ptsd Iraq Veteran

[Guest terrysturgis]

During my visit to the dentist yesterday I noticed a picture of a soldier on the wall. It was the son of the dental assistant. I asked her what his MOS was. She did not know what that meant, then I said what was his occupation in the Army. Infantry. I asked her if he served overseas. That's when she opened up.

He served 8 months in Iraq as an Infantry soldier. Came home for a two week leave and went Awol for 30 days. We all know that's a bad decision. He served some jail time and his attorney has bargained for a Bad Conduct Discharge. In the discharge process he has been diagnosed with PTSD and ADD. He has been advised that if he accepts the BCD that after waiting 30 days he can go to the VA, get the BCD upgraded to honorable and receive care for the PTSD.

My question to the board has anyone heard of a 30 day wait and automatic upgrade to honorable? Thanks. Terry

[Testvet]

PTSD is not an excuse for breaking the law however a Good lawyer would be pushing to get the soldier into a wounded warrior unit and into treatment if the soldier is out of the stockade that is where he belongs I get the feeling this lawyer is going to help the army walk this kid out the door of the stockade to the maingate and do a "here's your discharge package" rip off all the military paraphanlia like in "Branded" and kick him in the azz off the property no ticket home no nothing cya don't let the door hit ya and shoot him if he tries to get back on the base to the rent a cops it does not get much worse than this he needs a new lawyer that is acting on his "behalf" and not the Army's

[jbasser]

He does not want to receive a BCD.

If so , he is in for a real bad ride.

He needs another attorney. Did his PTSD cause him to go over the hill?

J

[SLEDGE]

I agree, his lawyer just wants to be rid of him.

PTSD should get him into a treatment program within the miltary, not a discharge of any kind.

Fire the lawyer and then fight for what's right.

PTSD almost got me thrown into jail during and after my service.

sledge

[Philip Rogers]

Terry - he needs to deny the BCD and get a good civilian atty specializing in military law. Using a military atty is like using the DAV, AL or VFW for your VA claim. They're not working for him. He should be able to get a retiree medical discharge, due to PTSD, w/a 50% rating. jmo

pr

[hawkfire27]

Ummm He needs to get a civilian lawyer to get is discharge upgraded.

Then he needs to see if he had a Psych evaluation done upon discharge, get his Service medical records and discharge papers, show these to a Lawyer and apply for a medical discharge based upon physical disability (PTSD).

They are really trying to screw with him. His JAG didn't help him at all.... :-( This story is really sad, Vets put there lives on the line to be shafted by the very brothers they serve with grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Like other have said there is no such thing as automatic upgrade, they are trying to get around the requirement of medical discharge. If he has over 8 years then it would be medical retirement instead.

Make sure you speak up to this person otherwise this guy may lose out bigtime!

If need be direct the Mom to this website:

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,209720,00.html

and remember if he has been diagnosed during the discharge process, the HE IS ONE OF THESE VETS!!!!!

During my visit to the dentist yesterday I noticed a picture of a soldier on the wall. It was the son of the dental assistant. I asked her what his MOS was. She did not know what that meant, then I said what was his occupation in the Army. Infantry. I asked her if he served overseas. That's when she opened up.

He served 8 months in Iraq as an Infantry soldier. Came home for a two week leave and went Awol for 30 days. We all know that's a bad decision. He served some jail time and his attorney has bargained for a Bad Conduct Discharge. In the discharge process he has been diagnosed with PTSD and ADD. He has been advised that if he accepts the BCD that after waiting 30 days he can go to the VA, get the BCD upgraded to honorable and receive care for the PTSD.

My question to the board has anyone heard of a 30 day wait and automatic upgrade to honorable? Thanks. Terry

Edited March 26, 2010 by hawkfire27

[hulamatt]

During my visit to the dentist yesterday I noticed a picture of a soldier on the wall. It was the son of the dental assistant. I asked her what his MOS was. She did not know what that meant, then I said what was his occupation in the Army. Infantry. I asked her if he served overseas. That's when she opened up.

He served 8 months in Iraq as an Infantry soldier. Came home for a two week leave and went Awol for 30 days. We all know that's a bad decision. He served some jail time and his attorney has bargained for a Bad Conduct Discharge. In the discharge process he has been diagnosed with PTSD and ADD. He has been advised that if he accepts the BCD that after waiting 30 days he can go to the VA, get the BCD upgraded to honorable and receive care for the PTSD.

My question to the board has anyone heard of a 30 day wait and automatic upgrade to honorable? Thanks. Terry

OK well there are two ways to go about this, first of all, he does not want a bad conduct discharge, so if he has a good reason, he can get an other than honorable still not good or a general. He needs to get an attorney that is not JAG, they suck, and by JAG i mean trial defense services.

Now as far as going to the VA if he has more than 24 month active duty, he has a slim chance of getting healthcare, 1% it pretty much bars him from it. NOw as far as a discharge upgrade goes, it takes 12 months, and you have to provide some pretty compeling arguements.

This is coming from a guy that has gone through the process less than a year ago and put in his paperwork for a discharge upgrade. He has no chance of an upgrade if he doesn't have a damn good reason why he went awol. And he will get no Va healthcare, I havent read the other posts there is probably good info there but everything i said is 100% dead on