1. Applicant's Name: a. Application Date: 19 January 2021 b. Date Received: 22 January 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 honorable. The applicant requests a reentry (RE) code change from 4 to 3 and the separation code. The applicant seeks relief contending, in effect, the RE code implies the applicant was a substandard Soldier and did not meet the minimum standards to reenlist, but the applicant's NCOERs show the applicant met or exceeded the standards. b. Board Type and Decision: In a records review conducted on 25 August 2023, and by a 5-0 vote, the Board denied the request upon finding the separation was both proper and equitable. However, notwithstanding the propriety of the applicant's discharge, the Board found that the applicant's DD Form 214, block 25 contains erroneous entries. The Board directed the following administrative corrections and reissue of the applicant's DD Form 214, as approved by the separation authority: DD Form 214, block 25, separation authority changed to AR 635-200, paragraph 16-12. 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: Non-Retention on Active Duty / AR 635-200 / Chapter 4 / JGH / RE-4 / Honorable b. Date of Discharge: 1 May 2018 c. Separation Facts: The applicant's Army Military Human Resource Record (AMHRR) is void of the complete case separation file. (1) Date of Notification of Intent to Separate: NIF (2) Basis for Separation: The Qualitative Management Program (QMP) Selection Board conducted a comprehensive review of the applicant's record for potential denial of continued service under the QMP and recommended the applicant be denied continued active- duty service. As a result, the Director of Military Personnel Management approved the board's recommendation, and the applicant was to be involuntarily discharged not later than 1 May 2018. (3) Qualitative Management Program Selection Board Date: NIF (4) Separation Decision Date: 5 October 2017 4. SERVICE DETAILS: a. Date / Period of Enlistment: 4 March 2016 / 3 years b. Age at Enlistment / Education / GT Score: 28 / HS Graduate / 116 c. Highest Grade Achieved / MOS / Total Service: E-6 / 11C3P, Indirect Fire Infantryman / 9 years, 6 months, 25 days d. Prior Service / Characterizations: RA, 7 October 2008 - 3 March 2016 / HD e. Overseas Service / Combat Service: SWA / Afghanistan (10 August 2009 - 10 August 2010), Afghanistan (27 February 2012 - 4 September 2012), Kuwait (11 October 2013 - 26 June 2014), Iraq (31 December 2016 - 20 June 2017) f. Awards and Decorations: PH, ARCOM-6, AAM C-Device, AGCM-2, NDSM, GWOTEM, GWOTSM, ACM-CS-2, NCOPDR, ASR, OSR-2NATO MDL, CIB, Parachutist Badge, IRCM-CS g. Performance Ratings: 1 April 2014 - 16 September 2014 / Among the Best 17 September 2014 - 16 September 2015 / Fully Capable 16 September 2015 - 26 April 2016 / Qualified 27 April 2016 - 26 April 2017 / Highly Qualified 2 May 2017 - 1 May 2018 / Qualified h. Disciplinary Action(s) / Evidentiary Record: Memorandum for the applicant, dated 5 October 2017, reflects the applicant received notification that the Qualitative Management Program Selection Board conducted a comprehensive review of the applicant's record for potential of continued service under the Qualitive Management Program (QMP) and recommended the applicant be denied continued active service. The Director of Military Personnel Management approved the board's recommendation, and the applicant will be involuntarily discharged from the Army not later than 1 May 2018. i. Lost Time / Mode of Return: None j. Behavioral Health Condition(s): (1) Applicant provided: None (2) AMHRR Listed: None 5. APPLICANT-PROVIDED EVIDENCE: DD Form 293, DD Form 149, NCOERs. 6. POST SERVICE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: None submitted with e 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. (4) Chapter 19 (in effect at the time) contained policies and procedures for voluntary and involuntary separation, for the convenience of the Government, of RA NCOs and USAR NCOs serving in AGR status, under the QMP. NCOs whose performance, conduct, and/or potential for advancement do not meet Army standards, as determined by the approved recommendations of HQDA centralized selection boards responsible for QMP screening, will be denied continued service. Chapter 19 has been incorporated into the current version of Chapter 16-11, AR 635- 200. Paragraph 19-1b states the service of a Soldier separated under this paragraph will be characterized as honorable. 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 "JGH" as the appropriate code to assign enlisted Soldiers who are discharged under the provisions of Army Regulation 635-200, Chapter 19, non-retention on active duty. f. MILPER Message Number 17-308, Procedures for the FY18 Qualitative Management Program (QMP), paragraph 8f stipulates: (1) Voluntary Retirements: Soldiers who elect voluntary retirement, regardless of whether it in lieu of QMP consideration or in lieu of involuntary separation as a result of QMP, will have their DD Form 214 coded with Separation Program Designator (SPD) code "RBD" and Reenlistment Eligibility code of "RE-4R." (2) Voluntary Discharge: Soldiers who elect voluntary discharge rather than Retirement will have their DD Form 214 coded with SPD code "KGH" and Reenlistment Eligibility code "RE- 4." (3) Involuntary Discharge: Soldiers who do nothing and are involuntarily discharged will have their DD Form 214 coded with SPD code "JGH" and reenlistment Eligibility code "RE-4." (4) Voluntary REFRAD: AGR Soldiers with 20 years or more of qualifying service for Non-regular retired pay who elect voluntary REFRAD will have their DD Form 214 coded with SPD code "MGH" and reenlistment eligibility code "RE-4." g. 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-1 Applies to: Person completing his or her term of active service who is considered qualified to reenter the U.S. Army. Eligibility: Qualified for enlistment if all other criteria are met. 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 RE code change. The applicant's Army Military Human Resources Record (AMHRR), the issues, and documents submitted with the application were carefully reviewed. The applicant's AMHRR includes partial facts and circumstances concerning the events which led to the discharge from the Army. The applicant's AMHRR does contain a properly constituted DD Form 214. The applicant requests a RE and SPD code change. The applicant was honorably separated under the provisions of AR 635-200, due to non-retention on active duty, with a RE code of "4." 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 19, paragraph 19-12, is "JGH." The regulation stipulates no deviation is authorized. MILPER Message Number 17-308, Procedures for the FY18 Qualitative Management Program (QMP), paragraph 8f states, in part, Soldiers who are involuntarily discharged will have their DD Form 214 coded with SPD code "JGH" and reenlistment Eligibility code "RE-4." 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. The applicant contends the RE code implies the applicant was a substandard Soldier, but the NCOERs show the applicant met or exceeded the standards. The applicant's AMHRR reflects no acts of misconduct or derogatory information, but the applicant's ERB, dated 2 May 2018, reflects a Reenlistment Eligibility/Prohibition Code "9L" (Involuntary Separation Under QMP). The applicant 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 assigned an RE code of "4." An RE code of "4" cannot be waived, and the applicant is no longer eligible for reenlistment. The applicant's AMHRR indicates someone in the discharge process erroneously entered on the applicant's DD Form 214, block 25, "AR 635-200, Chapter 4." The evidence of the record reflects the applicant was involuntarily separated under the Qualitative Management Program (QMP). Soldiers involuntarily separated as the result of a QMP board, will be separated under the provisions of Army Regulation 635-200, Chapter 16, paragraph 16-12, non-retention on active duty. If the applicant desires a personal appearance hearing, it is the applicant's responsibility to meet the burden of proof and provide the appropriate documents (i.e., the discharge packet) or other evidence sufficient to explain the facts, circumstances, and reasons underlying the separation action, for the Board's consideration because they are not available in the official record. 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 diagnosis: Post-service, the applicant is service connected for combat-related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (2) Did the condition exist or experience occur during military service? Yes. Possible anxiety or trauma symptoms in-service leading to the service connection. (3) Does the condition or experience actually excuse or mitigate the discharge? N/A. The Board's Medical Advisor applied liberal consideration and opined that it is more likely than not the applicant's significant family stressors and loss contributed to any performance deficits possibly leading to the RE4. (4) Does the condition or experience outweigh the discharge? N/A b. Response to Contention(s): (1) The applicant contends the RE code implies the applicant was a substandard Soldier. The Board considered the applicant's statement, record of service, and the reason for separation but found insufficient evidence in the applicant's AMHRR or applicant-provided evidence to show that the separation under the Qualitative Management Program (QMP) was arbitrary or capricious or otherwise improper. Therefore, a RE code change is not warranted. (2) The applicant desires to rejoin the Military Service. The Board considered this contention but determined that the applicant's separation under the QMP was proper and equitable. Army Regulation 635-200, paragraph 16-12 and MILPER Message Number 17-308 dictate that Soldiers separated under this provision will receive a reenlistment eligibility code of "RE-4". c. The Board determined that the discharge is, at this time, proper and equitable, in light of the current evidence of record. However, the applicant may request a personal appearance hearing to address the issues before the Board. The applicant is responsible for satisfying the burden of proof and providing documents or other evidence sufficient to support the applicant's contention(s) that the discharge was improper or inequitable. d. Rationale for Decision: (1) The Board voted not to change the applicant's characterization of service as the applicant already holds an Honorable and no further upgrade is available. (2) The Board voted not to change the applicant's reason for discharge or accompanying SPD code under the same pretexts, as the reason the applicant was discharged was both proper and equitable. (3) The RE code will not change. The Board determined that the applicant's separation under the QMP was proper and equitable. Army Regulation 635-200, paragraph 16-12 and MILPER Message Number 17-308 dictate that Soldiers separated under this provision will receive a reenlistment eligibility code of "RE-4". 10. BOARD ACTION DIRECTED: a. Issue a New DD-214 / Separation Order: Yes b. Change Characterization to: No Change c. Change Reason / SPD code to: No Change d. Change RE Code to: No Change e. Change Authority to: AR 635-200, paragraph 16-12 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 AR20210008215 1