Docket No: 0315-18 
Ref: Signature date 

Dear 

This letter is in reference to your reconsideration request dated 19 December 2018. You 
previously petitioned the Board for Correction of Naval Records (Board) on 10 September 2008, 
5 March 2009, 21 May 2013, 18 November 2014, and 22 June 2016, and were advised that your 
applications had been disapproved. Your case was reconsidered in accordance with Board 
procedures that conform to Lipsman v. Sec’y of the Army, 335 F. Supp. 2d 48 (D.D.C. 2004). 
After careful and conscientious consideration of the entire record, the Board found that the 
evidence submitted was insufficient to establish the existence of probable material error or 
injustice. Consequently, your application has been denied. 

Although you did not file your application in a timely manner, the Board found it in the interest 
of justice to waive the statute of limitations and consider your application on its merits. A three-
member panel of the Board, sitting in executive session, considered your application on 
1 April 2019. The names and votes of the members of the panel will be furnished upon request. 
Your allegations of error and injustice were reviewed in accordance with administrative 
regulations and procedures applicable to the proceedings of this Board. Documentary material 
considered by the Board consisted of your application, together with all material submitted in 
support thereof, relevant portions of your naval record, as well as applicable statutes, regulations, 
and policies. 

You enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve on 10 November 1983. Under the terms of your 
enlistment contract, you were required to participate in 48 drills and perform 14 days of active 
duty for training each year. On 7 May 1984, you reported for initial active duty for training. On 
6 October 1984, you were released from active duty and assigned to a Selected Marine Corps 
Reserve unit. On 19 February 1986, administrative discharge action was initiated by reason of 
unsatisfactory participation due to your failure to attend regularly scheduled drills. After being 
afforded all of your procedural rights, you waived them, and your case was forwarded to the 
separation authority for review. Your commanding officer (CO) stated that you informed the 
command you were quitting the Marine Corps, would not be attending any further drills, and that 
you did not care about the consequences. Your statements to your command at the time did not 
provide any further explanation for your unsatisfactory participation, to include any physical or 
medical issue or limitation to your continued service. Your CO recommended that you be 
separated from the naval service with an other than honorable (OTH) characterization of service. 
On 6 May 1986, you were so discharged. 

You request that the Board change your reserve discharge from OTH to general (under honorable 
conditions), uncharacterized, or honorable. You assert that your service-connected disabilities 
did not allow you to follow orders “100% of the time.” You indicate that you have hearing loss 
and tinnitus in your left ear that was determined to be connected to your military service by the 
Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). You also request that the Board waive the normal 
temporal limitation to consideration of your contentions in the interests of justice. 

The Board carefully weighed all potentially mitigating factors in your case, including your 
record of service, and your contention that your youth and back pain prevented you from 
attending drills. The Board noted that the documentation you included reflects the following: 
“0% service connected disability rating, hearing loss, left ear, effective 2 August 2016; 10% 
service connected disability rating, vertigo (also claimed as dizziness), effective 31 August 2016; 
10% service connected disability rating, tinnitus, effective 2 August 2016.” The Board 
concluded these factors were insufficient to warrant recharacterization of your discharge given 
your failure to attend your scheduled drills over an extended time period. 

It is regretted that the circumstances of your reconsideration petition are such that favorable 
action cannot be taken again. You are entitled to have the Board reconsider its decision upon the 
submission of new matters, which will require you to complete and submit a new DD Form 149. 
New matters are those not previously presented to or considered by the Board. In the absence of 
new matters for reconsideration, the decision of the Board is final, and your only recourse would 
be to seek relief, at no cost to the Board, from a court of appropriate jurisdiction. 

It is important to keep in mind that a presumption of regularity attaches to all official records. 
Consequently, when applying for a correction of an official naval record, the burden is on the 
applicant to demonstrate the existence of probable material error or injustice.