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Carter's Discharge Not Enough

By VVAW

Secretary of Defense Harold Brown announced details for President Carter's Special Discharge Review Program and basically the program is discriminatory and inadequate. While many vets will automatically get their discharge upgraded, many more will be subjected to the "pick and choose" review that enables the military to decide who should get a good deal and who should get a raw deal.

Carter's program came out of the need to address the question of what to do with vets with less than honorable discharges. It come from the fact that veterans and others have been demanding a single-type discharge for all veterans as part of the overall struggle for universal and unconditional amnesty for resisters of the Vietnam War. Thousands of veterans who received less than honorable discharges got them as a direct result of their opposition to the war and to the racism and repression of the military. The discharge review program, like Carter's earlier partial pardon, is a real concession to the strength of the struggle for amnesty.

Those who served in Southeast Asia successfully (whatever that means), or were wounded in military action, received a US military decoration other than a service medal, entered Ford's clemency program, received an honorable discharge in a prior service tour, had 24 months of satisfactory military service prior to discharge can get an automatic upgrading from undesirable to either general or honorable if you apply by October 5, 1977. Those who fit this category should get their discharges upgraded.

But wait a minute! That's not just anybody. For instance, if you were drafted and spent a tour of duty in Germany and got an undesirable discharge for fighting against racism that was rampant there, you are not entitled to automatic upgrading. And that's no small matter. There are other cases like this adding up to a program that's confusing and sometimes misleading.

Any vet who received a bad conduct or dishonorable discharge is not eligible for the program. Any GI who deserted from Vietnam is not eligible. Deserters who are eligible have to turn themselves in, be discharged with "bad paper" and then apply for upgrading. If you were discharged before August 4, 1965 or after March 28, 1973 you are not eligible for the program. If you are not eligible you can go through the existing procedures which are the regular military review boards. If you are eligible you can get supporting documents which include statements from law enforcement officials, doctors, employment records, etc.

On and on it goes. If you aren't eligible for the automatic upgrading you have to go through all the red tape that is involved, and if you have an Undesirable Discharge you are not assured that you will get an honorable. You may get a general, entitling you to vets benefits, but which also means that you will still face problems getting a job when an employer sees that it isn't an honorable.

As was the Ford clemency or the existing review procedure the burden of guilt is on the vet with the bad discharge. And most Undesirable Discharges were given administratively, by officers who gave GIs a choice of either taking a UD or being court-martialed, with no legal advice or anything that could have defended them. In many cases these UDs were undeserved. Even though according to the instructions laid out by Brown, all vets will "be considered by the Board in the spirit of Compassion and forgiveness in which the President has sought to bind up the divisions of the Vietnam War," it comes down that the vets were wrong.

There's an expression that the ruling class turns the truth on its head. "Compassion and forgiveness" from Carter who wants to "bind up the divisions of the Viet Nam war" is outrageous. Carter represents the same class of people who carried out the most devastating planned destruction of one country over another. And he and his class want to show "compassion and forgiveness" to the vets who said No to the Indochina war or to the racism and repression of the military."

So why has Carter come up with this discharge upgrading program? The answer lies in the statement "bind up the divisions of the Viet Nam War." They would like to close the book on the war in Indochina and unite people around their rule as they move toward war with the Soviet Union, saying that we all have something in common regardless of whether we're rich or poor, owner or worker. But the Indochina war can't be forgotten because it exposed the nature of the system we live under and the exploitation and oppression that goes with it. And that system is also responsible for the less than honorable discharges vets have after being used in their military.

While vets should take advantage of the discharge upgrading program, if they can, it should be done with a clear understanding that the only resolution to bad discharges is a single-type discharge and the only way we are going to get it is to continue to fight for it.

If you want to find out if you are eligible call the SDRP at toll free (800) 325-4040; in Missouri, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico call toll free (314) 428-3500 and to contact VVAW (not toll free) (312) 651-1581 or the local chapter phone number listed in the paper.

FULL BENEFITS FOR VETS
REGARDLESS OF DISCHARGE!