> ... 1978 DD-214 posted, and the only question was ...
Not the only question.
There's also the matter of why the '78 required a
"board of officers".
My understanding is that's not the case for routine discharges.
You are right a board is not part of the normal discharge process. For an officer a Board of Inquiry is something you go in front (short of court-martial if you facing seperation for misconduct or are otherwise being involuntarily seperated. A BCNR review board is the board that considers requests to upgrade discharges.