Docket No: 2288-19 1393-98 Ref: Signature Date Dear This letter is in reference to your reconsideration request. You previously petitioned the Board for Correction of Naval Records (Board) and were advised that your application had been denied. 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 relevant portions of your naval record and your application, 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 13 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 advisory opinion (AO) furnished by a mental health professional, dated 23 March 2020, which was previously provided to you. You presented as new evidence a personal statement, a letter of support from your wife, a Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) Application for Disability Compensation, and a Patient Discharge Instructions Sheet for psychiatric hospitalization. You also provided an extensive discharge summary from a , hospital. Additionally, you stated that you feel that your other than honorable characterization of service was unjust because of your mental health condition while on active duty and the history of your mental health condition over the past decades of your life. You feel the Navy failed to provide you with a mental health evaluation to find out why you continued to have persistent misconduct while on active duty. After careful and conscientious consideration of the entire record, the Board determined that your statement and the evidence you provided, even though not previously considered by the Board, was insufficient to establish the existence of probable material error or injustice and thus not material. You request an upgrade of your characterization of service on the basis that you suffered from a mental health condition during your military service. Your request was fully and carefully considered by the Board in light of the Secretary of Defense’s Memorandum, “Supplemental Guidance to Military Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records Considering Discharge Upgrade Requested by Veterans Claiming Post Traumatic Stress Disorder” of 3 September 2014 and the "Clarifying Guidance to Military Discharge Review Board 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" memorandum of 25 August 2017. 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 a mental health condition during your service. The AO noted you petitioned the Board for Correction of Naval Records (BCNR) seeking to upgrade your discharge in order to use the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) hospital. You contended the upgrade was warranted as you had two major surgeries in the Navy, and could not use the DVA due to your OTH discharge. On 3 December 1998, you received the BCNR decision denying your request. Subsequent requests for reconsideration were disapproved on 12 February 2001, 31 March 2008, 10 March 2011, 27 June 2011, 18 November 2011, and 31 October 2017 for lack of new or material evidence. A review of available service records revealed an enlistment physical examination with no indication of a history of substance abuse or mental health conditions. On your discharge physical, the examiner deemed you qualified for separation and did not recommend any additional consultations or recommendations for further medical care. In-service medical records reveal a 13 April 1982, Alcohol Dependency Evaluation that diagnosed you as “Alcohol Abuse, Continuous,” for which you were recommended to the Level I an Alcohol Abuse Education Course. You were evaluated again on 25 May 1982, and was not considered dependent on alcohol or drugs. You were recommended for “guidance by command,” and felt to have “minimal potential for further service.” On 6 November 1981, you were placed on a six-month limited duty board for “recurrent right shoulder anterior dislocation, s/p Bristow Procedure.” On 22 April 1982, a medical board convened and returned you to full duty. You rebutted the recommendation for return to full duty on 4 May 1982, and was further evaluated by orthopedics. On 9 July 1982, the orthopedic sur-rebuttal recommended return to full duty stating your physical exam and subjective complaints were “normal” and expected for your initial injury and subsequent treatment. There were no other pertinent in-service medical records. You provided personal statements, letters of support from your wife, and a DVA Application for Disability Compensation for claimed diagnoses of Schizoaffective Disorder and Bipolar Disorder with Psychotic Features dated 4 February 2019. You provided a Patient Discharge Instructions Sheet for psychiatric hospitalization at , from 29 January to 7 February 2017, for diagnosis of bipolar disorder, with a then recent episode of depression with psychotic features. You also provided an extensive discharge summary from where you were admitted from 23 to 24 February 2017, with a diagnoses of major depressive disorder with psychosis (r/o Schizoaffective Disorder), severe cocaine use disorder, and severe alcohol use disorder. Your past medical history noted Schizophrenia as a previous diagnosis. In your present history, you denied any history of posttraumatic stress disorder, and reported multiple psychiatric hospitalizations and treatments for many years. Your service medical and personnel records do not contain any evidence of a mental health condition other than alcohol abuse as diagnosed on multiple substance abuse examinations. During these examinations, there was no evidence of other mental health conditions or behaviors. The clinical records submitted with diagnoses of schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and substance use disorders stem from treatment 35 years later, with no correlation to your in-service mental health condition or misconduct. At this time, based on the available evidence, there is insufficient evidence to corroborate an in-service mental health condition other than substance abuse, or to attribute your misconduct to a mental health condition. Additional information, such as personal statements providing some account of an in-service mental health condition and its effects on your behavior, or personnel or medical records documenting changes in your mental state or associated behaviors linked to your military misconduct, is required to render an alternate opinion. Should you choose to submit additional clinical information, it will be reviewed in the context of your claims 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. Sincerely,