Opinion ID: 306730
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Army Discharge Review Board's Decision

Text: 21 The Government appellees urge that this court, on properly limited judicial review should readily sustain the Board's decision as having rational support in the certified Army records and as being in no way arbitrary or capricious. We agree that there is limited judicial review of the military service's action, and that the Government has stated the proper standard for our judicial review. But what the Board has done here is to make a meticulous point-by-point examination of each officer's action at a given moment, concluded that such action was proper and defensible within regulations and the area of discretion of that officer, and after focusing microscopic attention on every scrap of minutiae, validated and revalidated the final discharge decision-a decision which, taken in overall perspective, we find is indefensible by any acceptable standard of due process and elemental justice. 22 We think that there was lacking in this case both procedural due process and substantive justice, and therefore that the ultimate decision of the Army Review Board declining to alter the character of appellant Robinson's discharge was arbitrary and capricious. We must agree with the Review Board as to each specific finding on the technical aspects of this case. However, we must also note what the Board failed to consider. 23 1. We agree that Robinson's testimony has not always been clear or consistent. 11 We also have grave doubts about the Board's use of that fact to totally discredit his testimony. Rather, such confusion would seem to be the natural and predictable state of mind concerning a period when the rush of adverse events and hostile actions drove Robinson into serious mental problems. 24 2. We agree that the battalion, rather than the hospital, had disciplinary jurisdiction over Robinson when the resignation was submitted on 5 May. 12 We cannot approve the manner in which that jurisdiction was exercised. 25 3. We agree that Robinson was under charges sufficiently serious to justify dismissal, as required by AR 635-120(4)(a) to support a resignation for the good of the service. We cannot support the Board's total failure to consider whether any substantial evidence existed to back up those charges. Twenty days AWOL, standing alone, could clearly not be serious enough, as a practical matter, to justify the Army's action here. The theft and fraud charges, serious on their face, are nowhere supported by any evidence of the necessary element of intent. While we cannot now decide whether those charges would have led to conviction, the absence of any serious substantiation should have been considered as bearing on the Army's justification for such harsh measures. Given the chances of acquittal, Robinson's resignation also calls into question his actual ability, even with the assistance of counsel, to protect his own best interests at that time. 26 4. We must accept the Board's findings that there was no outright coercion of the resignation, 13 that Robinson had time to consider his actions, 14 that he was legally competent, 15 and that he was represented by counsel. 16 We cannot uphold the refusal of the Army and the Board to weigh the other pressures which obviously affected the soundness of Robinson's judgment. For valid personal reasons, he wanted very badly to get out of the Army. He had requested such relief as early as March, with no success. 17 As the Board notes, he had notice of the charges twelve days before his resignation. The Board fails to mention that many of those days were spent in deep mental shock. We trust that where military operations are concerned an officer's decision-making capacity is evaluated differently. He was officially certified sane on 5 May. However, he was also clearly acting unwisely and under pressures that had recently threatened even his grip on reality. While counsel was present at various points, that fact does not absolve the Army from all further duties to Robinson. Rather, allowing him to act the way he did calls the adequacy of such representation into question. 27 5. We agree with the finding that the resignation was properly forwarded under Army regulations 18 and that the 6, May statement was not technically a revocation of his resignation. 19 We cannot condone the Board's determined effort to overlook the fact that Robinson's earlier request for a discharge under honorable conditions had not been properly forwarded. If it had been, the unfortunate predicament which led to his second resignation might never have arisen. Further, while the 6 May statement was merely in mitigation, the glaring fact remains that, on the whole record, the Army should have heeded Robinson's plea.