Dd214 May Be Costing You Money

[teabeeyea]

Think separation "Under Honorable Conditions" discharge is the same as an

"Honorable" discharge? Then like most veterans you are wrong.

Pull out your DD214. Look at block #26 - directly under block #24

"Character of Service". If you where enlisted and anything other than

the letters "ETS" are in block #26, your dd214 may have cost you a job, money,

or VA benifits in the past. Absent congressional action, it may continue to

do so for the remainder of your professional life.

Any other "Code" in block #26 tells both the Military, and many larger

employers, your state veterans service office, and defense contractors,

something negative about you.

Example:

"SFK" means you left because of disability.

This lets every employer that knows the code that if they hire you,

their health cost will likely go up and you may have more absences from

work. Thus, you may get passed over for someone else.

"BFS" "Good of the service, conduct triable by court marshal"

If you just rolled your eyes at the wrong officer, an employer my assume

you are a felon. Even if you where tried and ACQUITTED, or if charges or Article

15 was never brought against you!

"BLC" - Homosexuality

Enough said.

There are even codes for "Bedwetting" "personality disorder" "drug use"

"mental health problems" "financial problems" "malcontent".... the list

goes on and on. Each and every negative thing the Military could

possibly say about you is tied to a code number.

If you annoyed your last commander, or left becouse of disability,

you likely have one of the negative codes on your dd214. Some have even

suggested that the VA uses these codes at their triage desks to determain

how fast your C&P claim gets does or does not get processsed.

You can learn more by going to

www.vetcourtcodes.com

or by googling for Army Regulation : AR 635-5-1

[Meddac]

Key phrase in your statement "MOST OF THE FOLKS" in triage don't know what the box 26 codes mean. It only takes one supervisor at one VISN triage desk to slow down a claim with a certain code or codes. The grunts doing the actual work need not know what the code means. They would not need to know what a code "Means" to hold it up, or slow it down. Also if they have access to box 24, then they have acces to box 26. Last, box 26 is ABSOLUTELY used by state Veterans Agencies and GI Bill benifits issues.

FACT - Once a claim is established by a CA (Claims Assistant) in Triage the claim goes straight to a Team (Pre, Post, Appeals, Ratings). It doesn't go through a Triage supervisor. In fact, it hardly ever goes through any supervisor until it gets to the Rating Board.

Yes they have access to box 24. They need that to establish "Character of Service" in the system. They can get that information without your 214 as well, but that will slow things up for your claim.

I know this. I have done my time establishing claims in Triage at one of the largest RO's in the country. I know the procedures, and I know that the ONE or TWO supervisors for Triage don't have time to look at your code in box 26.

I am sorry to come off sounding rough. I am here to help in any way that I can.

[Pete53]

Meddac:

I appreciate the insight. Your RO has been mean and also good to me. Like you said in another post all are not bad but my biggest problem is that they can be very impersonal and high handed.

You can be a big help cause in the long run the more that a Claimant knows about how the VA works a claim the better off they are.

[Jack]

I feel cheated I looked at my 214 at line 26 below item 24 and only found a security statement that states *EBI, and line 26 states medals decorations and honors that also states IRD/SSC/DIS Baltimore MD

What does that mean?

Thanks

Jack

[tssnave]

MEDDAC,

Thanks for chiming in. What you say makes sense to me. We had another thread on the whole SPN issue a while back and I pulled out my DD 214 and cross referenced the code with a link provided. It meant something along the lines of I hadn't taken my SQT or something along those lines, whatever it was, it was benign so long as they were looking in the Army list and not another branch of service where it was something bad. I doubt anyone has the whole list memorized for each service.

Let me put it this way, I spent over a decade in Army admin and I didn't even realize it was on my DD 214!!

Thanks,

TS Snave

[Tbird]

hey thanks for that information, i've always thought triage probably didn't pay much attention to that.

though there are others that feel that happens to a lot of veterans, i must say that things are very different than when i filed back in 1991, that whole process left me and many others paranoid and we experienced some real screwed up behavior from many va personnel and service officers.

thanks again for that info, it's always good to have insight.

FACT - Once a claim is established by a CA (Claims Assistant) in Triage the claim goes straight to a Team (Pre, Post, Appeals, Ratings). It doesn't go through a Triage supervisor. In fact, it hardly ever goes through any supervisor until it gets to the Rating Board.

Yes they have access to box 24. They need that to establish "Character of Service" in the system. They can get that information without your 214 as well, but that will slow things up for your claim.

I know this. I have done my time establishing claims in Triage at one of the largest RO's in the country. I know the procedures, and I know that the ONE or TWO supervisors for Triage don't have time to look at your code in box 26.

I am sorry to come off sounding rough. I am here to help in any way that I can.