Some military discharges mean no benefits after service ends

ST. LOUIS – No medical or mental health care. No college or work training. For many who leave the U.S. military with less-than-honorable discharges, including thousands who suffered injuries and anguish, standard veterans benefits are off limits.

The discharge serves as a scarlet letter of dishonor, and the effects can be severe: Ex-military members with mental health problems or post-traumatic stress disorder can’t turn to Veterans Affairs; those who want to go to college aren’t eligible for the GI Bill; the jobless get no assistance for career training; the homeless are excluded from vouchers.

“It’s an indelible mark of their service that follows them for the rest of their lives into the workforce, through background checks, social relationships, and it precludes them from getting the kind of support that most veterans enjoy,” said Phil Carter, an Iraq War vet and senior fellow at the Center for A New American Security.

The Department of Defense said that of nearly 207,000 people who left the military last year, just 9 percent received what’s referred to as “bad paper.” Still, that’s more than 18,000 people last year and more than 352,000 since 2000, Defense Department data shows.

Josh Redmyer, 30, served in the Marines for seven years, including three stints in Iraq, where he watched a close friend die and developed PTSD. Redmyer said he developed alcohol and drug addictions that led to bad behavior, and he received an other-than-honorable discharge in 2012. He said he’s survived suicide attempts and “near-death” overdoses.

Now living in California, Redmyer’s working as a delivery driver, trying to restore his VA medical benefits. He said he takes responsibility for “mistake after mistake after mistake,” but can’t understand how someone who risked his life for his country can’t get treatment for PTSD.

“What it did to my life after what I gave to them, I don’t think it’s ethical or moral or fair,” he said.

A general discharge is for those whose service was generally satisfactory, but who engaged in minor misconduct or received nonjudicial punishment. Recipients are usually eligible for VA medical and dental services, VA home loans and burial in national cemeteries, but can’t receive educational benefits through the GI Bill.

Virtually no post-military benefits are available below that level.

Studies show those who are less-than-honorably discharged are more likely to end up in prison than honorably discharged veterans.

“They have a hard time maintaining employment and navigating the transition back to civilian life,” said Jamison Fargo, associate professor of psychology at Utah State University.

And while being discharged for bad behavior might draw little sympathy, Brad Adams, an attorney who works with the San Francisco-based organization Swords to Plowshares, said, “We’re talking about people who have deployed multiple times, served in combat. That has to account for something.”