1. Applicant's Name: a. Application Date: 1 May 2021 b. Date Received: 6 May 2021 c. Counsel: 2. REQUEST, ISSUES, BOARD TYPE, AND DECISION: The current characterization of service for the period under review is under other than honorable conditions. The applicant, through counsel requests an upgrade to honorable along with a narrative reason, separation program designator (SPD), and reentry (RE) code change. The applicant's counsel seeks relief contending, in effect, the character of service is inequitable and should receive liberal consideration because the applicant was suffering from undiagnosed service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which led to the discharge. The applicant had honorable service including service in Korea and a deployment to Kuwait/Iraq. The applicant witnessed horrific events in Iraq which caused his mental health to decline. The applicant went AWOL in order to avoid detection for self-medicating. Since being discharged, the applicant has gone through multiple recovery programs and has made substantial progress in managing his PTSD while successfully staying sober. The applicant started a business that seeks to help other veterans and recently had his first child. The applicant hopes to use benefits he would be afforded with an honorable discharge. In a records review conducted on 8 December 2021, and by a 4 - 1 vote, the Board determined the discharge is inequitable based on the applicant's length of service, to include combat service, the circumstances surrounding the discharge (i.e. post-service connection for combat- related PTSD with additional diagnoses of Bipolar and/or Mood Disorder and various substance use disorders), and post-service accomplishments. Therefore, the Board voted to grant relief in the form of an upgrade of the characterization of service to honorable and changed 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 3. 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: In Lieu of Trial by Court-Martial / AR 635-200, Chapter 10 / KFS / RE-4 / Under Other Than Honorable Conditions b. Date of Discharge: 8 May 2006 c. Separation Facts: (1) DD Form 458 (Charge Sheet): dated 29 March 2006, reflects the applicant was charged with being absent without authority on the following occasions: from on or about 7 October 2005 to on or about 23 November 2005; from on or about 19 January 2006 to on or about 13 February 2006; and from 21 February 2006 to on or about 29 March 2006. The applicant was also charged with wrongfully using cocaine on or between 1 October 2005 and 3 October 2005. (2) Legal Consultation: 13 April 2006 (3) Basis for Separation: Pursuant to the applicant's request for discharge under the provisions of AR 635-200, Chapter 10, in lieu of trial by court-martial. (4) Recommended Characterization: Under Other Than Honorable Conditions (5) Separation Decision Date / Characterization: 25 April 2006 / Under Other Than Honorable Conditions 4. SERVICE DETAILS: a. Date / Period of Enlistment: 18 September 2003 / 3 years b. Age at Enlistment / Education / GT Score: 18 / Test Based Diploma / 109 c. Highest Grade Achieved / MOS / Total Service: E-4 / 19D10, Cavalry Scout / 2 years, 4 months d. Prior Service / Characterizations: None e. Overseas Service / Combat Service: Korea, SWA / Kuwait, Iraq (8 August 2004 - 31 July 2005) f. Awards and Decorations: NDSM, GWOTSM, KDSM, CAB, ASR, OSR, ICM g. Performance Ratings: NA h. Disciplinary Action(s) / Evidentiary Record: See Charge Sheet as previously described in 3c (1). The applicant was arrested on 21 November 2005, for felony AWOL, possession of controlled substance, felony forgery, and possession of narcotic equipment. An Electronic Copy of the DD Form 2624, dated 24 January 2006, reflects the applicant tested positive for cocaine. i. Lost Time / Mode of Return: AWOL X 108 days / (7 October 2005 - 23 November 2005) / Returned, (19 January 2006 - 13 February 2006) / Returned, (21 February 2006 - 29 March 2006) / Apprehended j. Diagnosed PTSD / TBI / Behavioral Health: The applicant's counsel provides post- service medical evidence reflecting the applicant has a PTSD diagnosis. Counsel also provides a Rating Decision from the Department of Veteran Affairs, dated 14 December 2017, reflecting the applicant was granted service connection for treatment purposes for PTSD with stimulant and alcohol use disorder. 5. APPLICANT-PROVIDED EVIDENCE: DD Form 293-2, Counsel's note, Counsel's Brief with 26 Attachments (252 pages) 6. POST SERVICE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Counsel states the applicant has gone through multiple recovery programs and has made substantial progress in managing his PTSD while successfully staying sober. The applicant started a business that seeks to help other veterans and recently had his first child. 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) Chapter 10 provides, in pertinent part, that a member who has committed an offense or offenses for which the authorized punishment includes a punitive discharge may submit a request for a discharge for the good of the Service in lieu of trial by court-martial. The request may be submitted at any time after charges have been preferred and must include the individual's admission of guilt. (6) Paragraph 10-8a stipulates a discharge under other than honorable conditions is normally appropriate for a Soldier who is discharged in lieu of trial by court-martial. However, the separation authority may direct a general discharge if such is merited by the Soldier's overall record during the current enlistment. (See chap 3, sec II.) (7) Paragraph 10b stipulates Soldiers who have completed entry-level status, characterization of service as honorable is not authorized unless the Soldier's record is otherwise so meritorious that any other characterization clearly would be improper. (8) Chapter 15 provides for the basic separation of enlisted personnel for the convenience of the government. Paragraph 15-3 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 memorandums. Secretarial separation authority is normally exercised on a case-by-case basis. e. 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-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 of active Federal service. Eligibility: Ineligible for enlistment. f. 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 "KFS" as the appropriate code to assign enlisted Soldiers who are discharged under the provisions of Army Regulation 635-200, Chapter 10, In Lieu of Trial by Court-Martial. The SPD Code/RE Code Cross Reference Table shows that a Soldier assigned an SPD Code of "KFS" will be assigned an RE Code of "4." 8. DISCUSSION OF FACT(S): The Army Discharge Review Board considers applications for upgrade as instructed by Department of Defense Instruction 1332.28. The applicant's record of service, the issues and documents submitted with the application were carefully reviewed. The applicant, through counsel requests an upgrade to honorable along with a narrative reason, separation program designator (SPD), and reentry (RE) code change. The applicant's counsel contends the character of service is inequitable and should receive liberal consideration because the applicant was suffering from undiagnosed service-connected PTSD which led to the discharge. The applicant's AMHRR contains no documentation of PTSD diagnosis and is void of a Mental Status Evaluation. The applicant's counsel provides post- service medical evidence reflecting the applicant has a PTSD diagnosis. Counsel also provides a Rating Decision from the Department of Veteran Affairs, dated 14 December 2017, reflecting the applicant was granted service connection for treatment purposes for PTSD with stimulant and alcohol use disorder. The applicant requests the narrative reason for the discharge be changed. The applicant was separated under the provisions of Chapter 10, an under other than honorable conditions discharge. The narrative reason specified by Army Regulations for a discharge under this paragraph is "In Lieu of Trial by Court-Martial," and the separation code is "KFS." Army Regulation 635-5, Separation Documents, governs the preparation of the DD Form 214 and dictates the entry of the narrative reason for separation, entered in block 28 and separation code, entered in block 26 of the form, will be as listed in tables 2-2 or 2-3 of AR 635-5-1, Separation Program Designator (SPD) Codes. The regulation stipulates no deviation is authorized. There is no provision for any other reason to be entered under this regulation. The applicant requests the separation code (SPD) be changed. Separation 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. SPD Codes are controlled by OSD and then implemented in Army policy AR 635-5-1 to track types of separations. 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 and found the applicant is service connected for combat related PTSD that may mitigate the basis for separation. (2) Did the condition exist or experience occur during military service? Yes. The Board's Medical Advisor found the applicant's PTSD existed in-service. (3) Does the condition or experience actually excuse or mitigate the discharge? Yes. Based on liberal consideration and the nexus between trauma and avoidance, to include AWOL and substance misuse, the Board's Medical Advisor opined the applicant's basis for separation is mitigated by applicant's PTSD. (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, that PTSD is often associated with trauma and avoidance, to include AWOL and substance misuse. As a result, the ADRB applied liberal consideration and found that the PTSD outweighed the basis for separation. b. The applicant's counsel contends the character of service is inequitable and should receive liberal consideration because the applicant was suffering from undiagnosed service- connected PTSD which led to the discharge. The Board determined that this contention was valid and voted to upgrade the characterization of service in part due to PTSD mitigating the applicant's AWOL charges and Wrongful use of Cocaine. c. The Board determined the discharge is inequitable based on the applicant's length of service, to include combat service, the circumstances surrounding the discharge (i.e. post- service connection for combat-related PTSD with additional diagnoses of Bipolar and/or Mood Disorder and various substance use disorders), and post-service accomplishments. d. Rationale for Decision: (1) The Board voted to change the applicant's characterization of service to Honorable because the applicant had PTSD which mitigated the applicant's misconduct for AWOL and Wrongful use of Cocaine leaving a basis for separation that is inequitable when considering applicant's length of service, to include combat service, the circumstances surrounding the discharge, and post-service accomplishments. (2) The Board voted to change the reason for discharge to Secretarial Authority under the same pretexts. The SPD code associated with the new reason for discharge is JFF. (3) The Board voted to change the RE code to RE- 3. 10. BOARD ACTION DIRECTED: a. Issue a New DD-214: Yes b. Change Characterization to: Honorable c. Change Reason / SPD Code to: Secretarial Authority / JFF d. Change RE Code to: RE-3 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 AR20210010041 1