1. Applicant's Name: a. Application Date: 26 April 2021 b. Date Received: 26 April 2021 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 under other than honorable conditions. The applicant requests an upgrade to honorable. The applicant seeks relief contending, in effect, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) results from a combat tour in Iraq. The applicant was accused of being absent without leave (AWOL) and incarcerated for twenty days after returning from AWOL. The applicant was having relationship issues with the ex-spouse, in attempting to save the relationship and sanity led to the AWOL. The ex-spouse claimed all types of abuse and lack of support from the applicant, which were not true. The applicant believes the chain of command provided no support during the time of these relationship issues, which ended in a divorce. b. Board Type and Decision: In a records review conducted on 1 September 2022, and by a 5-0 vote, the Board determined the discharge is inequitable based on the circumstances surrounding the discharge (PTSD diagnosis). 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 reentry eligibility (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: Misconduct (AWOL) / AR 635-200, Chapter 14-12c (1) / JKD / RE-3 / Under Other Than Honorable Conditions b. Date of Discharge: 13 December 2010 c. Separation Facts: (1) Date of Notification of Intent to Separate: 21 October 2010 (2) Basis for Separation: Under the provisions of AR 635-200, Chapter 14-12c, Commission of a Serious Offense, the applicant was informed of the following reasons: The applicant was found guilty at a Summary Court-Martial of being AWOL from 18 August 2009 until apprehended 3 March 2010, and for wrongfully using cocaine between 10 and 12 May 2010. (3) Recommended Characterization: Under Other Than Honorable Conditions (4) Legal Consultation Date: On 23 November 2010, the applicant waived legal counsel. (5) Administrative Separation Board: On 23 November 2010, the applicant unconditionally waived consideration of the case before an administrative separation board in accordance with the offer to plead guilty at a Summary Court-Marital. (6) Separation Decision Date / Characterization: On illegible date, the separation authority approved the applicant's separation under the provisions of AR 635-200, Chapter 14-12c, Misconduct (Serious Offense) / Under Other Than Honorable Conditions. 4. SERVICE DETAILS: a. Date / Period of Enlistment: 16 July 2007 / 3 years, 17 weeks b. Age at Enlistment / Education / GT Score: 19 / HS Graduate / 110 c. Highest Grade Achieved / MOS / Total Service: E-4 / 13B10, Cannon Crewmember / 2 years, 9 months, 24 days d. Prior Service / Characterizations: None e. Overseas Service / Combat Service: SWA / Iraq (9 January 2008 - 2 April 2008) f. Awards and Decorations: NDSM, GWOTSM, ICM-CS, ASR g. Performance Ratings: NA h. Disciplinary Action(s) / Evidentiary Record: Three Personnel Action forms, reflect the applicant's duty status changed as follows: From "Present for Duty (PDY)" to "Absent Without Leave (AWOL)," effective date 18 August 2009; From "AWOL" to "Dropped From Rolls (DFR)," effective date 16 September 2009; and, From "DFR," to "PDY," effective date 22 March 2010. Electronic Copy of DD Form 2624, dated 20 May 2010, reflects the applicant tested positive for COC 528 (cocaine), during an Inspection Unit (IU) urinalysis testing, conducted on 12 May 2010. Memorandum Thru, Subject: Offer to Plead Guilty at Summary Court-Martial and Waiver of Administrative Separation Board, dated 12 July 2010, reflects the applicant agreed to waive right to a separation board in a subsequent AR 635-200, Chapter 14 action for misconduct. The applicant understands the separation authority has the right to approve an under other than honorable characterization of service for discharge. Record of Trial by Summary Court-Martial, reflects the applicant was charged with: Charge I: Violating Article 86, UCMJ, Specification: On 18 August 2009, for being AWOL and remaining absent until 3 March 2010. Plea: Guilty Finding: Guilty Charge II: Violating Article 112a, UCMJ, Specification: On 10 and12 May 2010, for wrongfully use of cocaine. Plea: Guilty Finding: Guilty The sentenced adjudged: Reduction to E-1, and confinement for 30 days. Confinement Order, dated 28 July 2010, reflects the applicant was charged with being AWOL and use of cocaine sentenced to 30 days confinement. i. Lost Time / Mode of Return: 8 months, 5 days: AWOL, 18 August 2009 - 21 March 2010 / Apprehended by Civil Authorities CMA, 28 July 2010 - 27 August 2010 / Released from Confinement j. Diagnosed PTSD / TBI / Behavioral Health: Mental Status Evaluation, dated 20 September 2010, reflects the applicant was cleared for any administrative actions deemed appropriate by the command. The applicant was mentally responsible with a clear thinking process. The applicant was diagnosed with: adjustment disorder with Depressed Mood, mild. The applicant provided a copy of a Tropical Texas Behavioral Health Diagnostic Form, dated 19 February 2016, reflecting the applicant's disorders and conditions: Major depressive, disorder, Recurrent; PTSD; Cocaine use disorder, Severe; Sedative, hypnotic, or anxiolytic use and Alcohol use disorder, Moderate. 5. APPLICANT-PROVIDED EVIDENCE: DD Form 149; DD Form 214; copies of military personnel records; Tropical Texas Behavioral Health Diagnostic Form. 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) 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(1) allows for an absentee returned to military control from a status of absent without leave or desertion to be separated for commission of a serious offense. 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 "JKD" as the appropriate code to assign enlisted Soldiers who are discharged under the provisions of Army Regulation 635-200, Chapter 14, paragraph 12c(1), Misconduct (AWOL). 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 waivable and nonwaivable 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 waivable. Eligibility: Ineligible unless a waiver is 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 requests an upgrade to honorable. The applicant's record of service, the issues and documents submitted with the application were carefully reviewed. The applicant contends suffering from PTSD, resulting from a combat tour in Iraq. The applicant provided a Tropical Texas Behavioral Health Diagnostic Form, dated 19 February 2016, reflecting the applicant's disorders and conditions: Major depressive, disorder, Recurrent; PTSD; Cocaine use disorder, Severe; Sedative, hypnotic, or anxiolytic use and Alcohol use disorder, moderate. The Army Military Human Resource Record (AMHRR) reflects the applicant underwent a Mental Status Evaluation on 20 September 2010, which reflects the applicant was cleared for any administrative actions deemed appropriate by the command. The applicant could understand the difference between right and wrong and could participate in the proceedings and was diagnosed with: adjustment disorder with Depressed Mood, mild. The MSE was considered by the separation authority. The applicant contends relationship issues and leadership provided no support during this time, which affected behavior and ultimately caused the discharge. The applicant provided no evidence, other than the statement, to support the contention of no leadership support. There is no evidence in the AMHRR the applicant ever sought assistance before committing the misconduct, which led to the separation action under review. The AMHRR does not contain any indication or evidence of arbitrary or capricious actions by the command. 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: PTSD. (2) Did the condition exist or experience occur during military service? Yes. The Board's Medical Advisor found that the applicant has been diagnosed by the VA with combat-related PTSD, which suggests that it existed 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 PTSD, avoidance, and self-medicating with substances, applicant's PTSD likely contributed to applicant's AWOL and wrongful use of cocaine. (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 PTSD outweighed the AWOL and wrongful use of cocaine basis for separation b. Response to Contention(s): (1) The applicant contends the narrative reason for the discharge needs to be changed. The Board determined that this contention was valid and voted to upgrade the characterization of service due to PTSD mitigating the applicant's AWOL and wrongful cocaine use charges. (2) The applicant contends suffering from PTSD, results from a combat tour in Iraq. The Board determined that this contention was valid and voted to upgrade the characterization of service due to PTSD mitigating the applicant's AWOL and wrongful cocaine use charges. (3) The applicant contends relationship issues and leadership provided no support during this time, which affected behavior and ultimately caused the discharge. The Board considered this contention during proceedings, but ultimately did not address the contention due to an upgrade being granted based on the applicant's PTSD fully outweighing the applicant's AWOL and wrongful cocaine drug use basis for separation c. The Board determined the discharge is inequitable based on the circumstances surrounding the discharge (PTSD diagnosis). 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 reentry eligibility (RE) code was proper and equitable and voted not to change it. d. Rationale for Decision: (1) The Board voted to change the applicant's characterization of service to Honorable because the applicant's PTSD mitigated the applicant's misconduct of AWOL and wrongful cocaine use. 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: 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 AR20210002583 1