making efforts to determine plaintiff's fitness for duty. On August 16, 1979 plaintiff was authorized advance sick leave not to exceed 240 hours in connection with testing and treatment of his undetermined illness. On September 6, 1979 exploratory surgery was *1411 performed and his ailment was diagnosed. The attending physician opined that plaintiff's complete recovery would take six to eight weeks. By letter of November 1, 1979 the chief of EDR, Hanon Knight, requested that the Personnel Office assign plaintiff to the AAFES Management Reserve Force (MRF) and subsequently transfer him to another location. Mr. Knight's request stated that "irrespective of Mr. Stevens' physical condition, he has not demonstrated the capacity or capability to deal with everyday pressures and complex routines of this large operational and sensitive assignment."1980-December 16, 1980. McLemore rated plaintiff's performance as "unsatisfactory" with a numerical score of 26 out of 100 points. Robert L. Paterick and Charles H. Wiesneth, plaintiff's second and third line supervisors, each concurred with McLemore's rating. Each of the three supervisors based his conclusion on plaintiff's unsatisfactory performance during the 60-day period. On January 16, 1981 plaintiff was issued an Advance Notice of Downgrade or Unsatisfactory Performance. The notice stated that the reason for the proposed downgrading was that plaintiff's performance during the warning period had been unsatisfactory and listed specific reasons for that evaluation. Plaintiff responded to the advance notice on January 30, 1981. However, the Final Decision to Downgrade for Unsatisfactory Performance was issued on February 11, 1981. This document states that plaintiff's reply to