Military Discharge Lawyers
“The Post-9/11 GI Bill alone can be worth more than $100,000 to $300,000 in tuition, housing allowances, and educational benefits over its lifetime. For some service members, an adverse or less-than-honorable discharge can jeopardize access to benefits worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Josh Traeger, Founding Attorney, The Military Defense Firm
Your Career and Benefits On The Line
They say we are not a “one-mistake military.” But in today’s military, service members are being involuntarily discharged every day. With so much on the line, you want an experienced team that has your back.
You have worked hard to build a career you can be proud of. You went through basic training, technical training, and years of service in the Air Force or other military branches for your country. But now, your command wants to involuntarily discharge you. It is imperative that you understand your rights, submit a persuasive response, and give yourself the best chance at preserving your career.
A military discharge threatens both your career and your future VA benefits. Therefore, it is critically important that you give yourself the best chance of success. Depending on the reasons for your discharge and the characterization of your service, you could lose some or all of your military benefits. At this critical moment, you need an experienced team of military law and justice professionals working on your case.
Our Process
1. Confront the Allegations
If you’re facing discharge, odds are that your case has been investigated and adjudicated. At this point, you need a legal team that is willing to fully confront the allegations against you.
2. Build Your Defense
We work tirelessly to develop evidence in your defense, trying to stop your involuntary discharge. This is your last chance to fight for your career.
3. Provide a Persuasive Response
You need to submit a well-researched and persuasive response to any discharge action. Doing so will give you the best chance to save your career and preserve your VA benefits. Our team is here to help!
4. Apply for Upgrade
If you are discharged, the fight isn’t over. We routinely help former military members apply to the service boards for a discharge upgrade—especially when mental health conditions like traumatic brain injury (TBI) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were overlooked in your medical records—recapturing lost VA benefits.
Discharge / ADSEP Process
Generally, your command will notify you in writing of their desire to involuntarily discharge you from the service. You are then given a very short window of time, often just three to seven days, to research your case, develop a defense, and submit a persuasive response. It is imperative during this time that you work with an experienced military justice team that will fight for you.
Service Characterizations
Upon discharge, your service may be characterized in the following manners:
- Honorable. An honorable discharge is a separation with honor. The honorable characterization is appropriate when the quality of the member’s service generally has met the standards of acceptable conduct.
- Under Honorable Conditions (General). A General Under Honorable Conditions discharge, often referred to as a general discharge, is a separation from the military under honorable conditions. When authorized, it is issued to a member whose service records are satisfactory but not sufficiently meritorious to warrant an honorable discharge.
- Under Other Than Honorable Conditions (OTH). A discharge under other than honorable conditions is an administrative discharge from the service under conditions other than honorable, distinct from punitive discharges like a bad conduct discharge or dishonorable discharge. It often involves serious misconduct.
VA Benefits
The “characterization” of your service determines how the Department of Veterans Affairs will provide you benefits. Although every case is different, the following rules generally apply:
- If your service is characterized as Honorable, you are entitled to all VA benefits.
- If your service is characterized as Under Honorable Conditions (General), you are not eligible for the GI Bill. However, you are likely to be eligible for all other VA benefits (disability compensation, hospital care, etc.).
- If your service is characterized as Under Other Than Honorable Conditions (OTH), you are likely to lose all VA benefits, including the GI Bill, disability compensation, and medical care.
Applying for an Upgrade
At The Military Defense Firm, our dedicated military discharge upgrade lawyers routinely help former service members apply for a discharge upgrade after involuntary separation, providing expert guidance through the process. This application requires you to apply to a specific service board using a DD Form 293 or DD Form 149 alongside your certificate of release or discharge from active duty. Your best chance of success during a “discharge upgrade” application is to gather evidence showing that your discharge characterization resulted from an error or injustice. Our team can help!
Frequently Asked Questions
How much time do I have to respond to a discharge notification?
Very little. Once your command notifies you in writing that it intends to separate you, you are generally given three to seven days to research your case, develop a defense, and submit a response. That window is not built for someone starting from zero. A military discharge lawyer or discharge upgrade attorney who has handled these cases can move immediately — requesting the underlying investigation, identifying whether you are entitled to a board, and assembling the response while you are still absorbing the news. Every day you spend deciding whether to fight is a day taken out of the defense.
How does my characterization of service affect VA benefits?
Directly and permanently. An Honorable characterization preserves access to the full range of VA benefits. Under Honorable Conditions (General) generally preserves disability compensation and health care but forecloses the Post-9/11 GI Bill. An other than honorable (OTH) discharge puts nearly all VA benefits, including VA healthcare, at risk. One point worth understanding: an OTH discharge is not automatically disqualifying. The VA can conduct a character-of-discharge determination and may still find your service qualifies for benefits. That determination is its own fight, and it goes better when the underlying separation record was built carefully in the first place.
Can I be involuntarily discharged without a court-martial conviction?
Yes. Administrative separation is an entirely separate track from military justice under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), and it applies a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard rather than proof beyond a reasonable doubt. You can be acquitted at a general court-martial, or never charged at all, and still face involuntary separation for the same underlying conduct. That is not a loophole — it is how the system is designed. It also means that winning the criminal case does not end the matter, and that a military discharge lawyer needs to be planning for the administrative fight while the investigation is still open.
What happens to my retirement if I am separated before twenty years?
You lose it. Active-duty retirement generally requires twenty years of qualifying service, and there is no partial credit. A service member separated at eighteen years walks away with nothing from a retirement that would have paid out for the rest of their life, along with the lifetime health care that accompanies it. For a career service member, that figure often runs well into seven figures in lifetime value. This is why separation cases involving senior enlisted members and mid-career officers deserve the same intensity as a criminal charge.
If I am discharged, is that the end of the fight?
No. Former service members can apply to a Discharge Review Board (DRB) or a Board for Correction of Military Records (BCMR/BCNR) to seek an upgrade to their characterization of service—especially when tied to issues like military sexual trauma (MST)—and a successful application can recapture VA benefits and veterans’ benefits that were lost at separation. The application is evidence-driven, often requiring a thorough records review to show error or injustice in the original discharge status or characterization. We routinely handle the discharge upgrade process for veterans years after the fact, and a well-documented separation record makes the later upgrade far more winnable. If your command has notified you of separation, call 833-231-8633 for a free consultation.