For being counseled for failing to go at the time prescribed to the appointed place of duty on 16 July 2010, 10 September 2010, and 14 January 2011; For being counseled for consuming alcohol on 24 July 2010; and For departing the unit on or about 13 September 2010 and remained absent until 19 September 2010. (3) Recommended Characterization: General (Under Honorable Conditions) (4) Legal Consultation Date: Waived, 22 March 2011 (5) Administrative Separation Board: NA (6) Separation Decision Date / Characterization: 1 April 2011 / General (Under Honorable Conditions) 4. SERVICE DETAILS: a. Date / Period of Enlistment: 16 February 2010 / 4 years b. Age at Enlistment / Education / GT Score: 25 / HS Graduate / 97 c. Highest Grade Achieved / MOS / Total Service: E-3 / 91G10, Fire Control Repairer / 1 year, 1 month, 17 days d. Prior Service / Characterizations: None e. Overseas Service / Combat Service: None f. Awards and Decorations: NDSM, ASR g. Performance Ratings: NA h. Disciplinary Action(s) / Evidentiary Record: Four Developmental Counseling Forms, for various acts of misconduct. Electronic copy of DD Form 2624, 8 December 2010, reflects the applicant tested positive for D- AMP and D-METH during a Probable Cause (PO) urinalysis testing conducted on 1 December 2010. CG Article 15, 14 October 2010, for departing the unit on or about 13 September 2010, without authority, and remaining absent until on or about 19 September 2010. The punishment consisted of a reduction to E-2; forfeiture of $378 pay; extra duty for 14 days; restriction to the limits of company area, dining facility, dental facility, medical facility, place of worship, place of duty and North Fort Lee interim gym for 14 days. Report of Mental Status Evaluation, 9 February 2011, reflects the applicant was cleared for any administrative actions deemed appropriate by the command. The applicant could understand and participate in administrative proceedings; could appreciate the difference between right and wrong; and met medical retention requirements. The command was advised to consider the influence of these conditions. FG Article 15, 10 February 2011, for wrongfully using D-Amphetamine and D-Methamphetamine between on or about 28 November 2010 and on or about 1 December 2010. The punishment consisted of a reduction to E-1; forfeiture of $733 pay per month for two months; extra duty for 45 Days; restriction to the limits of company area, dining/medical facility, dental facility, place of duty, and place of worship for 45 days. Memorandum, 1 April 2011, Subject: Bar From Entering Fort Lee, reflects the applicant was permanently barred from Fort Lee, Virginia, as a result of misconduct. U.S. Army Crime Records Center Memorandum, 14 December 2016, reflects the applicant was the victim of a sexual assault while assigned to Fort Lee, Virginia in July of 2010. i. Lost Time / Mode of Return: 6 days (AWOL, 13 September 2010 - 19 September 2010) / NIF j. Behavioral Health Condition(s): (1) Applicant provided: None (2) AMHRR Listed: None 5. APPLICANT-PROVIDED EVIDENCE: DD Form 149; DD Form 214; copies of military personnel records. 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) 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) 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 14-3 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. (6) Paragraph 14-12a addresses minor disciplinary infractions, defined as a pattern of misconduct, consisting solely of minor military disciplinary infractions. (7) Chapter 15 provides explicitly for separation under the prerogative of the Secretary of the Army. Secretarial plenary separation authority is exercised sparingly and seldom delegated. Ordinarily, it is used when no other provision of this regulation applies, and early separation is clearly in the Army's best interest. Separations under this paragraph are effective only if approved in writing by the Secretary of the Army or the Secretary's approved designee as announced in updated memoranda. Secretarial separation authority is normally exercised on a case-by-case basis. 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 "JKN" as the appropriate code to assign enlisted Soldiers who are discharged under the provisions of Army Regulation 635-200, Chapter 14, Misconduct (Minor Infractions). f. Army Regulation 601-210, Regular Army and Reserve Components Enlistment Program, governs eligibility criteria, policies, and procedures for enlistment and processing of persons into the Regular Army, the U.S. Army Reserve, and Army National Guard for enlistment per DODI 1304.26. It also prescribes the appointment, reassignment, management, and mobilization of Reserve Officers' Training Corps cadets under the Simultaneous Membership Program. Chapter 4 provides the criteria and procedures for waiverable and nonwaiverable separations. Table 3-1, defines reentry eligibility (RE) codes: RE-3 Applies to: Person who is not considered fully qualified for reentry or continuous service at time of separation, but disqualification is waiverable. Eligibility: Ineligible unless a waiver is granted. RE-4 Applies to: Person separated from last period of service with a nonwaiverable disqualification. This includes anyone with a DA imposed bar to reenlistment in effect at time of separation or separated for any reason (except length of service retirement) with 18 or more years active Federal service. Eligibility: Ineligible for enlistment. 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 a change in narrative reason, SPD code, and RE-code. The applicant contends the SPD code should be changed. The SPD codes are three-character alphabetic combinations that identify reasons for, and types of, separation from active duty. The primary purpose of SPD codes is to provide statistical accounting of reasons for separation. They are intended exclusively for the internal use of DoD and the Military Services to assist in the collection and analysis of separation data. The SPD Codes are controlled by OSD and then implemented in Army policy AR 635-5-1 to track types of separations. The SPD code specified by Army Regulations for a discharge under Chapter 14, paragraph 14-12a, is "JKN." The applicant contends the event, which led to the discharge from the Army, was an isolated incident. Army Regulation 635-200, paragraph 3-5, in pertinent part, stipulates circumstances in which the conduct or performance of duty reflected by a single incident provides the basis for a characterization. The applicant contends they never used drugs and the NCO's new they were innocent. The applicant did not submit any evidence, other than the applicant's statement, to support the contention. The applicant's AMHRR contains evidence reflecting they tested positive for D-AMP and D-METH during a Probable Cause (PO) urinalysis testing conducted on 1 December 2010. The applicant's AMHRR does not contain any indication or evidence of arbitrary or capricious actions by the command. The applicant contends good service. The applicant requests a reentry eligibility (RE) code change and desires to rejoin the Military Service. Soldiers processed for separation are assigned reentry codes based on their service records or the reason for discharge. Based on Army Regulation 601-210, the applicant was appropriately assigned an RE code of "4." An RE code of "4" cannot be waived, and the applicant is no longer eligible for reenlistment. 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, the applicant's statement, and/or civilian provider documentation and found that the applicant has the following potentially mitigating diagnoses/experiences: Adjustment Disorder and MST. (2) Did the condition exist or experience occur during military service? Yes. The Board's Medical Advisor found the applicant was diagnosed in service with an Adjustment Disorder and was the victim of an MST during military service. (3) Does the condition or experience actually excuse or mitigate the discharge? Yes. The Board's Medical Advisor applied liberal consideration and opined that given the nexus between being a victim of an MST, self-medicating with substances, and avoidance, all misconduct that led to applicant's separation is mitigated. (4) Does the condition or experience outweigh the discharge? Yes. After applying liberal consideration to the evidence, to include the Board Medical Advisor opine, the Board determined that the applicant's MST outweighed the basis for separation - positive UA for controlled substances, FTR, consuming alcohol, and AWOL - for the aforementioned reasons. b. Response to Contention(s): (1) The applicant contends the SPD and RE code should be changed. The Board considered this contention and voted to upgrade the SPD and RE codes based on the applicant's MST outweighing the basis for separation. (2) The applicant contends the event, which led to the discharge from the Army, was an isolated incident. The Board considered this contention during proceedings, but did not address the contention due to an upgrade being granted based on the applicant's MST outweighing the basis for separation. (3) The applicant contends they never used drugs and the NCO's new they were innocent. The Board considered this contention during proceedings, but did not address the contention due to an upgrade being granted based on the applicant's MST outweighing the basis for separation. (4) The applicant contends good service. The Board considered this contention during proceedings, but did not address the contention due to an upgrade being granted based on the applicant's MST outweighing the basis for separation. c. The Board determined the discharge is inequitable because the applicant's MST outweighed the basis for separation - positive UA for controlled substances, FTR, consuming alcohol, and AWOL. Therefore, the Board voted to grant relief in the form of an upgrade. d. Rationale for Decision: (1) The Board voted not to change the characterization of service due to it already being Honorable. (2) The Board voted to change the reason for discharge to Secretarial Authority. The SPD code associated with the new reason for discharge is JFF. (3) The Board voted to change the RE code to RE-1. 10. BOARD ACTION DIRECTED: a. Issue a New DD-214: Yes b. Change Characterization to: No Change c. Change Reason / SPD Code to: Secretarial Authority / JFF d. Change RE Code to: RE-1 e. Change Authority to: AR 635-200, Chapter 15 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 AR20210001665 1