What Is A Military Discharge Upgrade

This helps us try to understand what the command was doing.

What is a military discharge upgrade. 3 Things DoD Wants You to Know. So with a discharge upgrade case we want to understand why a person was discharged in the first place. These veterans are typically ineligible for VA healthcare benefits including access to mental health services. It is possible to upgrade your military discharge characterization.

If you received a discharge characterization that is other than Honorable you may request a military discharge upgrade. After 15 years of war its very likely youve come across someone who was discharged from military service under less-than-honorable conditions receiving what is commonly known as a bad paper discharge. You have 15 years from the date of your discharge to apply for an upgrade to your discharge status or the reason for your discharge through the Discharge Review Board DRB. Title 10 United States Code Section 1553 is the law governing upgrading military discharges.

All branches of the military consider you to have a strong case for a discharge upgrade if you can show your discharge was connected to any of these categories. It is possible that a general discharge can be upgraded provided that it goes through a formal appeal process and is approved for the upgrade. To do so you must submit a DD Form 293 to the appropriate Discharge Review Board DRB and convince them that your discharge rating should be upgraded. Any veteran who has a discharge below Honorable can apply for an upgrade.

This statute authorizes the secretary of the service concerned to establish a board of review consisting of five members to review the discharge or dismissal other than a discharge or dismissal by sentence of a general court-martial of any former member of an armed force under the jurisdiction of his department upon its own motion or upon the request of the former member or if he is dead his. A military Discharge Upgrade changes the character of your discharge on your DD-214 Discharge Certificate from the United States Armed Services if it involved anything other than an honorable discharge. The Board will upgrade your discharge only if you can prove that your discharge is inequitable or improper. The Military Law Matters podcast empowers you to take charge of legal issues you are facing from court-martial charges to divorce proceedings and military pension division to tips on how to fight your discharge or how to upgrade your discharge and what to do if you are facing an Officer Grade Determination.

The Discharge Review Board will need to see arguments and supporting evidence that your discharge or its reasons are unfair inequitable erroneous based on faulty or incomplete information etc. It is not enough to provide the names of witnesses. And so having or getting our hands on paperwork that was generated by the service members command through that discharge process is important. You do not need an attorney to apply for a discharge upgrade.

The most common argument for military discharge upgrades is societys past misunderstanding of mental health. If your military discharge was less than optimal or has affected your ability to obtain a job or benefits discharge upgrade lawyer Brett OBrien can help. If you received a discharge that was not Honorable a discharge upgrade can help you access important VA benefits services and care. You do this by providing evidence such as signed statements from you and other witnesses or copies of records that support your case.

The Board will not contact your witnesses to obtain. Timing is Everything Both a Character of Service review at the Regional Office and a discharge upgrade at the Discharge Review Board DRB or Board of Correction for Military Records BCMR take over a year for a decision to be made. DISCHARGE UPGRADE APPLICATION Applicable Application form DD Form 293 or DD Form 149 Copy of DD Form 214 all relevant military records and all relevant medical records Personal Statement Proof of mental health diagnosis if applicable A timeline of major events Evidence of positive character since discharge. The conditions under which the discharge was given is included on the service members DD-214 the document which outlines the specifics of their separation from military service.

Military Discharge Upgrade Lawyers. Military discharge upgrade lawyer Brett OBrien Esq knows that unless upgraded less-than-honorable discharges can negatively impact veterans for the rest of their careers and make them ineligible for future benefits. MJ Boice Staff Writer. Brooker pointed out the term post-traumatic stress disorder wasnt included in the.

File both at once. Mental health conditions including posttraumatic stress disorder PTSD Traumatic brain injury TBI. This series covers 10 things you should know about upgrading your discharge either at the Discharge Review Board DRB or the Board for the Correction of Military Records BCMR.