ptsd Yale Law School Vets Clinic ....re :oth Vets

[Berta]

Here are 3 links to the Yale Law School and the show we did today with lawyer Jennifer MsTiernan, quoted above in the NY Times article.

http://www.law.yale.edu/about/about.htm

http://www.law.yale.edu/academics/veteranslegalservicesclinic.htm

http://www.law.yale.edu/academics/vlsc_shepherd.htm

This was a great show giving hope to many OTH veterans out there.....who were symnptomatic of PTSD that could have been the sole cause of their PTSD yet never were able to get a discharge upgrade on that basis.

The "Hagel" Memo is referenced in the NY Times article as well....

This situation of bad paper will follow a veteran throughout their entire life, even affecting their family members who could have been eligible in many cases for VA benefits as well, except for the Bad Paper OTH, and there must probably be new OIF OEF as well as other veterans who might get the same OTH BS .

The class action lawsuit ,if successful, might stop that future travesty from ever ruining the lives of any of our future veterans with PTSD.

[Berta]

This is a class action situation.( on the OTH) .......if they get certified , it doesn't matter what state.....just like the AO settlement Fund and Nehmer.

Sheperd sued the Navy.

Two different issues

"The announcement comes in the wake of a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court by a group of Vietnam veterans and the advocacy group Vietnam Veterans of America, alleging that the military systematically denied applications for upgrades involving PTSD.

The lawsuit estimated that 250,000 Vietnam-era veterans had received other-than-honorable discharges, and that up to 80,000 of them may have had PTSD"

Maybe I forgot to post the NY times link here ...so sorry about that.... it explains more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/04/us/va-rules-may-enable-benefits-long-denied-to-vietnam-era-veterans.html?_r=0

Yale LS had heard from vets all over the country who might be affected by all this.

[Joe Hillbilly]

I hope this is "Good News" for veterans families. Could you clarify what "OTH" means? thanks.

[broncovet]

Joe

I think "oth" is a type of discharge that is not particularly good. Honorable is the best, and I think "OTH" means "Other than honorable". Others may chime in if this is not accurate. Some discharges limit or preclude Veterans benefits.

I think that some Vets were hornswaggled on this...they were given an "oth" discharge, sometimes, because the military diagnosed them with "personality disorder" that was probably PTSD and did not warrant cheating Vets out of their rightfully deserved benefits. (Tho I would agree some Vets probably deserved to lose their benefits, but many more did not deserve it).

[jbasser]

These folks are based at Yale. She did say they may expand their clinic.

Other Law schools may also follow suit.

J