1. Applicant’s Name: a. Application Date: 21 December 2022 b. Date Received: 28 December 2022 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 uncharacterized. The applicant requests a SPD code change. The applicant did not properly annotate the enclosed application requesting a possible discharge upgrade. The Army Discharge Review Board considered the applicant for a possible upgrade as instructed in pertinent part by Department of Defense Instruction 1332.28, which stipulates a request for review from an applicant without an honorable discharge shall be treated as a request for a change to an honorable discharge unless the applicant requests a specific change to another character of discharge. The applicant seeks relief contending, in effect, to not having received any mental evaluation before being discharged. After the applicant’s discharge the applicant returned to the recruiter and explained what occurred while in boot camp and was told there was nothing wrong with the applicant. The applicant insists that there is some sort of problem that occurred after attending basic training which has played a major role on everyday life and the applicant’s family. While in basic training the applicant dealt with constant racism, fighting, and being scared to sleep on numerous occasions which has really had an effect on the applicant. One of the drill sergeants would call only the black Soldiers knuckle dragger and would smoke us every time the drill sergeant had a chance. The applicant stopped eating and started taking rage out on peers and the platoon feared the applicant because the applicant couldn’t control the applicant’s emotions. For the first 2 years after leaving, the applicant would have a repeating dream where the applicant was back in boot camp but every time the applicant realized where the applicant was at, the applicant would yell causing the applicant’s ex-girlfriend to wake the applicant up. The applicant still has the dreams but not as often. b. Board Type and Decision: In a records review conducted on 16 October 2023, and by a 5-0 vote, the Board denied the request upon finding the separation was both proper and equitable. Please see Section 10 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: Entry Level Performance and Conduct / Army Regulation (AR) 635-200, Chapter 11 / JGA / RE-3 / Uncharacterized b. Date of Discharge: 11 December 2015 c. Separation Facts: (1) Date of Notification of Intent to Separate: NIF (2) Basis for Separation: NIF (3) Recommended Characterization: NIF (4) Legal Consultation Date: NIF (5) Administrative Separation Board: NA (6) Separation Decision Date / Characterization: NIF 4. SERVICE DETAILS: a. Date / Period of Enlistment: 1 September 2015 / 3 years, 16 weeks b. Age at Enlistment / Education / GT Score: 17 / High School Graduate / 87 c. Highest Grade Achieved / MOS / Total Service: E-1 / None / 3 months, 11 days d. Prior Service / Characterizations: None e. Overseas Service / Combat Service: None f. Awards and Decorations: None g. Performance Ratings: NA h. Disciplinary Action(s) / Evidentiary Record: The applicant’s Enlisted Record Brief, 14 December 2015, shows the applicant was flagged for adverse action (AA), effective 12 November 2015; was ineligible for reenlistment due to an adverse action flag (9B). The applicant’s DD Form 214, reflects the applicant had not completed the first full term of service. The applicant was discharged under the authority of AR 635-200, Chapter 11, with a narrative reason of Entry Level Performance and Conduct. The DD Form 214 was not authenticated with the applicant’s signature. i. Lost Time / Mode of Return: None j. Behavioral Health Condition(s): (1) Applicant provided: Walk In Family Psychiatric Care, Controlled Substance Contract, 11 July 2022, showing the applicant was prescribed Escitalopram, an anti-depressant medicine. (2) AMHRR Listed: None 5. APPLICANT-PROVIDED EVIDENCE: DD Form 293; Controlled Substance Contract. 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 PTSD, 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 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 635-5 (Separation Documents) and AR 600-8-104 (Army Military Human Resources Records Management) both require supporting documents for an approved separation action to be maintained in the affected Soldier's official military personnel file. e. 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 3-9 states a separation will be described as entry-level with service uncharacterized if processing is initiated while a Soldier is in entry-level status. (5) Chapter 11 provides for the separation of personnel due to unsatisfactory performance, conduct, or both, while in an ELS. (6) Paragraph 11-3a (2) stipulates the policy applies to Soldiers who are in entry-level status, undergoing initial entry training, and, before the date of the initiation of separation action, have completed no more than 180 days of creditable continuous active duty or IADT or no more than 90 days of Phase II under a split or alternate training option. (See the glossary for precise definition of ELS. (7) The regulation states counseling and rehabilitation requirements are essential when entry-level performance and conduct are the reason for separation. Military service is a calling different from any civilian occupation, and a Soldier should not be separated when this is the sole reason for separation unless efforts at rehabilitation have failed. Before initiating separation action, commanders will ensure that the Soldier receives adequate counseling and rehabilitation. (a) The regulation also stipulated commanders use of the notification procedure when advising the Soldier of the contemplated separation action. The notification procedure involved giving the Soldier a written notice of the proposed separation, which specified the type of separation, the reason for the commander's action, and the Soldier's rights under the regulation; those rights include: consultation with military counsel, submission of statements in his/her own behalf, copies of documents to be sent to the separation authority, and the ability to waive the aforementioned rights in writing. (b) The Soldier was to indicate on an "Election of Rights" document whether he/she consulted with counsel, was submitting matters in his/her own behalf, and what rights he/she was asserting or waiving. (8) Paragraph 11-8, stipulates service will be described as uncharacterized under the provisions of this chapter. (9) Glossary defines ELS for RA Soldiers is the first 180 days of continuous AD or the first 180 days of continuous active duty following a break of more than 92 days of active military service. f. Army Regulation 635-5-1 (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 “JGA” as the appropriate code to assign enlisted Soldiers who are discharged under the provisions of Army Regulation 635-200, Chapter 11, entry-level performance and conduct. 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. 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 SPD code change and will be considered for an upgrade to honorable. The applicant’s AMHRR, the issues, and documents submitted with the application were carefully reviewed. The uncharacterized discharge the applicant received is not meant to be a negative reflection of a Soldier’s military service. It merely means that the Soldier had not been in the Army long enough for the character of service to be rated as honorable or otherwise. An honorable discharge may be given only in cases which are clearly warranted by unusual circumstances involving outstanding personal conduct and/or performance of duty. An honorable discharge is rarely ever granted. The applicant’s AMHRR is void of the specific 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 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty), which was not authenticated by the applicant’s signature. The applicant’s DD Form 214 indicates the applicant was discharged under the provisions of AR 635-200, Chapter 11, by reason of Entry-Level Performance and Conduct, with a characterization of service of Uncharacterized. The applicant request the SPD code 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 11, is “JGA.” The applicant contends, in effect, there is some sort of problem that occurred after attending basic training that has played a major role on everyday life and the applicant’s family. The applicant provided a copy of the Walk In Family Psychiatric Care, and a copy of the applicant’s Controlled Substance Contract, dated 11 July 2022, showing the applicant was prescribed Escitalopram, an anti-depressant medicine. The applicant checked the PTSD, other mental health, and the sexual assault/harassment boxes on the DD Form 293. The Command Management Division representative mailed the applicant at the address in the application on 12 May 2023 requesting documents about the applicant’s medical condition to support the applicant’s issue with PTSD and other mental health. In addition, a copy of the applicant’s separation files was requested. There has been no response from the applicant. The Army Review Board Agency requested sanitized information from the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division on 12 May 2023, however, a search of the Army criminal file indexes revealed no records pertaining to the applicant. The applicant contends, in effect, to not having received any mental evaluation before being discharged. AR 635-200 does not require a mental status evaluation for a chapter 11. 9. DOCUMENTS / TESTIMONY PRESENTED DURING PERSONAL APPEARANCE: In addition to the evidence in the record, the Board carefully considered the additional document(s) and testimony presented by the applicant at the personal appearance hearing. a. The applicant submitted the following additional document(s): N/A b. The applicant presented the following additional contention(s): N/A c. Counsel / Witness(es) / Observer(s): N/A 10. 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 which were void of behavioral health symptoms, conditions, or treatment. However, the applicant asserts emotional distress in-service due to racism and fighting which may be sufficient evidence to establish the existence of a condition that could mitigate or excuse the discharge. (2) Did the condition exist or experience occur during military service? Yes. Per applicant testimony alone, the applicant had emotional distress due to racism and fighting; no specific diagnosis was offered. (3) Does the condition or experience actually excuse or mitigate the discharge? No. The Board's Medical Advisor applied liberal consideration and opined that while the applicant's assertion is acknowledged, at this time documentation is insufficient to support the applicant had a behavioral health condition influencing the discharge. (4) Does the condition or experience outweigh the discharge? No. After applying liberal consideration to the evidence, including the Board Medical Advisor opine, the Board determined that the available evidence did not support a conclusion that the applicant’s self-assertion of emotional distress due to racism and fighting outweighed the basis for applicant’s separation for inability to adapt to the training and military environment for the aforementioned reasons. b. Response to Contention(s): (1) The applicant contends, in effect, to not having received any mental evaluation before being discharged. AR 635-200 does not require a mental status evaluation for a chapter 11. The Board considered this contention and determined in accordance with AR 635- 200 that, based on the applicant’s official record, applicant was separated while in an entry level status and an UNC is the proper characterization of service except when the DCS, G-1 determines that an HD is warranted based on unusual circumstances involving personal conduct and performance of duty, which is not applicable in this case. Therefore, no change is warranted. (2) The applicant contends, in effect, there is some sort of problem that occurred after attending basic training that has played a major role on everyday life and the applicant’s family. The Board considered this contention and determined that there is insufficient evidence in the applicant’s official record or provided by the applicant that the applicant was not provided sufficient access to resources. Therefore, no change is warranted. c. The Board determined that the discharge is, at this time, proper and equitable, considering 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 because, in accordance with AR 635-200 and based on the applicant’s official record the applicant was separated while in an entry level status and Uncharacterized discharge is the proper characterization of service except when the DCS, G-1 determines that an Honorable discharge is warranted based on unusual circumstances involving personal conduct and performance of duty, which is not applicable in this case. Therefore, no change is warranted. (2) The Board voted not to change the applicant’s reason for discharge or accompanying SPD code under the same pretexts, and the reason the applicant was discharged was both proper and equitable. (3) The RE code will not change, as the current code is consistent with the procedural and substantive requirements of the regulation. ? 11. BOARD ACTION DIRECTED: a. Issue a New DD-214 / Separation Order: No 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: No Change 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 Affair ARMY DISCHARGE REVIEW BOARD CASE REPORT AND DIRECTIVE AR20230003597 1