Docket No: 8746-19 
Ref: Signature Date 


This is in reference to your application for correction of your naval record pursuant to Title 10, United States Code, Section 1552. Your application was not filed in a timely manner. A three-member panel of the Board for Correction of Naval Records (Board), sitting in executive session, considered your application on 5 March 2020.  After careful consideration, the Board determined that it would not be in the interest of justice to excuse your failure to submit your application in timely manner. The names and votes of the Board members will be furnished upon request. 

You were discharged on 6 August 1993 with an under other than honorable conditions characterization of service.  According to your application, you discovered the alleged error or injustice in your record on 25 February 2015.  You did not file your application with this Board, however, until September 2019, more than 4 years later and over 26 years after your discharge. 

You contend that the Board should find it in the interest of justice to excuse your failure to submit your application within three years of the date of your discovery of the alleged error or injustice because the VA found your service to be honorable and the you need a corrected DD 214 (DD215). The Board determined, however, that this was insufficient reason to find it in the interest of justice to excuse your failure to submit your application in a timely manner.  In reaching this conclusion, the Board determined your request for consideration is denied due to the length of time since your discharge. The Board also noted that VA eligibility determinations for health care, disability compensation, and other VA-administered benefits are for their internal VA purposes only.  Such VA eligibility determinations are not binding on the Department of the Navy and have no bearing whatsoever on previous active duty service discharge characterizations.  

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.