DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY BOARD FOR CORRECTION OF NAVAL RECORDS 701 S. COURTHOUSE ROAD, SUITE 1001 ARLINGTON, VA 22204-2490 Docket No: 1994-19 Ref: Signature Date Dear : This letter is in reference to your reconsideration request received on 6 February 2019. You previously petitioned the Board for Correction of Naval Records (Board) and were advised that your application 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 the evidence submitted was insufficient to establish the existence of probable material error or injustice. Consequently, your application has been denied. Because your application was submitted with new evidence not previously considered, the Board found it in the interest of justice to review your application. Your current request has been carefully examined by a three-member panel of the Board, sitting in executive session on 10 July 2020. The names and votes of the members of the panel will be furnished upon request. Documentary material considered by the Board consisted of your application and all material submitted in support of your application. In addition, the Board considered the 20 August 2019 advisory opinion (AO) furnished by a Navy mental health professional, which was previously provided to you, and the 11 February 2020 updated AO, which is enclosed. You contended you suffered from PTSD following your ship’s recovery of a dead body from a sunken cargo ship on your last deployment sometime after their support for Operation Urgent Fury. As new evidence, you submitted records documenting psychiatric treatment for PTSD that was diagnosed post-service and various civilian clinical records from 2017 and 2018, including a psychiatric examination conducted by Mental Health Services on 26 September 2017. You also state that your discharge would be evaluated under different standards today due to PTSD, you have medical documentation of PTSD, and today’s understanding and treatment of PTSD are substantially different than during the mid-1980’s. Additionally, you firmly believe that, under today’s standards, your options, to include treatment negating the necessity of a discharge, as well as the level of discharge, would have been different. You request an upgrade of your characterization of service on the basis that you suffered from PTSD during your military service. Your request was fully and carefully considered by the Board in light of the Secretary of Defense's 3 September 2014 memorandum, “Supplemental Guidance to Military Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records Considering Discharge Upgrade Requested by Veterans Claiming Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,” the 25 August 2017 memorandum, “Clarifying Guidance to Military Discharge Review Boards and Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records Considering Requests by Veterans for Modification of their Discharge Due to Mental Health Conditions, Sexual Assault, or Sexual Harassment,” and the 25 July 2018 memorandum, “Guidance to Military Discharge Review Boards and Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records Regarding Equity, Injustice, or Clemency Determinations.” A Navy mental health professional further reviewed your request for correction to your record and provided the Board with an AO regarding your assertion you were suffering from PTSD during your service. The AO noted that your in-service medical and personnel records document mental health symptoms to include depression and anxiety, substance abuse, occupational dissatisfaction, marital stress, and one specific diagnosis of adjustment disorder with depressed and anxious mood. Additionally, the AO noted that you presented post-service mental health records that document a diagnosis of PTSD, with a clinical history from the psychiatrist attesting that the origin of your trauma occurred during your military service. However, two of the six NJP’s you were awarded occurred before the period you reported the traumatic incident occurred, and a third that occurred before the traumatic incident was nullified after the fact. Your decision to test positive for drugs to get out of the Navy was a goal-oriented decision to achieve release from your service obligation to pursue a paid career in professional basketball, very different from the strategies of self-medication to relieve psychological symptoms associated with PTSD. Therefore, the available evidence only partly supports the attribution of a mental health condition to the range of service misconduct. After careful and conscientious consideration of the entire record, the Board determined that the new evidence you presented, even though not previously considered by the Board, was insufficient to establish the existence of probable material error or injustice that warrants an upgrade in the characterization of your service. It is regretted that the circumstances of your reconsideration petition 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 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.