Upgrading a Discharge Takes Work and Commitment

Veterans who want to upgrade their discharges face an uphill fight

By JIM PURCELL

I am not an expert in veterans benefits. However, I have used a lot of Veterans Administration benefits and had good and bad experiences along the way. So, I want to share a few thoughts with my fellow vets throughout the course of several editorials. 

   The fable about how easy it is to change the character of a discharge: One barrier to veterans not receiving VA benefits is them receiving an Other Than Honorable Discharge or a Dishonorable Discharge. When I was a peer specialist working at Lyons VA, in New Jersey, as a contractor, I had some exposure with this.

   If anyone ever tells you or someone you love that it is easy to change the character of a discharge, they have no idea what they are talking about. Most civilian lawyers have no idea how to go about this procedure or how to begin. Rather than give anyone enough information to be dangerous to themselves, I would say this: You need expert help in changing the character of a discharge. The first thing that anyone helping someone is going to need will be records of all of the provost marshal and court proceedings that were a part of Uniform Code of Military Justice proceedings with the veteran concerned. This is a first step for anyone who is wishing to undertake this process.

   In my experience, getting records from the Naional Guard or Reserves can be more challenging than obtaining records for former Active Duty members. The only person whom I have ever met to complete a request for change of character discharge for a veteran was not a lawyer. He was a very dedicated vocational rehabilitation specialist for the VA.

   As a peer, I referred several "pro bono" lawyers to my clients. All of these attorneys or firms stated they knew how to go about changing the character of a discharge. And, after my clients were referred to them they never received a call back, not one, even after more than a year.

   What does this tell me? Well, if anyone is going to attempt changing the character of their discharge, I suggest they find a lawyer who has done it before for someone else. I would not want to be the first client someone ever tried to changea discharge for.

   Trying to find an attorney in your neighborhood to do this is very, very doubtful so be prepared to travel for the right lawyer. Second, with my experience in "pro bono" in mind, I suggest the experienced lawyer in this someone finds will not be pro bono and that is OK.

   Follow through, follow through, follow through. I have helped several former soldiers and one ex-Marine reservist try to obtain hearings for their change of discharges All of them, at some point along the way, simply stopped calling me and did nothing by way of providing documentation regarding their case. While I am no expert, the process for appealing a discharge is laid out pretty well. If someone is detail-oriented with good follow-through they might even consider doing their own paperwork unassisted. For more information, click HERE and HERE. However, I have not met the candidate for discharge upgrade yet that has been on his or her game about getting this done. Yes, I have heard every kind of story about why someone deserves an upgrade of discharge. But, when I agreed to do what I could to help them, then the disappearing act.

VA benefits are valuable for U.S. veterans

   Bottom Line: At some point, a veteran will need to demonstrate, in detail, how a military authority 'got it wrong' with their decision about their discharge, or introduce some new evidence that was not there for the original hearing.

   Review boards are gong to need a lot more than a 'story.' They are going to need facts.

   From what I have seen, in my experience, not many veterans or veteran service organizations are too concerned about these veterans. Veterans who have received honorable discharges have worked for years, often under very trying circumstances, to receive veterans benefits from the VA. When someone is thrown out of the service, when they have been tried for crimes in the military, for right or wrong many people believe they made their own problems.

   'Why should I be concerned if someone could not live up to their duty and did the wrong thing?' It's a valid question. Proving that the military did the wrong thing is an uphill fight...know that. Yes, mistakes are sometimes made, but cases where the military 'got it wrong' are rare. So, they are treated as rarities.

   The chances are overwhelmingly good that a veteran will keep the discharge they left the service with unless they have an incredibly compelling case.

(Jim Purcell is a U.S. Army veteran and former peer support specialist who worked with vocationally challenged, chronically addicted veterans as a contractor within the VA. He is now retired and lives in Western North Carolina with his wife, Lita.)