Servicemembers Mental Health Review Act
Our buddy, Kris Goldsmith, has completely turned his life around. While Kris was in the Army, he had trouble adjusting when he returned from his deployment to Iraq. He attempted suicide once that we know of, and like many combat veterans, he self-medicated with alcohol. In response to his bad behavior, the Army booted him with a less than honorable discharge making him ineligible for veterans benefits which froze him out of the treatment that he so desperately needed.
So, Kris has taken up the charge to reform the review process for discharges. There’s a bill in Congress to do just that – H.R. 975 and S.628 – you can read the text of the bill at this link. Kris doesn’t think the bill goes far enough, though;
: Thousands of servicemembers have been erroneously discharged from the United States Armed Forces since September 11, 2001 due to the systemic under-diagnosis of “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” (PTSD) and “Traumatic Brain Injury” (TBI). In an effort to quickly remove servicemembers as a “burden” to the service, the military has, instead, improperly used the diagnoses of “Adjustment Disorder” and “Personality Disorder” to discharge servicemembers in a manner that has denied, and in some instances continues to deny, servicemembers the medical care to which they are entitled.
These administrative discharges typically fall under the broad categories of “Convenience of the Government” or “Misconduct” and has resulted in veterans’ discharge characterizations being less than “Honorable.” Discharges other than “Honorable” limit or eliminate the federal and state benefits available to veterans upon separation from the military.
Therefore, the more appropriate diagnoses of PTSD or TBI would allow for medical retirement of servicemembers, thereby granting them a broader array of federal benefits than does an administrative discharge. Nevertheless, many servicemembers who have been diagnosed with an Adjustment Disorder or Personality Disorder have a history of deployment into combat zones, and like those properly diagnosed with PTSD, suffered psychological impairment in the course of serving their country in combat and are in need of the support services afforded to servicemembers diagnosed with PTSD.
We are, therefore, seeking a modification of the Servicemembers Mental Health Review Act (SMHRA), H.R. 975/S.628, to clarify that the review procedures established by that act would apply equally to all discharged servicemembers who received a diagnosis of Personality Disorder or Adjustment Disorder while in service since September 11, 2001, including those who have received discharges other than “Honorable.”
If SMHRA is enacted and includes the proposed modification, then such servicemembers would be allowed to submit testimony from psychologists and psychiatrists that support a more accurate diagnosis of PTSD or TBI. This change to the review procedures established by the SMHRA would then make these servicemembers eligible for a change of their military records to reflect medical retirement and an Honorable discharge. We would also ask, in light of the fact that the current wait time for decisions by the Disability Review Board (DRB), which is the body that would review the testimony, is 401 days, that this legislation be accompanied by the additional funding necessary to accommodate this additional caseload.
Kris sends this small correction to my editorializing;
I personally didn’t get frozen out of access to the VA, because I had a General, not an OTH discharge. I did, however, lose the Post 9-11 GI Bill, my 3.5 years of government service credits, and access to unemployment benefits (which was particularly rough on me, since I was essentially unemployable for a long time).
Category: Veterans Issues
Its absolutely disgusting that the Army was able to pull this scam for so long. If you complete a tour of duty in a combat zone, or your tour is cut short for a legitimate reason, then you should be entitled to veterans’ benefits.
I wish him the best, I’ll call the 4ssclowns that make up the Massachusetts delegation and see if we can’t get them thinking on the right side of this issue.
It seems almost criminal that someone who was a good soldier prior to deployment and has obvious issues after deployment would not receive an appropriate level of medical care or diagnosis. I also understand that some times these folks won’t be able to serve in the military any longer based on these issues, but even if discharge is the most appropriate outcome why not under medical conditions based on the appropriate diagnosis?
I think I know the answer to that question and that is even more troubling to me…
The Army set up a review program to reevaluate the cases of Soldiers retired with PTSD/TBI. I know this because they sent me a letter letting me know about the review about a year ago. I don’t have the letter in my hand, but it was just before my medical retirement status was changed from temporary to permanent.
Having been a patient at one of the largest WTU in the Army, I’ve seen good Soldiers give up on the system and I’ve seen bad Soldiers game the shit out of the system. I’ve seen Soldiers who never deployed get honorable discharges and permanently retired with PTSD diagnosis. I’ve seen Soldiers with multiple deployments who needed serious help bail out because the system was so overburdened by faker shitbags that they gave up and got out.
If we are going to change the system so category of discharge doesn’t matter, why not just change the system so there’s no categories of discharge? Why shouldn’t shitbags get the same category of discharge as every other Soldier?
Isn’t that the real point of this? That guys who couldn’t do the right thing get the same benefits as the guys who did the right thing? The Army bends over backwards for Soldiers. I know this, I’ve seen this. Army Substance Abuse Program, Army Resilience and Restoration Center, Chaplains, Battle buddies, first line leaders. There has to be a paper trail for a Soldier today to NOT get an Honorable Discharge. There has to be a pattern of misconduct and even then, most units would just as soon see a Soldier leave the service without incident.
I know that I’m gonna get called an asshole and probably worse for this. But it’s true. Discipline starts with the individual Soldier and it’s a choice. That’s why we don’t just have discharge, we have Honorable, Other than Honorable, Dishonorable and the assorted administrative codes. The Army does it’s part and the Soldiers are supposed to do their part.
Then comes the bigger problem of further expanding what is and what isn’t PTSD.
The Army (or any other service) is NOT your friend. Ever.
How much will re-classifying all of these folks cost America, considering the military is competing for the same dollars in order to present an image of readiness?
Perhaps someone can tell me why the already existing Army Discharge Review Board (and sister-service equvalents) aren’t the appropriate venues for such actions for those who think (and have some evidence) that they got a “raw deal”?
Hondo, they are….I am very short on time right now but there’s a lot this article doesn’t say.
Firstly, you don’t get an OTH discharge, ever, unless you commit some kind of misconduct…and even an OTH discharge is not necessarily a bar to benefits. (Well, you lose your GI bill *for that term of service* if you have an OTH, but it does not cancel out ANY benefits from an earlier term of service if you completed the original enlistment honorably. And the VA makes its own independent determination about whether the crime you were discharged for was a bar to benefits.) An OTH discharge is often an act of mercy…if a person takes it in lieu of a court-martial conviction.
Secondly, separation for “personality disorder” IS an honorable discharge…so if a PTSD/TBI person is chaptered for personality disorder (chapter 5-17), he gets the full set of benefits. What he doesn’t get is the extra benefits of a med board…which can include plenty of etra money.
Thirdly, the Army for a long time has had a rule that you can’t use a 5-17 for a PTSD/TBI person…but rather are supposed to funnel him into the med board process. This can have unintended bad effects for the Soldier.
In my experience a fair number of PTSD/TBI Soldiers really do have self-control problems…you get a lot of domestic violence in the Warrior Transition Units, so the police tell me…and if they keep committing misconduct, they eventually persuade the command to kick them out for misconduct. Soldiers like that are better off getting a quick 5-17 honorable discharge (which their commands are often willing to do), than to stick around piling up offenses until they get something worse and are discharged for misconduct or even court-martialed.
Even a discharge for misconduct is usually a general dicharge (because then the command doesn’t have to go through a separation board), which means that medical/treatment benefits are preserved.
MARADMIN 328, which requires a PTSD/TBI screen (and subsequent evaluation by a psychiatrist, psychologist or neurologist) for anyone facing involuntary ad sep has been in effect for at least 3 years now. I know of some commands that have full medical review of the entire treatment record (to include PDHRAs) prior to separation. That’s all before the ad sep moves to the next level and doesn’t even begin to address the protections that come with an ad sep board (which anyone with an OTH or more than 8 years is entitled to). Members are entitled to waive their right for further evaluation and treatment…I never recommend that they do but every so often you have someone who doesn’t want to hear you and in those cases, you have to honor the member’s wishes and due process. When it comes to personality disorder ad seps, at least in the Navy and Marine Corps, they all get Flag level review (conducted in concert with an O6 psychiatrist) that involves a combing through the medical record. Any hint that PTSD or TBI was at the root of the issue, and the ad sep letter doesn’t even get signed. Any hint that it was done wrong at the lower level, and the old man refuses to sign it at the Division level. As for the adjustment disorder issue…there was a time that the Army was low balling people with adjustment disorder diagnoses and ad sepping them. That was never the case at any of the Navy MTFs I’ve been in. Even if the person didn’t meet full criteria for PTSD, the diagnosis would have been changed to Anxiety Disorder NOS and a med board submitted if the person needed to be retired. (For the record, and contrary to popular belief, PTSD isn’t the only diagnosis that rates the combat incurred qualifier) Now a days, it matters even less because we med board chronic adjustment disorders. Personally, I don’t see that as necessarily a good thing because I believe the Navy and Marines generally have historically done it right and the changes now capture failure… Read more »