Posted on 12/25/2015 8:34:53 AM PST by redreno
ST. LOUIS (AP) No medical or mental health care. No subsidized college or work training. For many who leave the U.S. military with less-than-honorable discharges, including thousands who suffered injuries and anguish in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, standard veterans benefits are off limits.
The discharge serves as a scarlet letter of dishonor, and the effects can be severe: Ex-military members with mental health problems or post-traumatic stress disorder can't turn to Veterans Affairs hospitals or clinics; those who want to go to college aren't eligible for the GI Bill; the jobless get no assistance for career training; the homeless are excluded from vouchers.
"It's an indelible mark of their service that follows them for the rest of their lives into the workforce, through background checks, social relationships, and it precludes them from getting the kind of support that most veterans enjoy," said Phil Carter, an Iraq War vet and senior fellow at the Center for A New American Security.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
So, ummm, don’t get a Less-Than-Honorable. It’s really not that hard.
The knowledge of what a bad conduct discharge would cost me was a powerful motivator for this young, stupid, arrogant GI to do as he was told.
Heck, why should people even have to join the military to get benefits? That’s like making people work to get money...
Throughout my entire time in the Army that we were married (25 years), my late-wife and I had a running joke that was repeated every morning before I left for work.
After kissing her goodbye, as I went out the door, she always said, "Now, don't do anything that will mess up my pension ..."
And that is by design and for a very good reason.
As a 20 year retired vet I earned my benefits with "faithful service".
I put many people on the street who either could not or would not soldier and I'm proud of every one of them. I saw it as insuring my good troops didn't have to carry the dead weight of the scumbags.
As an E5 Motor Sgt I once put more out during a quarter than our RE-UP NCO got to re-enlist.
when i got out in 92 (the bush budget cut years)they were giving admin discharges for some really dumb reasons
If someone has served more than one enlistment and received an Honorable Discharge for the first term of service, they are still entitled to all of the benefits of that Honorable Discharge even if they receive a less-than-honorable, bad conduct, or even dishonorable discharge in a later enlistment. Juries in military courts are informed that sentencing the accused to a bad conduct or dishonorable discharge causes them to lose all of the benefits entitled to those with an honorable discharge which are administered by the Department of the Army or the VA, but that any benefits that have been vested by (an) earlier honorable discharge(s) would still be forthcoming to the accused.
This means that those who are losing their benefits are those that were still in their first enlistment period AND are being separated from the service with a less-than-honorable, bad conduct, or dishonorable discharge. Even with an administrative General Discharge, some of the benefits still are provided to the service member.
Yup. I didn't want to feel like a major league loser.
I might have sympathy if the dishonorable discharge resulted from conduct genuinely caused by service-induced PTSD. Somehow I doubt this is the case very often.
>>>So, ummm, don’t get a Less-Than-Honorable. It’s really not that hard.KKK
Maybe that statement was true in our days . . . I received my honorable discharge in 1980.
Today a young man can refer to our Kenyan-born communist dictator-wannabee commander-in-chief as a “Kenyan-born communist dictator-wannabee”, or refuse to bunk up with an openly homosexual roommate and that man is facing at least a bad conduct discharge.
It ain’t our father’s military any more.
And as a result that young decent man is scarred for life.
Seems to me wounded vets and true psd cases should get at least medical care. They are likely to end up on the street or under the care of the state anyway.
Some military conduct will get you a court martial. What is the big deal?
>>Today a young man can refer to our Kenyan-born communist dictator-wannabee commander-in-chief as a “Kenyan-born communist dictator-wannabeeâ€, or refuse to bunk up with an openly homosexual roommate and that man is facing at least a bad conduct discharge.
DADT was repealed in 2010. That is more than one enlistment ago for all but some 6 year initial enlistments. Everyone else joined the post-DADT military or reenlisted in it.
Literally everyone in todays’s military enlisted or reenlisted under Obama who has been president for 7 years.
The Army is the military of that Government, the Commander in Chief of that Army, for 8 years, has been the evil Obama.
Recall that under Obama the Army has become a vector for this dissolution of our social norms, first with acceptance of openly gay soldiers, and then, as if to rub it in the face of normal Americans cross-dressing fagots. Along the way all combat jobs have been opened to woman.
The Army is no longer protecting American values, it's one of the instruments of the "fundamental transformation" that Obama promised.
The Army's primary job has always been to protect the people and nation of the United States. Under the last two Presidents the Army has been used to fight far-flung foreign wars. These wars have been poorly conceived and poorly executed and as a result have left the world a more dangerous place. The net effect of the tremendous sacrifices made by a generation of brave men and woman is not a safer and more secure nation, sadly.
I believe it is incumbent upon all of us to carefully consider these sad facts when counseling our young people. Thus far, at least, the Army of the occupation government has not been turned against the people of America (with a few small exceptions such as the Bonus March and Waco), but it is easy to see that we are only one conflict away from that eventuality.
As things now stand I could not in good conscience recommend anyone join the US Military.
I served 22 years in the Army Reserve honorable all the way. Yet I get no benefits, no disability, and no retirement. I have a DD214 but I never got enough “good years” to be eligible for retirement (20 year letter) because I spent some years in the Reserve Control Group (RC PAC). I got lots of retirement points during my bad years such as by serving 26 days TDY but the year would not count toward retirement even though the points counted toward retirement. But I did get paid for my time at the time. Even though I always had great Officer Evaluation Reports (OERs) I got rifted from my Reserve Unit during a downsizing year due to a lack of LTC slots.
I really have no beef because I was just not career oriented but what is not fair is that my status for seeking federal jobs is lessened even though my path saved Uncle Sam lots of dough.
What about those that were active duty during Bush’s term? And stayed in. Those also are at risk under the new PC military. We’ve already seen ranking officers fired for not going along with the program . . . one major at least for refusing to recognize zero’s authority.
When I enlisted in 1971 and throughout my 9 years active duty, I was constantly aware of the effect and consequences of an other than honorable discharge. This was through formal training starting in basic, awareness of the rules in general through professional military education and through association of personnel actions.
I personally knew people who got OTH discharges and why. In my experiences they were all deserved and most were associated with drug use. One was unauthorized absence which should have been desertion but was processed as an administrative discharge for the good of the service. That guy got off light.
So what? If there is a racial disparity for getting the Big Chicken Dinner, look to gang bangers joining the military for arms and tactical training, staying only long enough to become marginally proficient before going back to the hood. They got nothin’ comin’.
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