5800.7 F - Department of the Navy Issuances

this letter will be placed in your official record at [Navy
Personnel Command] [Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps]. You may
forward within 15 days after receipt of final denial of your appeal
or after the date of your notification of your decision not to
appeal, whichever may be applicable, a statement concerning this
letter for inclusion in your record. If you do not desire to
submit a statement, you shall so state in writing within 5 days.
You are advised that any statement submitted must be couched in
temperate language and shall be confined to pertinent facts.
Opinions shall not be expressed nor the motives of others impugned.
Your statement may not contain countercharges. Your reporting
senior may note this letter in your next [fitness report]
[performance evaluation] submitted after this letter becomes final,
either by decision of higher authority upon appeal or by your
decision not to appeal. (Omit last sentence in cases involving
Marine Corps enlisted personnel in paygrades E-4 or below).
g. Appeals. The following rules apply to appeals of punitive letters, in
addition to those rules contained in paragraph 7 of Part V, MCM, and sections
0116 and 0117:
(1) A copy of the report of nonjudicial punishment shall be provided
to the individual upon request except where the interests of national security
may be adversely affected. A copy shall be made available to the individual
for use in preparation of a defense or appeal. See section 0116 for similar
rules concerning a copy of the record of an investigation or court of inquiry.
(2) In forwarding an appeal from a punitive letter, see section 0116,
the officer who issued the letter shall attach to the appeal a copy of the
punitive letter and the record of investigation or court of inquiry or report
of hearing on which the letter is based. The appeal shall be forwarded via
the chain-of-command to the superior authority to whom the appeal is made.
The superior authority to whom the appeal is made may direct additional
inquiry or investigation into matters raised by the appeal if such action is
deemed necessary in the interests of justice.
(3) Appeals from a punitive letter imposed as nonjudicial punishment
shall be forwarded as specified in section 0117.
(4) The standard of review for a punitive letter of censure will be
that the language in the letter is "accurate and relevant to the offenses
committed and the punishment imposed." The contents of the appeal must be
couched in terms that are temperate and factual.
(5) Upon determination of the appeal, the superior authority acting on
the appeal shall advise the appellant of the action taken via the immediate
CO, with copies of the action to officers in the chain-of-command through whom
the appeal was forwarded. The superior authority shall also return all papers
to the commander who issued the letter.
h. Forwarding letter. Upon denial of any appeal, the lapse of a
reasonable time after issuance, see section 0116, or upon receipt of the
addressee's statement that an appeal is not desired, a copy of the punitive
letter and other documents required by the Navy Personnel Command or the
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