DD214
DD214
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Did you know that options exist to either correct a DD Form 214, or even have one reissued if there were injustices with a discharge?
I’m just curious how many veterans or even service members know that a DD Form 215 could be issued upon proper request to correct mistakes or omissions on your DD Form 214, and that an entirely new DD Form 214 could even be reissued after a Military Discharge Review Board (DRB) decides that it would be appropriate to correct or remove an injustice.
I believe that this is essential knowledge with more-and-more discharges being done in haste, especially when medical conditions or disabilities are concerned! Unfortunately, I hear way too many ‘horror stories’ within our community where veterans did not know that they had any recourse after being separated from service. These policies and procedures were put in place to help when genuine assistance is warranted.
Please feel free to answer, comment, and especially share!
I’m just curious how many veterans or even service members know that a DD Form 215 could be issued upon proper request to correct mistakes or omissions on your DD Form 214, and that an entirely new DD Form 214 could even be reissued after a Military Discharge Review Board (DRB) decides that it would be appropriate to correct or remove an injustice.
I believe that this is essential knowledge with more-and-more discharges being done in haste, especially when medical conditions or disabilities are concerned! Unfortunately, I hear way too many ‘horror stories’ within our community where veterans did not know that they had any recourse after being separated from service. These policies and procedures were put in place to help when genuine assistance is warranted.
Please feel free to answer, comment, and especially share!
Discharge
Honorable Discharge
Disabled Veterans
Medical Board
DD214
Edited 4 y ago
Posted 4 y ago
Responses: 5
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PO3 Jay Rose CSM Charles Hayden as an MSW in my Social Welfare Advocacy class I attended a seminar given by Attorney Betsy Gwinn from the Harvard University Veteran’s Legal Clinic. She specifically addressed DD214’s that were “bad discharges” due to a number of reasons (in the past 15 years, primarily “personality disorders” etc). They conduct pro-bono work!
https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/clinical/clinics/veterans-law-and-disability-benefits-clinic-lsc/
COL Mikel J. Burroughs Lt Col Charlie Brown
https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/clinical/clinics/veterans-law-and-disability-benefits-clinic-lsc/
COL Mikel J. Burroughs Lt Col Charlie Brown
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PO3 Jay Rose
I just followed the link, and the Veterans Legal Clinic (VLC) looks like an AMAZING program! I’m certain that there is much that you could do as an MSW providing the necessary care and support going to those veterans facing a mostly daunting process. I also totally agree with your statement, but would have to interject with the fact that I was discharged in ‘99, and many of these same issues, including the ever so encompassing “personality disorder” that both the military and VA hand out like candy, were a HUGE problem even then. It’s very sad to ponder.
I myself had to fight for a discharge upgrade as they categorized my discharge as a [medical] “Condition, Not a Disability,” which was ridiculous as they used a scapegoat rule to categorize my discharge in the first place, simply because nobody could figure out what the hell was wrong with me! Flash forward to 2018, and I FINALLY get a diagnosis for a rare genetic disease known as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), one of the most painful connective tissue disorders, and is very much a bona fide disability in the truest sense of the word.
I am now working on getting a VA Disability Rating as the Navy clearly missed the diagnosis, coming nowhere close to the appropriate standard of care, and exasperated a condition that could have at the VERY LEAST been more appropriately managed! I didn’t wait long after my discharge though to request my discharge upgrade, and being the stubborn mule that I am even represented myself, knowing that on average only <5% of cases actually result in an upgrade. I did win my DRB! Even with the ‘big’ diagnosis not yet being a “blip on the radar,” it wasn’t very hard to convince the panel that a very big injustice took place as I used the growing list of surgeries and comorbidities to offer proof to my cause, as well as in reality having a very solid record in the military.
Now, I advocate (when I literally feel up to doing so), and try to help others navigate the different systems and services of rare disease, as well as the military bureaucracy in general. Sadly, I don’t see an end in sight, so there will always be places for people like you and I.
Keep up the good fight!
Jay
I myself had to fight for a discharge upgrade as they categorized my discharge as a [medical] “Condition, Not a Disability,” which was ridiculous as they used a scapegoat rule to categorize my discharge in the first place, simply because nobody could figure out what the hell was wrong with me! Flash forward to 2018, and I FINALLY get a diagnosis for a rare genetic disease known as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), one of the most painful connective tissue disorders, and is very much a bona fide disability in the truest sense of the word.
I am now working on getting a VA Disability Rating as the Navy clearly missed the diagnosis, coming nowhere close to the appropriate standard of care, and exasperated a condition that could have at the VERY LEAST been more appropriately managed! I didn’t wait long after my discharge though to request my discharge upgrade, and being the stubborn mule that I am even represented myself, knowing that on average only <5% of cases actually result in an upgrade. I did win my DRB! Even with the ‘big’ diagnosis not yet being a “blip on the radar,” it wasn’t very hard to convince the panel that a very big injustice took place as I used the growing list of surgeries and comorbidities to offer proof to my cause, as well as in reality having a very solid record in the military.
Now, I advocate (when I literally feel up to doing so), and try to help others navigate the different systems and services of rare disease, as well as the military bureaucracy in general. Sadly, I don’t see an end in sight, so there will always be places for people like you and I.
Keep up the good fight!
Jay
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