1. Applicant's Name: a. Application Date: 26 February 2021 b. Date Received: 8 April 2021 c. Counsel: None 2. REQUEST, ISSUES, BOARD TYPE, AND DECISION: The current characterization of service for the period under review is general (under honorable conditions). The applicant requests an upgrade to honorable. The applicant seeks relief contending, in effect, he was discharged after driving while under the influence. During the time he was going through some serious mental issues after losing his father and stepfather within a year. He fell into a deep depression and used alcohol to numb the pain. He tried to get help but it did not work. Since being discharged he has made positive step towards self-recovery. He started college; quit drinking; and started a family. An upgrade would provide him with better job opportunities. In a records review conducted on 17 December 2021, and by a 4-1 vote, the Board determined the discharge is inequitable based on the applicant's length and quality of service, to include combat service, and the circumstances surrounding the discharge (OBHI diagnoses). 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. 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 (Serious Offense) / AR 635-200, Paragraph 14-12c / JKQ / RE-3 / General, Under Honorable Conditions b. Date of Discharge: 18 June 2020 c. Separation Facts: (1) Date of Notification of Intent to Separate: 21 April 2020 (2) Basis for Separation: The applicant was informed of the following reasons: The applicant was arrested for driving while intoxicated. (3) Recommended Characterization: General (Under Honorable Conditions) (4) Legal Consultation Date: 21 April 2020 (5) Administrative Separation Board: The applicant waived consideration of his case by an administrative separation board. (6) Separation Decision Date / Characterization: 26 May 2020 / General (Under Honorable Conditions) 4. SERVICE DETAILS: a. Date / Period of Enlistment: 11 June 2018 / 6 years b. Age at Enlistment / Education / GT Score: 26 / HS Graduate / 105 c. Highest Grade Achieved / MOS / Total Service: E-5 / 91B20, Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic / 8 years, 8 months d. Prior Service / Characterizations: RA, 11 June 2012 - 10 June 2018 / HD e. Overseas Service / Combat Service: SWA / Iraq, 12 January 2017 - 13 October 2017 f. Awards and Decorations: AAM-3, AGCM-2, NDSM, GWOTSM, AFSM, NCOPDR, ASR, Driver and Mechanic Badge-Mechanic Clasp g. Performance Ratings: 2 August 2017 - 1 August 2018 / Highly Qualified 2 August 2018 - 1 August 2019 / Qualified h. Disciplinary Action(s) / Evidentiary Record: Law Enforcement Report, dated 23 May 2019, reflects the applicant was arrested for driving while intoxicated. GOMOR, dated 8 August 2019, reflects on 30 April 2019, the applicant was apprehended by an El Paso police officer for driving while intoxicated after flipping his car over. The officer approached the applicant while the applicant was being treated and observed the applicant had blood shot eyes, slurred speech, and smelled like alcohol. The applicant failed the only part of the standardized field sobriety test that was administered and a blood test warrant was issued. The blood test confirmed the applicants BAC to be .157, in violation of the UCMJ and the Texas Penal Code. A Report of Mental Status Evaluation, dated 3 March 2020, reflects the applicant could understand and participate in administrative proceedings and appreciate the difference between right and wrong. The applicant's behavioral health condition was not likely a mitigating factor in the alleged behavior leading to administrative separation. DA Form 4126 Bar to continued service dated 10 May 2019 Several DA Forms 4856 Developmental Counseling Form for advising the applicant of his Bar to continued service, failure to report to formation and a personal flag action. Law Enforcement Report with allied documents dated 23 May 2019, off post arrest-for driving while intoxicated i. Lost Time / Mode of Return: None j. Diagnosed PTSD / TBI / Behavioral Health: None 5. APPLICANT-PROVIDED EVIDENCE: DD Form 293, Letters of Support-2 6. POST SERVICE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The applicant states he had made positive steps towards self-recovery and is attending college. He quit drinking and started a family. 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) 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 14-12c, states a Soldier is subject to action per this section for commission of a serious military or civilian offense, if the specific circumstances of the offense warrant separation and a punitive discharge is, or would be, authorized for the same or a closely related offense under the Manual for Courts-Martial. 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's AMHRR record of service, the issues and documents submitted with the application were carefully reviewed. The applicant requests an upgrade to honorable. The applicant contend he was discharged after driving while under the influence. During the time he was going through some serious mental issues after losing his father and stepfather within a year. He fell into a deep depression and used alcohol to numb the pain. He tried to get help but it did not work. The AMHRR shows the applicant underwent a mental status evaluation (MSE) on 3 March 2020, which reflects the applicant could understand and participate in administrative proceedings and appreciate the difference between right and wrong. The applicant's behavioral health condition was not likely a mitigating factor in the alleged behavior leading to administrative separation. The MSE was considered by the separation authority. The applicant states since being discharged he has made positive step towards self-recovery. He started college; quit drinking; and started a family. The applicant states an upgrade would provide him with better job opportunities. 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 held an in-service diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder and post-service, a not service connected Unspecified Depressive Disorder diagnosis, both of which may mitigate the driving while intoxicated basis for separation. (2) Did the condition exist or experience occur during military service? Yes. The applicant held an Adjustment Disorder diagnosis in-service. (3) Does the condition or experience actually excuse or mitigate the discharge? No. While liberal consideration was applied, the Board's Medical Advisor opined that the applicant's Adjustment Disorder does not mitigate the DWI and positive marijuana usage because applicant's Adjustment Disorder did not impair applicant's ability to understand the choices made or possible consequences. (4) Does the condition or experience outweigh the discharge? No. Despite the ADRB's application of liberal consideration, the Board concurred with the opinion of the Board's Medical Advisor, a voting member, that the applicant's non-medically mitigated offenses of DWI and positive marijuana use outweighed the applicant's Adjustment Disorder and Unspecific Depressive Disorder diagnoses for the reasons stated above. b. The applicant contents severe family matters led to his alcohol use, and he used marijuana while pending court case for the resulting DWI. The Board considered applicant's contention during Board proceedings, and ultimately determined that relief was warranted for reasons of equity. c. The Board determined the discharge is inequitable based on the applicant's length and quality of service, to include combat service, and the circumstances surrounding the discharge. d. Rationale for Decision: (1) The Board voted to change the applicant's characterization of service to Honorable based on the totality of the applicant's record of service. 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 a. 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 AR20210011439 3