Will President Obama Pardon Incarcerated PTSD Veterans Too?

Vietnam group asks Obama to pardon veterans
The Hill
BY KRISTINA WONG
01/18/17

"We hope that President Obama, in the final hours of his Presidency, will do right by his troops by helping bad-paper vets with PTSD," Rowan said. "We cannot wait another four or eight years for an outgoing President to take action to help the most vulnerable veterans in the country."

A veterans service organization is asking President Obama to pardon veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder who received a less-than-honorable discharge after the president commuted the prison sentence for former Army soldier Chelsea Manning.

"As pardons are being issued to people who have been convicted of serious felonies, veterans who served their country in combat wait to be offered the same clemency," said John Rowan, national president of Vietnam Veterans of America.

With four days left in office, the Obama administration announced Tuesday that it was commuting Manning's sentence, in addition to 208 others, and pardoning 64 individuals.
read more here

Combat PTSD Bad Discharges May Not Be Lifetime Scarlet Letter

Pentagon review could help veterans shed ‘bad paper’ discharges linked to trauma
STARS AND STRIPES
By WYATT OLSON
Published: December 30, 2016

“So many of our servicemembers have developed PTSD and brain injuries while on active duty," he said. "Many...were undiagnosed until long after their service was completed."

The Defense Department announced Friday that it is reviewing and potentially upgrading the discharge status of veterans who might have been improperly discharged for reasons related to post-traumatic stress syndrome, sexual orientation, sexual assault and other circumstances.

“With today’s announcement, the department is reaffirming its intention to review and potentially upgrade the discharge status of all individuals that are eligible and that apply,” a Pentagon news release said.

The announcement comes a week after President Barack Obama signed the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which included a bipartisan provision to help veterans who may have been erroneously given a less-than-honorable discharge due to bad behavior arising from mental trauma, such as PTSD or traumatic brain injury.

“Too many service members have lost access to their VA benefits because of mental health injuries that were not recognized when they left the military,” said Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee Personnel Subcommittee, in the same statement.

The provision will let veterans with mental health injuries and those who experienced military sexual trauma more easily have their discharges upgraded “so that they can get the care they need and the benefits they earned,” she said. read more here

They would not have PTSD or TBI if they did not risk their lives. Why should they have to pay for their service the rest of their lives just because we did not help them while they were still in? The DOD told them it was their fault when they pushed "Resilience Training" making them think they were weak instead of having a strong emotional core. How could they ask for help when they believed there was something wrong with them instead of right with why they served in the first place? They did not get the help they needed and it is up to us to make sure they get justice now.

Bad Leadership or Bad Recruits?

Congress Finally Got It Right On PTSD Discharges?

Congress passes bill to help vets with less-than-honorable discharges
WHSV 3 News
By Ted Fioraliso
Dec 13, 2016

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) -- There may be hope for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other wounds of war.

"[This is] a major victory, and something every American should be celebrating," said Army veteran Kristofer Goldsmith, who has been fighting for the Fairness for Veterans Act: the bill Congress finally passed last week.

Goldsmith explained, "[It] is going to make sure veterans, who were discharged with less-than-honorable discharges and denied access to things like health care, are going to have their health care fully considered."

That wasn't the case for Goldsmith, who received a less-than-honorable discharge after he tried to commit suicide - a result of his post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Even though they're suffering from these invisible wounds of war, they did not have access to the VA and the specialized treatment that they need." said Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), who authored the legislation. "We're going to work to move this along as quickly as possible for the Department of Defense to set up a process and the VA as well to do that."
read more here

Vietnam Veterans of America Take Stand for OEF and OIF Veterans

National Veterans Group appeals for pardons for those with bad discharges
WSAV News 3
By JoAnn Merrigan
Published: December 2, 2016

"Ignorance is no excuse for leaving behind these vets. Americans have a responsibility to learn about the sacrifices that veterans have made through their service and they have a responsibility to ensure that those who are the Guardians of freedom are protected from being forgotten. It’s time we all stand together, forget the partisan arguments and support our veterans.”
Kristofer Goldsmith

The effort to get tens of thousands of Afghanistan and Iraq veterans with less than honorable discharges medical and mental health services from the VA is going national. This week, Vietnam Veterans of America sent letters to President Obama and President Elect Trump calling for all of the vets to be pardoned.

“The founding principles of Vietnam Veterans of America is that never again will one generation of veterans leave behind another,” says Kristofer Goldsmith who is an Iraq veteran who now works for Vietnam Veterans of America. “These Vietnam vets came together and formed this organization not just for themselves but for my generation.”

The letter makes a powerful appeal to President Obama to help those who those who served in war despite how they may have separated from the military. It says that “over the last 15 years of continuous warfare, our country has failed to respond to reports of veterans being inappropriately discharged.” Vietnam Veterans of America is asking people to watch the online documentary Charlie Foxtrot which documents the problems of some who have the less than honorable discharges.
read more here

Army Thinks They Did Nothing Wrong on Discharges?

Senators, Military Specialists Say Army Report On Dismissed Soldiers Is Troubling
NPR
Heard on Morning Edition
Daniel Zwerdling
December 1, 2016

The Army's report states that only 3,327 of the more than 22,000 soldiers who had been kicked out met that legal test. As a result, investigators ignored the rest of the soldiers — roughly 19,000 of them — who had mental health problems or brain injuries.

U.S. Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning ordered a review after an NPR

investigation found thousands of soldiers diagnosed with mental health

problems or brain injuries were dismissed for misconduct. But the new

Army report concluded that it treated the soldiers fairly.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

An Army review concludes that commanders did nothing wrong when they kicked out more than 22,000 soldiers for misconduct after they came back from Iraq or Afghanistan – even though all of those troops had been diagnosed with mental health problems or brain injuries.

The Army's report, ordered by Secretary Eric Fanning, seeks to reassure members of Congress that it's treating wounded soldiers fairly. But senators and military specialists say the report troubles them.

"I don't think the Army understands the scope of this problem," says Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. "And I don't think they've conveyed the seriousness to get it right."

The Army's report is "unbelievable," says psychiatrist Judith Broder. "It's just bizarre." Broder was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Obama for organizing the Soldiers Project, a network of hundreds of psychotherapists and others who help troops and their families.
read more here

125,000 OEF OIF Veterans Abandoned by DOD with PTSD

The New York Times reported on how many service members were kicked out the military instead of being treated and compensated for the battle they would have to fight for the rest of their lives.

Since 2001, more than 300,000 people, about 13 percent of all troops, have been forced out of the military with less-than-honorable discharges.

Sounds really lousy until you discover that the number of those kicked out had been increasing since 1990. KPPC News reported it happened to 615,000 up until March of 2016. In 2014, a Vietnam veteran had waiting 43 years for justice. In 2015, Vietnam Veterans of America went to court seeking justice for veterans abandoned by the military. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel ordered reviews of these reprehensible actions.

Larry Barnett was among those kicked out. He had two tours in Iraq between 2003 and 2005. His life was spared by two Deputies. But there are so many more of their stories. Far too many, we will never hear about. Some ended up taking their own lives. Some ended up living on the streets with no help at all.

When I wrote Residual War, Something Worth Living For, these were the folks I was thinking about. In 2013, the Army had kicked out 11,000. One of them was Tom Faith. He was found living in the woods in Florida after attempting suicide twice. One of the forgotten veterans, sent away by his family after they thought they had no other choice. Every soldier found themselves facing the same outcome, until a General decided to do something about it. He established a unit at Fort Christmas, where proven heroes could remain in the Army until they could retire with dignity after years of dedicated service to this country. All of them had been diagnosed with PTSD.

While they were helped to heal, the homeless veterans in the clandestine shelter, were used and abused as part of a drug research program to develop a medication to stop them from feeling everything.

Over the years, too many of their stories had gone unnoticed by most, so I had to try something different. I told the truth within the fictional accounts based on real suffering and real peer support that goes on all the time. There are good Generals and bad ones. There are good Chaplains and bad ones. There are good stories as well as horrible endings. In this case, there is all of the above.

Read the story below and remember, he was willing to die for the sake of those he served with, yet betrayed by the same military leaders who sent him there.

Why some who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan can’t get VA medical care
WSAV News 3
JoAnn Merrigan, Reporter
Published: November 23, 2016

Unfortunately, Goldsmith says those worries are well founded. “Those with bad discharges are most likely to die by suicide after fighting the system for so long to get care. And after being denied over and over, they just give up,” he told me.

Since 9-11, tens of thousands of soldiers and marines have seen combat. Now it’s estimated at least 125,000 of them are not eligible to receive any benefits from the Veterans Administration (VA) because they received dishonorable discharges.

“Most people live under the assumption that every veteran is able to get healthcare at the VA. And the truth is that these veterans with less than honorable discharges are prohibited from getting any access,” says Kristofer Goldsmith, a vet who fought in Iraq who now advocates for other veterans.

One of those trying to get healthcare is Michael Coleman. I talked with Michael and his mom Jo awhile back. Michael was in bad shape and had just attempted suicide. He says he was diagnosed with PTSD but drummed out of the Army back in 2004 after serving in Iraq in 2003. “They gave me a bad conduct discharge and released me from the Army,” he told me. “I have tried going to the VA and telling them I have PTSD but they say until my discharge is upgraded, they can’t do anything for me.”

read more here

(Cross posted on Residual War)

Details of Police Shooting Brandon Simmons Coming In

Man shot dead by police at CU-Boulder was former Marine discharged under questionable circumstances
The Denver Channel
Blair Miller, Sally Mamdooh
Oct 7, 2016

BOULDER, Colo. – The University of Colorado Police Department named the two officers involved in the fatal shooting of a man wielding a machete on campus Wednesday as it came to light the man was a former Marine.

Brandon Simmons, 28, of Thornton, allegedly threatened a sports medicine patient with a machete at CU-Boulder Wednesday before police confronted him and eventually shot him dead.

Friends of Simmons’ on Friday told Denver7 he was a former Marine who was discharged earlier this year after around a decade of service. Simmons had two children and an ex-wife, who all live in California, where Simmons used to be stationed.

Friends say he recently moved in with his father in Thornton after the divorce.

Simmons had been a drill instructor during his time in the Marines. A friend of his said he was the "epitome" of what a good drill instructor should be and called the incident and Simmons' death "shocking."

A photo of Simmons posted to Facebook publicly by a friend shows Simmons in his Marines dress uniform, with sergeant bars on his sleeve.
read more here

PTSD and TBI Veterans May Get New Deal on Discharges

Lawmakers urge defense bill to help less-than-honorable discharges
THE HILL
Rebecca Kheel
9-13-2016

Kristofer Goldsmith, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, said he was discharged after attempting suicide by overdosing on Percocet and vodka.

A bipartisan group of nine lawmakers joined with leading veterans groups Tuesday to call for the final version of a defense policy bill to include language aimed at making it easier for veterans who were discharged for behavior related to mental health issues to upgrade their discharges.

“We are very close to making sure that these service men and women get the help that they need, and we’re going to make it a reality in the next weeks,” said Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), whose Fairness for Veterans Act was included in the Senate-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The provision in the Senate version would require discharge review boards to provide “liberal consideration” to the diagnosis of a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI) or military sexual assault when considering whether to upgrade a less-than-honorable discharge.

The House-passed version does not include that provision. Conferees are in the process of reconciling the two versions of the bill.

Advocates say thousands of veterans have received “bad discharge papers” as a result of behavior associated with PTSD, TBI or sexual trauma. Such discharges haunt veterans for the rest of their lives, advocates say, denying them veterans benefits and casting a stigma that can affect aspects of civilian life, such as finding employment.

read more here

Rep. Tim Walz Writes Bill on Bad Discharges But Doesn't Know Numbers?

I was just reading Group works to reclassify discharged vets with PTSD when something made me scream. It seems that Walz wrote a bill he doesn't even understand.

On March 3, U.S. Rep. Tim Walz introduced the Fairness for Veterans Act. The bill essentially does many of the same things Nordgaard is trying to do with his group in Red Wing.

"Walz said the problem is potentially very widespread. Since 2009, at least 22,000 veterans have been discharged who have suffered PTSD or a TBI for misconduct. While not all of these incidents of misconduct can be linked to combat trauma, the potential there is big."

Big? Sure it is since it is a lot bigger than what he just said. He's writing a bill but reports do not indicate he has the slightest clue. I checked and these links are still active. Too bad Walz didn't. 

On June 7, 2013. Rep. Mike Coffman introduced an amendment to the 2014 Defense Authorization Act because of a report from the Gazette.

Coffman said his amendment came in response to a three-day series of stories in The Gazette last month detailing how the number of soldiers discharged from the Army for misconduct has surged 67 percent since 2009 at posts with the most combat troops.

This was reported on December 9, 2013 on WAMC

(Eric) Highfill and more than 100,000 other troops left the armed services with "bad paper" over the past decade of war. Many went to war, saw combat, even earned medals before they broke the rules of military discipline or in some cases committed serious crimes. The bad discharge means no VA assistance, no disability compensation, no GI Bill, and it's a red flag on any job application. Most veterans service organizations don't welcome bad paper vets, and even many private sector jobs programs for vets accept honorable discharge only.

April 1, 2015 LA Times reported this.

More than 140,000 troops have left the military since 2000 with less-than-honorable discharges, according to the Pentagon.

October 24, 2015 The Gazette reported this

The Army parted with 24,611 soldiers for discipline issues in 2012 and 2013.

The New York Times reported this February 19, 2016

Observers say the boards are overwhelmed. And, despite a growing caseload from Iraq and Afghanistan, the staff at the Army Review Boards Agency has steadily shrunk. In 2014, it had 135 employees to process 22,500 cases, according to an agency briefing.

That is just for the Army alone.

KPCC reported this number on March 16, 2016

According to data obtained by KPCC from the Defense Manpower Data Center, more than 615,000 Army, Navy, Marine, and Air Force veterans were discharged with less-than-honorable discharges from 1990-2015.

Military Bad Conduct Left Over 125,000 Veterans Without Benefits

Over 125,000 veterans denied benefits by the VA – report
Reuters
Published time: 31 Mar, 2016

“The VA’s board and vague regulations are contrary to law and create a system that does not work for the VA or for veterans… and stops the agency from effectively addressing the national priorities of ending veteran suicide and homelessness,” said the report.

Tens of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with less-than-honorable discharges, many with physical and mental injuries, were being denied care by the Department of Veterans Affairs, claims a new report by a veterans’ advocacy group.

“The VA created much broader exclusion criteria than Congress provided, failing to give veterans due credit for their service to our country,” said the report by advocacy group Swords to Plowshares, published on Wednesday.

Under the 1944 GI Bill, Congress expanded eligibility for veteran benefits to almost all veterans, even those with less-than-honorable discharges, provided the misconduct was not so severe that it should have led to a trial by court-martial and a dishonorable discharge. Congress left open the door to benefits for spectrum of discharges between honorable and dishonorable, including “undesirable” and “other than honorable.”

The report found the VA labeled 90 percent of veterans with bad paper discharges as “dishonorable,” even though the military classified them differently.

“The VA’s board and vague regulations are contrary to law and create a system that does not work for the VA or for veterans… and stops the agency from effectively addressing the national priorities of ending veteran suicide and homelessness,” said the report.

Veterans with bad paper discharges were more likely to have mental health conditions and were twice as likely to commit suicide, the report found. They are also more likely to be homeless and involved with the criminal justice system.

“Yet, in most cases, the VA refuses to provide them any treatment or aid,” said the group.

The New York Times cited the example of Joshua Bunn, a US Marine Corps veteran who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009. His unit served in “one of the bloodiest valleys in Afghanistan,” killing hundreds of enemy fighters and losing more Marines than any other battalion that year.
read more here

Over 615,000 Veterans Got Bad Paper Discharges Since 1990

2 words on a vet's discharge papers can be the difference between hope and homelessness
KPPC 89.3
John Ismay
March 16, 2016


As the push to find housing for all of L.A.’s homeless military veterans hurls towards a summer deadline, service providers say they’re running into one type of vet over and over again: someone who’s been discharged with “bad papers.”

Translation: they got kicked out of the military without an Honorable Discharge.

According to data obtained by KPCC from the Defense Manpower Data Center, more than 615,000 Army, Navy, Marine, and Air Force veterans were discharged with less-than-honorable discharges from 1990-2015.

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Co.) is a retired Marine officer and said that high a number is “very alarming.”

Coffman says in his day, a servicemember caught for a minor offense might’ve been denied the chance to reenlist, but would not have been kicked out with bad paperwork that denied them benefits afterwards.

There’s a range of discharges below the level of honorable— and they can be awarded after conviction by a courts-martial for felonies as well as by non-judicial administrative boards for misdemeanor-level misconduct.

Among other things, bad paper can be a pathway to homelessness, according to a recent study by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Researchers attempting to find factors that contribute to veteran homelessness discovered that bad paper makes a veteran five to seven times more likely to fall into homelessness.
read more here

Seems really high especially when you consider the New York Times report that came out in February had the number at 300,000 from 2001.

Congress created military review boards after World War II to correct wartime missteps, but observers say this has rarely happened in recent years. In 2013, the Army Board for Correction of Military Records, the supreme authority in the Army’s review agency, ruled against veterans in about 96 percent of PTSD-related cases, according to an analysis done by Yale Law School’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic.

“The boards are broken,” said Michael Wishnie, a Yale professor who oversees the clinic. “They are not functioning the way Congress has intended.”

Yet in 2015 the Pentagon said it was just 140,000.

But none of that is new either.

If Vietnam Vets Had PTSD, They Deserve Benefits
Hartfor Courant
EDITORIAL
Veterans lawsuit seeks redress on discharges
December 11, 2012

John Shepherd Jr. enlisted in the Army and earned a Bronze Star for valor fighting with the Ninth Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta in 1969. But after his platoon leader was killed while trying to help him out of a canal, Mr. Shepherd appeared to come undone, eventually refusing to go out on patrol.

He was court-martialed and given an other-than-honorable discharge, making him ineligible for most veterans' benefits. He believes his behavior was the result of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. His immediate problem: PTSD wasn't recognized as a medical condition until 1980.

Mr. Shepherd and the veterans organization Vietnam Veterans of America have filed a lawsuit in federal court in New Haven on behalf of Vietnam veterans who were given other-than-honorable discharges for conduct they say was caused by undiagnosed PTSD. The suit, brought by the activist Veterans Legal Clinic at Yale Law School, seeks to have their discharges upgraded, something the military has thus far been reluctant to do.

The legal action, which could affect tens of thousands of veterans, raises a novel question: Can a soldier be given a retroactive diagnosis for a condition that was not then recognized as an ailment?
read more here

Jarrid Starks, another Army veteran with a Bronze Star for Valor did have his discharge overturned in 2012.

Lawmakers Try to Halt Bad Discharges

Legislation would halt bad military discharges due to PTSD, TBI 
Military Times 
Leo Shane III 
March 7, 2016

In the past, that decision covered only a select group of Vietnam veterans. The new memo would expand that to all veterans, and waive statutes of limitations for those appeals.

Lawmakers want to avoid having troops disgracefully forced from the ranks because of behavior related to post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injuries, but Pentagon officials may already be on the way to fixing the problem.

Last week, a coalition of Republican and Democratic lawmakers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan introduced legislation to ensure that military discharge review boards must consider troops’ mental health issues, and must accept a PTSD or TBI diagnosis from a professional as an acceptable rebuttal to a dismissal.

The move could affect thousands of military discharges each year and open the door for a review of more. Army officials have confirmed that at least 22,000 combat veterans have received less-than-honorable discharges since 2009, many for minor offenses like alcohol use or lateness.

For some troops, those infractions are a sign of untreated issues like PTSD and TBI. A less-than-honorable discharge severely limits the care and support options for those veterans, leaving them with decreased medical support and an increased risk of suicide.

“Those discharges could be a death sentence for these veterans,” said Kris Goldsmith, an advocate behind the legislative push.
read more here

Less Than Honorably Treated Oregon Veteran Wins VA Claim

Local veteran wins VA battle in Portland
Tillamook Headlight Herald
By Brad Mosher
Updated 18 hrs ago

Vietnam-era veteran Bill Minnix talks to Sen. Ron Wyden during the Oregon senator's recent town hall in Tillamook. Minnix credits Wyden's office for helping his case with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Headlight Herald photo / Brad Mosher

Bill Minnix got some good news Tuesday.

He was told that a Department of Veterans Affairs hearing in Portland recently had decided his service from February to July in 1973 in the U.S. Air Force is considered honorable for VA purposes.

The hearing was focused on the character of Minnix’ discharge from the military in 1973, when he was given a less than honorable discharge.

The decision doesn’t change the discharge, but it opens the door to Minnix receiving full veterans benefits.

It also is considered to be a ground-breaking decision which could impact other veterans who were victims of sexual assault while in the service.

“I am quite excited. I talked to Tiffany Kelley, the attorney for the National Veterans Legal Services Program, and she said this is huge because they have had these veterans just waiting. She said that this was a huge precedent,” Minnix said.

“Monetary-wise, that is not the thing. What I am getting out of this and I feel really good about is all the people this (decision) is going to help from here on out.

“They are many other ‘other than honorable’ discharges. Some are called undesirable. Some are called personality disorder discharges,” he added.
read more here

Over 300,000 Less Than Honorable Discharges Since 2001?

Veterans Seek Greater Emphasis on PTSD in Bids to Upgrade Discharges 
New York Times
By DAVE PHILIPPS
FEB. 19, 2016

Since 2001, more than 300,000 people, about 13 percent of all troops, have been forced out of the military with less-than-honorable discharges.

Mr. Goldsmith, center, and other veterans met with Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, right, in January to discuss the military’s discharge process. “I’ve been fighting for eight years, and I can’t get anywhere,” Mr. Goldsmith said. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Kristofer Goldsmith was discharged from the Army at the height of the Iraq war because he was not on a plane to Baghdad for his second deployment. Instead, he was in a hospital after attempting suicide the night before.

On the sergeant’s first deployment, his duties often required him to photograph mutilated corpses. After coming home, he was stalked by nightmares and despair. In 2007, he overdosed on pills, and his platoon found him passed out in a grove of trees at Fort Stewart, Ga., that had been planted to honor soldiers killed in combat.

Instead of screening Mr. Goldsmith for post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, records show that the Army wrote him up for missing his flight, then forced him out of the military with a less-than-honorable discharge. When he petitioned the Army to upgrade his discharge, arguing that he missed his flight because of undiagnosed PTSD, it rejected his appeal.
read more here

Restore Your Honorable Service Get Your Discharge Reclassified

If you have PTSD or TBI and didn't get a discharge worthy of your service, then fight! Fight back to get the justice you were denied.

Veterans Are Not Applying For Discharge Status Upgrades, Pentagon Blamed 
Hartford Courant
Peggy McCarthy
Conn. Health I-Team Writer
November 2, 2015

"Without significant reform within these boards, veterans with TBIs and psychological disorders will be unsuccessful in acquiring discharge upgrades and the attending benefits they deserve,"

Very few veterans take advantage of a Pentagon policy designed to make it easier for veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to upgrade their discharge status and become eligible to apply for veterans' benefits, according to a Yale Law Clinic report.

At a news conference Monday, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., veterans, and Yale law students, blamed the Department of Defense for not adequately publicizing the policy to veterans with less than honorable discharges. Since new guidelines were announced last year, just 201 of tens of thousands of eligible veterans applied for a PTSD-related service upgrade, according to the report. Blumenthal called the statistic "a staggering, outrageous fact."

"Veterans on the streets of New Haven or Connecticut or the rest of the country have no idea about this," Blumenthal said.

"It takes a vigorous and rigorous effort, which the DOD committed to and they have failed," he added.

Sundiata Sidibe, a student in the law school's Veterans Legal Services Clinic, called the number of applicants "miniscule." In previous years, an average of 39 veterans applied annually for status upgrades in connection with PTSD, the report states.

Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had asked the Pentagon to give the committee a progress report by August 2015 on its efforts to inform veterans about the policy. A report was never submitted, he said.
read more here

Two Deputies Change Veteran's Life after 911 Call

More than 140,000 troops have left the military since 2000 with less-than-honorable discharges, according to the Pentagon.

That was reported by the LA Times April 1, 2015. With that number fresh in your mind, this needs to be added to that fact,

"Many vets with 'bad' discharges are cast off to local mental health services, charities despite suicide risk

Of those suicides, 403 were among ex-service members whose discharges were "not honorable" — for a wide range of misconduct, from repeatedly disrespecting officers to felony convictions. An additional 380 occurred among veterans with "uncharacterized" discharges, the designation used for troops who leave in fewer than 180 days for a variety of nondisciplinary reasons."

That is why this story should matter to every veteran around the country. We know there were 200,000 Vietnam veterans discharged instead of being diagnosed and treated for what war did to them. We know what happened even before they were sent. The question is, "How long will this go on before these veterans get justice?"

They have been shoved out then abandoned but this story will show you how far a human act of kindness can go.

Two deputies change veteran's life after 911 call
KUSA NBC 9 News Colorado
Anastasiya Bolton
September 25, 2015

"I saw someone real," Barnett said. "He was trying to connect with me on just a human level. Nobody's ever tried to do that with me before."

A veteran with PTSD says two deputies helped change his life

(Photo: KUSA)

ARAPAHOE COUNTY – Larry Barnett's girlfriend had to call 911 last week because Barnett, an Iraq vet, had a PTSD episode and she was afraid for his well-being.

"I was done. I was at the point where do or die," Barnett said.

Barnett reached out to 9NEWS to share his story and said he was in a better place to talk. He was adamant about talking because he wanted to share what the deputies who responded to his call did for him.

"In my head I didn't feel like I could live anymore," Barnett said about Wednesday September 16.

Two tours in Iraq in 2003 and 2005 still haunt the Army vet.

He received an other than honorable discharge in 2006, has been suffering from PTSD and fighting with the VA to get an upgrade and then be eligible for services.

September 16, Barnett said he lost it, again.
read more here

The Gazette out of Colorado reported that Congress was going to do something about all of this back in 2013 when Iraq veteran, Representative Mike Coffman on the House Armed Services Committee read about what was going on with these discharges.

Rep. Mike Coffman, a Denver-area Republican who is on the House Armed Services Committee, introduced an amendment to the 2014 Defense Authorization Act that would create a 10-member Commission on Military Behavioral Health and Disciplinary Issues.

The commission would study whether the military discipline system needs to change in light of emerging research on the connection between PTSD and TBI and behavioral problems that can get troops in trouble.

Soldiers who have been discharged include wounded combat veterans who are denied medical care and other benefits because of the character of their discharge.

The problem is when Barnett was victimized he wasn't alone. The Saint Louis Post Dispatch reported this September 29, 2007 Many soldiers get boot for 'pre-existing' mental illness

Thousands of U.S. soldiers in Iraq - as many as 10 a day - are being discharged by the military for mental health reasons. But the Pentagon isn't blaming the war. It says the soldiers had "pre-existing" conditions that disqualify them for treatment by the government.

Senator Attempts To Undo Bad Discharges

Sen. Gary Peters introduces bill to ensure fairness for vets improperly discharged
WXYZ News
Aug 5, 2015

WASHINGTON (WXYZ) - U.S. Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat from Michigan has introduced a bill that would ensure fairness to veterans who were improperly discharged.

Peters, along with Sen. Steve Daines, a Republican from Montana and Sen. Thom Tills, a Republican from North Carolina, introduced the bill Monday.

The administrative discharges are given due to behavior resulting from mental traumas such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI).
read more here

Vietnam Veterans of America Take PTSD Battle to Court

Veterans Nail Feds on Old Discharge Records 
Courthouse News
By CHRISTINE STUART
May 6, 2015

The groups say they in turn filed requests under the Freedom of Information Act for records showing how the boards adjudicated PTSD-related applications before and after Hagel's so-called "PTSD Updgrade Memo."

NEW HAVEN (CN) - Veterans groups claim in Federal Court that the military is trying to keep a lid on "bad-paper discharges" it handed tens of thousands of service members who likely suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder before the medical community recognized that condition.

Vietnam Veterans of America and the National Veterans Council for Legal Redress brought the complaint on Monday against the U.S. Department of Defense and three military branches.

They say that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs denies disability compensation and other benefits to veterans who received other-than-honorable (OTH) discharges, but that many who received such "bad-paper discharges" are the tens of thousands of servicemembers suffering from undiagnosed PTSD.

PTSD was not recognized as a medical condition until 1980, according to the complaint. 

While Congress has created internal boards to consider applications by veterans seeking to revise their discharge papers, the veterans say these boards "have collectively failed to prioritize or take seriously discharge upgrade requests from veterans diagnosed with PTSD stemming from military service."

From 1993 to 2014, the Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records approved fewer than 5 percent of these type of applications from Vietnam veterans, according to the complaint.

 Crediting a class action they filed last year, the groups note that Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel issued a memorandum in September 2014 that instructed the boards to give veterans with PTSD "liberal consideration." read more here

Vietnam Veteran Chuck Hagel Did Right Thing for PTSD Veterans

Vietnam-era soldiers eligible for discharge upgrades
Army Times
By Jim Tice
Staff writer
December 1, 2014

The secretary of the Army has ordered liberal consideration be given to Vietnam-era soldiers who received downgraded discharges even though they may have been suffering from post-traumatic stress.
(Photo: Sgt. 1st Class James K.F. Dung/Army)

Vietnam-era soldiers who faced punitive discharges because they suffered from post-traumatic stress are to be given liberal consideration to requests for discharge upgrades.

Secretary of the Army John McHugh issued this directive to the Army Review Boards Agency, the service's highest level of administrative review for personnel actions.

McHugh's Nov. 3 directive was prompted by an earlier order from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel which acknowledged that thousands of soldiers may have been kicked out of service because of behavior problems related to post-traumatic stress.

Upgraded discharges for soldiers who received a less than honorable discharge could lead to the award of previously denied benefits, such as disability pay, separation pay and GI Bill eligibility.

The ARBA is comprised of several boards for considering the claims of soldiers and former soldiers who appeal the filing of unfavorable information in their personnel records.

PTSD was not recognized as a potential behavior altering medical condition until 1980, which means that disability claims and discharge upgrades based on claims of the condition routinely were denied by government agencies, to include the Army review boards.

Hagel's September instruction to the services followed by several months a federal court class action suit filed by a group veterans and the Vietnam Veterans of America that claims the military systematically denied discharge upgrade applications based on claims of PTSD.

The suit estimated that about one-third of the 250,000 other-than-honorable discharges issued to Vietnam era veterans may have been PTSD-related.
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Green Berets Mistreated at Fort Carson

Fort Carson Gets a Black Eye for Its Treatment of These Green Berets
US Navy SEAL Today
By Joel Warner
Sep. 24 2014

Sergeant First Class Emil Wojcik wasn't the same after a rollover car crash at Fort Carson in March 2013 broke one of his cervical vertebrae. That, combined with the various times he'd been knocked unconscious during rough parachute landings, seemed to knock something permanently askew in his mind. He lost hearing in his right ear and begun stuttering when he spoke. Sleep became a problem. He'd sit upright in bed in the middle of the night and yell, "Stand up straight, the general is here!" -- as if he were back on one of his secret missions. Or he'd sleepwalk, sometimes tumbling down the stairs of his Colorado Springs home. He started taking Ambien to help him sleep, but that plus the Oxycodone he was on for ongoing neck pain left him in a medicated stupor.

It didn't help that Wojcik, who was born in Warsaw but had immigrated to Michigan when he was seven, had a lot on his mind. In 2012, his first marriage had ended in an ugly divorce and custody battle that resulted in his two children living 4,500 miles away, with their mother in her native Ireland. His second wife, Amber, had stage IV bone cancer that had spread to her lungs and lymph nodes, and the two were caught in exhausting cycles of chemotherapy treatments and remission. On top of that, a good friend of Wojcik's, a Special Forces team sergeant at Fort Carson, had taken his pistol and killed himself while parked on the side of Interstate 25 in December 2011. "Nobody asked too many questions about it," says Wojcik of the incident -- but it stuck with him.

For Wojcik, everything came to a head one evening in July 2013.

But Wojcik didn't feel supported by his superiors, even as his medical condition deteriorated. By December 2013, his neck pain and sleeping problems had become serious enough that his battalion's physician referred him to the Army's Medical Evaluation Board, the first step toward being medically retired from the Army. But then in January, when he was called into his battalion commander's office -- "It was the first time I'd ever met the man," he says -- Wojcik learned that he could be leaving Special Forces for other reasons. Wojcik's medical-evaluation process had been halted, his commander told him; he was now looking at an other-than-honorable discharge from the Army because of his behavior, which would leave him with few benefits.
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