{"id":22406,"date":"2020-11-18T16:09:16","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T16:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/11\/18\/settlement-will-ease-process-for-army-veterans-looking-to-upgrade-less-than-honorable-discharges\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:32:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:32:59","slug":"settlement-will-ease-process-for-army-veterans-looking-to-upgrade-less-than-honorable-discharges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/veterans\/2020\/11\/18\/settlement-will-ease-process-for-army-veterans-looking-to-upgrade-less-than-honorable-discharges\/","title":{"rendered":"Settlement will ease process for Army veterans looking to upgrade less-than-honorable discharges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tens of thousands of Army veterans with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2017\/08\/29\/new-pentagon-rules-aim-to-broaden-reviews-of-bad-paper-dismissals\/\" target=_blank>other-than-honorable dismissals<\/a> will see an easier path to upgrading their discharge status under a new legal settlement announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The deal, the resolution of <a href=\"https:\/\/law.yale.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/area\/clinic\/vlsc_kennedy_v_speer_amended_complaint_4-17-2017.pdf\" target=_blank>a class-action lawsuit <\/a>filed in the U.S. District Court for Connecticut more than three years ago, requires Army officials to automatically review tens of thousands of discharge upgrade applications denied over the last nine years, this time using \u201cprocedures more favorable to veterans\u201d regarding evidence of underlying mental health conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Similarly, Army veterans whose applications were denied between 2001 and 2011 will be informed of new opportunities to reapply for a discharge upgrade, to include the same broad considerations of mental health factors in their cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2017\/08\/29\/new-pentagon-rules-aim-to-broaden-reviews-of-bad-paper-dismissals\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2563054.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">New Pentagon rules aim to broaden reviews of &#8216;bad paper&#8217; dismissals<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Veterans advocates are hopeful that more veterans with \u201cbad paper\u201d dismissals will be able to upgrade their discharge status now that defense officials have released clearer guidance of how to handle a host of mental health and injury cases.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the Army Discharge Review Board for the first time will allow veterans to argue their cases over the phone, instead of requiring them to travel to Washington, D.C. \u2014 at personal expense \u2014 for their upgrade hearings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve heard from veterans across the country who were kicked out for suicide attempts, are self medicating to deal with combat stress, for going AWOL because they couldn\u2019t deal with it anymore,\u201d said Steve Kennedy, an Iraq War veteran and one of the named plantiffs in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll of them were discharged for symptoms of mental health conditions and then stripped of the very benefits that may have helped them heal. Now they will have the chance for justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials from the Yale Law School Veterans Legal Services Clinic, which handled the case, estimate as many as 50,000 Army veterans may benefit from the new review board changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Veterans advocates for years have pushed for widespread reforms in how military officials handle discharge upgrade requests, arguing that many veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were improperly kicked out of the ranks because of undiagnosed brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder and other unseen injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The difference between an honorable and other-than-honorable discharge can mean a denial of tens of thousands of dollars in education benefits, access to certain health care services and eligibility for many job training and financial assistance programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Government Accountability Office report released in 2017 found that nearly one in four troops booted for misconduct over a four-year span suffered from some type of mental health condition that may have been cause for a different discharge decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Later that year, Pentagon officials issued a memo requiring that reviewers should take into consideration \u201cconditions resulting from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, sexual assault or sexual harassment\u201d when deciding whether to upgrade a veterans&#8217; status.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/07\/09\/va-should-already-care-for-veterans-with-bad-paper-discharges-experts-say\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/VA.jpg_37e9e2.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">VA should already care for veterans with bad-paper discharges, experts say<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Congress is ooking into the issue of whether the VA is wrongfully denying services to veterand with bad-paper dischrarges.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But those standards did not necessarily apply to veterans already denied discharge upgrades. The new settlement reopens that opportunity for Army veterans, through both the automatic reviews and the opportunity for other veterans to refile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The settlement also requires Army officials to conduct new annual training for review board members on how to properly evaluate claims of mental health conditions, and notify all applications of their right to legal and medical assistance when filing the claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yale Legal Services Clinic officials said they have a similar lawsuit pending with the Navy, and hope for similar accommodations from service officials there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">On behalf of tens of thousands of Army <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/veterans?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#veterans<\/a>, we\u2019ve settled nationwide class-action Kennedy v. McCarthy with <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/USArmy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@USArmy<\/a>. The settlement, once approved, will help hold <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/USArmy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@USArmy<\/a> accountable for remedying the systemic failure of the ADRB to help veterans with <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/BadPaper?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BadPaper<\/a> discharges. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/v0QOa8u0yw\">pic.twitter.com\/v0QOa8u0yw<\/a><\/p>&mdash; YLS Veterans Legal Services Clinic (@YaleVetsClinic) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/YaleVetsClinic\/status\/1329096608978497536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 18, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Up to 50,000 veterans may benefits from the rule changes, advocates said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":25966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,23,92,12,25,68,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3334],"class_list":["post-22406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FKL4ZTOSJJCGTCK3QRAYHA7VWQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/11\/18\/settlement-will-ease-process-for-army-veterans-looking-to-upgrade-less-than-honorable-discharges\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Settlement will ease process for Army veterans looking to upgrade less-than-honorable discharges - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Up to 50,000 veterans may benefits from the rule changes, advocates said.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Settlement will ease process for Army veterans looking to upgrade less-than-honorable discharges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Up to 50,000 veterans may benefits from the rule changes, advocates said.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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