Dear This letter is in reference to your application for correction of your naval record pursuant to Title 10, United States Code, Section 1552. After careful and conscientious consideration of the entire record, the Board for Correction of Naval Records (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 your application was not filed 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 7 November 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 November 2015, and were assigned to a reserve unit in southeast a distance of less than 45 miles from your home of record in the greater metropolitan area. However, you failed to regularly attend weekend reserve drills and began to compile unexcused absences. On 13 February 2018, your command initiated administrative proceedings to separate you from the naval service by reason of unsatisfactory participation in the ready reserve for failure to attend regularly scheduled drills. By February 2018, you had missed fifteen (15) weekend drills over the preceding 12-month period. The command sent the administrative separation notification and acknowledgement of rights forms to your home address by certified mail, return receipt. On 14 February 2018 the separation paperwork was delivered to your home of record. The separation paperwork stated that a failure to timely respond (within twenty days) would constitute a waiver of rights in connection with your proposed administrative separation. Unfortunately, you did not fill out and return the paperwork to your command. On March 2018, your commanding officer (CO) forwarded your administrative separation package up the chain of command with his recommendation that you be separated from the Marine Corps Reserve with an other than honorable (OTH) characterization of service. On June 2018, you were ultimately discharged from the Marine Corps Reserve with an OTH and assigned an RE-4 reentry/reenlistment code. At the time of your discharge in June 2018, you had accumulated no less than twenty (20) unexcused absences from weekend drills. The Board carefully weighed all potentially mitigating factors in your case, including your contentions that you made up the missed drills and signed rosters in front of other Marines, that paperwork showing you made up your drills was lost, that you attended “ITX under the impression you were in the clear” only to find that your separation package was approved, that you “straightened up your act” and began to excel in your MOS, and that you want to be able to put your uniform back on and serve with your USMC brothers. The Board, however, concluded that these mitigating factors and contentions were insufficient to warrant granting any relief in your case. The Board noted, contrary to your contentions, that no evidence exists in the record that you ever made up any missed drills. Moreover, you failed to timely complete and return the separation paperwork package to the command, which acted as a waiver of your procedural rights. Additionally, the Board relies on a presumption of regularity to support the official actions of public officers and, in the absence of substantial evidence to rebut the presumption, to include evidence submitted by the Petitioner, the Board presumes that you were properly processed and discharged from the Marine Corps Reserve. Accordingly, the Board concluded that your pattern of unsatisfactory participation supported your CO’s decision to process you administratively for a discharge, and for the separation authority to ultimately issue an OTH characterization of service. Additionally, the Board reviewed your application under the guidance provided in the Under Secretary of Defense’s memorandum dated 25 July 2018 entitled, “Guidance to Military Discharge Review Boards and Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records Regarding Equity, Injustice, or Clemency Determinations” (USD Memo). The purpose of the USD Memo is to ease the process for veterans seeking redress and assist Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records “in determining whether relief is warranted on the basis of equity, injustice, or clemency.” The USD Memo noted that “increasing attention is being paid to…the circumstances under which citizens should be considered for second chances and the restoration of rights forfeited,” and that “BCM/NRs have the authority to upgrade discharges or correct military records to ensure fundamental fairness.” The USD Memo sets clear standards and principles to guide BCM/NRs in application of their equitable relief authority, and further explains that boards shall consider a number of factors to determine whether to grant relief. However, even in light of the USD Memo, the Board still concluded that, given the totality of the circumstances, your request does not merit relief. It is regretted that the circumstances of your case are such that favorable action cannot be taken. 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 this regard, 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.