Posted on 11/11/2013 4:56:54 AM PST by Brad from Tennessee
TODAY, we honor the nation’s 22 million veterans, including more than 2.5 million who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and other fronts in the war against Al Qaeda. But we are turning our backs on hundreds of thousands of veterans who were discharged “under conditions other than honorable” and so do not qualify as veterans under federal law.
Their discharges, which include overly broad categories encompassing everything from administrative discharges for minor misconduct to dishonorable discharges following a court-martial, nevertheless make them ineligible for the health care, employment, housing and education benefits offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Because of the “bad paper” they carry in the form of their discharge certificates, many of these veterans struggle upon leaving the military. And when they falter, the burden for supporting them falls heavily on their local communities because federal agencies cannot, by law, help them. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This proposal is just another way to degrade the military.
It takes a very serious problem to be discharged as less than honorable - criminal acts, drugs, alcohol, and sexual relations with people in your chain of command.
What a bonehead idea. Imagine how discipline in the ranks would suffer if the dirtbags knew that no matter what, they would still get all the benefits post discharge.
The dishonorable NYT would naturally cough up this hairball of a tribute to the dishonorable. Looks like they’d be satisfied with having the traitor, J F’n Kerry as Sec. of State in this dishonorable administration.
82nd Airborne
'78-'81
I strongly suspect that Kerry’s bad paper was the reason Carter implemented that upgrade program during his administration.
Not to speak in favor of the dishonorably discharged, but the primary reason that the collectivists favor defined benefit retirement plans (pensions) over defined contribution retirement plans (retirement accounts) is that the recipients have no ownership claim on the former, which makes it easier to take them away.
It takes a lot, for example, to convince a cop with 16 years on the job to speak out against malfeasance, when faced with the threat of losing his pension.
Democrats are always in search of another group of “victims” they can pull into their constituency.
Not that I’m defending those who deserve less than honorable discharges, but what about the few folks who got other than honorable discharges because they spoke out against dear leader?
The author is a LIAR. The only discharge type that keeps you from getting VA benefits is a DISHONORABLE discharge. That’s far different from an “other than honorable” discharge
you are Correct!!
I have a dufus relative that was kicked out for doing drugs— still gets VA benefits of some sort-
(and he is the biggest anti-American A-hole you could
EVER imagine)
There is an appeal process to have a discharge upgraded. There is a process to make sure that no one is unjustly given an other than honorable discharge. And anybody who has been in the military knows that kicking someone out of the military is an arduous process. A Commander can’t just on a whim kick someone out. And thank-you NY Times for bringing this up on the day we set aside to honor those who served faithfully and well. May your rag continue to thrash around crying out for help in it’s death throes.
Lew Hirschman was a “China Marine” in the 1930’s. He enlisted in 1935, and posted to the China Legation as a mechanic. Because of his skill, by 1939, he was a Sergeant - such fast promotion at that time was unheard of.
Lew was part Cherokee and had trouble with liquor. In 1939, he got drunk and stole a tank. Driving through the narrow streets of Peking, he knocked over many of the light poles. He finally sank the tank in a rice paddy. Escaping to a hillside cave, it took several Marines to arrest him.
He was sent back to Pearl Harbor for court martial. He managed to get off base , get drunk and tear up a bar. He was dishonorably discharged. Two years later, he was called back into the Marines and fought several battles - Bouganville, Tarawa, Peleliu and Iwo Jima - in WWII. He went on to fight in Korea, fighting his way out of the Chosin Reservoir.
He stayed in the Marines until he retired in 1962. I was privileged to serve with Sergeant Hirschman for two years. RIP and Semper fi to a true Marine
By law, pensions become "vested" after a certain period, I believe it's 6 years.
It takes a lot, for example, to convince a cop with 16 years on the job to speak out against malfeasance, when faced with the threat of losing his pension.
He cannot lose the 16 years he has in. If fired he will still be eligible to collect a percentage. If it's a 20 year plan, he has 16/20 of it coming to him when he's old enough to collect.
My step father worked for G.M. in the 50s, he put in 10 years then moved on to other things, thought no more about it until he was 62 and started receiving monthly checks from G.M.'s defined benefits plan. He's still getting that monthly check at age 83.
G.M. didn't do this out of the goodness of their hearts or because of a union contract, it's the law.
The VA has specified wards for treating PTSD at several dozen medical facilities across the U.S. I visited two of these in the late 1990’s. Among the patients were veterans with undesirable and general discharges.
Veterans diagnosed with bipolarism, schizophrenia or a host of other mental disorders are given a disability rating and receive therapy, medication, and a variety of rehabilitation programs for life. Most mental disorders have a genetic origin. However the VA accepts a liability for these patients because the brain disorder was not diagnosed at the time of the patient’s induction in the military.
I spent three years in the Marine Corps in the late 1960’s. The very few people I knew who got Dishonorable Discharges were those who committed serious felonies. At the time the DD was the least of their worries because they were sentenced to years in a naval prison.
IMHO the Emperor is exploring a repeat of the “second worse president” actions. Remember that Jimmy Carter upgraded all of the “bad paper” from the Vietnam era shortly after he moved into the White House.
Among the recipients of this largest was one john Kerry (”I served in Vietnam.”). How else can you explain an extremely active Vietnam war protestor ending up with a good discharge and all of his awards and decorations being dated circa 1978? And his upgraded DD 214 included the phrase “Upon a review of a board of Officers...”. Remember John, I served in Vietnam, Kerry was discharged from the Navy in the early 1970s.
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