Veterans can apply for a Military Discharge Upgrade using a DD Form 293 or DD 149 depending on how long it has been since their discharge. The DD Form 293 is for the Discharge Review Board, and the DD Form 149 is for the Board for Correction of Military Records. If you were discharged less than 15 years ago, you would use the DD Form 293.
All Veterans should know that between 2014 and 2017, the Department of Defense came out with detailed guidance to the Review Boards regarding Veterans who were discharged. The Guidance states that “liberal consideration will be given to Veterans petitioning for relief if the relief is related to matters relating to Mental Health conditions, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Sexual assault or Sexual harassment.”
The Department of Defense came out with this Guidance because it knows how PTSD and other mental health conditions affect military members. I understand how these conditions affect military members because I have clients who have suffered because of what they experienced.
This means that if you were administratively discharged from the service and had a mental health condition including PTSD, TBI or were a victim of sexual assault or sexual harassment—which significantly affected your ability to serve satisfactorily, the Boards will review your case to determine if your mental health condition had a “direct impact” on the misconduct and mitigated the misconduct.
To support your application, you will need to:
- Explain how your discharge was unjust.
- Explain each allegation of misconduct in your Commander’s Notification Memorandum and explain why the misconduct happened and why the resulting Article 15, Letter of Reprimand, Letter of Counseling or other adverse action was unjust as it relates to your mental health condition.
It would help if you attached documents that support your argument that the discharge was unjust or contained error. These may include your personal statement, statements from military members who served with you, family members or other witnesses who can provide evidence that your discharge was unjust.
- If you suffered from Post Traumatic Brain Injury (PTSD) while in the service and your discharge was related to your PTSD, your application should discuss the following items in detail:
- When did you get PTSD/TBI? Were you deployed?
- Explain how the PTSD and/or TBI affected you
- If you self-medicated with alcohol or drugs after PTSD/TBI, explain this.
- If you committed misconduct because of the effects of the PTSD/TBI, explain how your PTSD/TBI or other mental health condition affected you, your life and caused problems/misconduct.
- If you were a victim of Military Sexual Assault (MST) or sexual harassment while in the Service and your discharge was related to your experience of MST or sexual harassment, your application should discuss the following in detail. Many victims of MST or sexual harassment have PTSD or other mental health conditions.
- When did you experience MST or sexual harassment?
- Explain how the experience of being an MST victim or a victim of sexual harassment affected you
- If you self-medicated with alcohol or drugs after being an MST victim or victim of sexual harassment, explain this.
- If you committed misconduct because of the effects of being a victim of MST or sexual harassment, explain how this affected you, your life and how your problems at work were affected by your experience.
The Boards have an interest in doing what is right—for both the Veteran and the Service—because taking care of Veterans who need help because of their service is the right thing to do.
Don’t ever give up. There is always hope.
Go to my website ferahozbek.com and download my Military Discharge Upgrade Guide. If you have any questions, call or email me.
