Opinion ID: 787298
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Shaw AFB Decoration

Text: 70 As noted, from June 1982 to the summer of 1985, Mr. Roth was assigned to Shaw AFB. Upon his transfer to Ramstein AFB during the summer of 1985, he did not receive an end-of-tour decoration commemorating his three years of service at Shaw AFB. Although the Air Force's failure to award this decoration did not itself violate any Air Force regulation or statute, before the Board Mr. Roth presented unrebutted evidence that it was the direct result of his improperly downgraded March 1984 OER. In their statements to the Board, General Garrison, Lieutenant Colonel Atkinson, and Lieutenant Colonel Heller, each within Mr. Roth's former chain of command, confirmed that his performance ordinarily would have warranted an end-of-tour medal when he [transferred] from Shaw AFB had it not been for the now corrected [March 1984] OER .... In light of this evidence that the absence of the decoration flowed directly from the original violation of AFR 36-10, paragraph 3-14(a), we agree that the decision not to award Mr. Roth an end-of-tour decoration for his service at Shaw AFB presents a justiciable military decision. 12 71 The AFMPC did not recommend this correction to Mr. Roth's record because, unlike the statements he provided regarding the Ramstein AFB decoration, discussed in the next section, Mr. Roth did not provide a similar statement from the approving authority that the Shaw AFB decoration would have been approved had the recommendations for it gone forward. Memorandum from the AFMPC to the Board, at 4. The Board, in turn, found no evidence that the members of [Mr. Roth's] chain of command were precluded from recommending him for an end of tour decoration when he departed Shaw AFB ... the applicant has not provided reaccomplished reports or a recommendation for the requested award prepared by the appropriate officials.... Consequently, the Board did not award Mr. Roth the decoration. In the Matter of Roth, slip op. at 8-9 (June 2, 1999). The Court of Federal Claims, however, explained that Mr. Roth had provided evidence from his former chain of command that he would have been recommended for the award. The court therefore directed the Board to order the recommendations for the award to be sent forward. We agree that the recommendations to award Mr. Roth an end-of-tour decoration for his service at Shaw AFB should be forwarded to the proper authority for a determination whether the award should be issued.