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Beating Bogus Discharges

By Ray Parrish

Many veterans suffering from PTSD end up with less than honorable military discharges or discharges for personality or adjustment disorders. Appropriately worded psychological evaluations can cause the military Discharge Review Boards and Boards for the Correction of Military Records (DRB/BCMR) to upgrade the discharges to honorable or even to medical retirement. The same evidence will allow the VA to change the diagnoses and to determine that there was no dishonorable service to bar entitlement to benefits.

One of the most immediate and severe symptoms of PTSD is just the kind of behavior that can result in UCMJ charges and a discharge for misconduct. This cause and effect can be explained in a psych evaluation. It can then be argued that the military is responsible for the misconduct because they failed to provide treatment for the PTSD. The VA can't give compensation to someone who has served dishonorably. For VA purposes, the psych evaluation can be used to support the argument that there was no dishonorable military service and that the vet served honorably until the untreated, service connected PTSD affected the vet's ability to serve honorably.

Many GI's have a hard time getting a PTSD diagnosis for a variety of reasons. A valid diagnosis of personality disorder is based upon behavior over a period of time and typically manifests itself during teenage years in disciplinary problems or arrests. Without evidence of this, the diagnosis is bogus! Even if the GI/vet did have problems during the teenage years, combat stress often aggravates or exacerbates any pre-existing condition, making it service connected. To say that a vet is having trouble adjusting to life after combat is typical of PTSD and to say that it's merely an adjustment disorder is both inadequate and an insult.

It is also possible to get any diagnosis (like depression, anxiety or bi-polar disorder) service connected if the symptoms were present during service or within one year of military discharge. You can also be given more than one diagnosis if the symptoms indicate this. So, it's important that the veteran find a mental health professional to produce this evidence. It's possible that the VA will help in this if the vet is willing to try going to the VA. Vets with bad discharges can get free treatment for service connected disabilities (but not monthly compensation checks) if they can give the VA Vet Centers and Medical Centers evidence of service connection. That treatment can then give the vet access to doctors who can write supporting evaluations.

If the VA is out of the question, there are volunteers willing to help. The Soldiers Project can give you referrals if you call 877-576-5343 and leave a message. At the website of giveanhour.org you can click on visitor and get contact information of volunteers in your area. So, a mental health professional can review military medical and personnel records (or records from the first year after discharge) and assert that the symptoms of the problem were noted in the records. They can then explain how the misconduct was caused by the untreated combat related stress or they can explain how the symptoms support a change in the diagnosis.

After winning VA compensation, the vets will have the free treatment and monthly checks which will allow a long battle to get an accurate discharge. With proper evidence the DRB/BCMR can change a discharge to a medical retirement discharge. This means the monthly checks come from the DoD budget not the VA's, which means less money for bullets and more money for helping vets.

Unless you give up, they won't win.