By the Numbers - Mar. 21, 2016
59%
"The grant rate for Vietnam veterans applying for PTSD-based discharge upgrades" from the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) since former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hegel issued a memo in 2014 ordering administrative boards "to grant 'liberal consideration' to applications from veterans with PTSD," according to a new report issued by the Veterans Legal Services Clinic, Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization of Yale Law School -- Unfinished Business: Correcting “Bad Paper” for Veterans with PTSD (PDF)
Prior to the Hegel memo -- which was issued "following criticism by veterans’ organizations and the media, congressional scrutiny led by Senator Richard Blumenthal, and class-action litigation" -- the grant rate for PTSD-based discharge upgrades for Vietnam vets was 4.9%. According to the report:
· The overall grant rate for all veterans applying for PTSD-based discharge upgrades at the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) has risen more than twelve-fold from 3.7% in 2013 to 45%.
· Vietnam veterans are the most numerous applicants (67%) and have a higher grant rate at the ABCMR (59%) than veterans of other conflicts.
· The ABCMR granted 67% of applications by a veteran with a PTSD diagnosis (74/110) and 0% of applications by a veteran claiming to suffer PTSD but without medical records establishing that diagnosis (0/54).
· Of upgrades awarded by the ABCMR, 97% have been to General Under Honorable Conditions (72/74) and 3% have been to Honorable (2/74).
The report notes that "tens of thousands" of Veterans who might be eligible for an discharge upgrade have not submitted applications.
DOD has conducted little or no meaningful public outreach, a finding consistent with the low numbers of new applications when compared to the number of eligible veterans.
59%
"The grant rate for Vietnam veterans applying for PTSD-based discharge upgrades" from the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) since former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hegel issued a memo in 2014 ordering administrative boards "to grant 'liberal consideration' to applications from veterans with PTSD," according to a new report issued by the Veterans Legal Services Clinic, Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization of Yale Law School -- Unfinished Business: Correcting “Bad Paper” for Veterans with PTSD (PDF)
Prior to the Hegel memo -- which was issued "following criticism by veterans’ organizations and the media, congressional scrutiny led by Senator Richard Blumenthal, and class-action litigation" -- the grant rate for PTSD-based discharge upgrades for Vietnam vets was 4.9%. According to the report:
· The overall grant rate for all veterans applying for PTSD-based discharge upgrades at the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) has risen more than twelve-fold from 3.7% in 2013 to 45%.
· Vietnam veterans are the most numerous applicants (67%) and have a higher grant rate at the ABCMR (59%) than veterans of other conflicts.
· The ABCMR granted 67% of applications by a veteran with a PTSD diagnosis (74/110) and 0% of applications by a veteran claiming to suffer PTSD but without medical records establishing that diagnosis (0/54).
· Of upgrades awarded by the ABCMR, 97% have been to General Under Honorable Conditions (72/74) and 3% have been to Honorable (2/74).
The report notes that "tens of thousands" of Veterans who might be eligible for an discharge upgrade have not submitted applications.
DOD has conducted little or no meaningful public outreach, a finding consistent with the low numbers of new applications when compared to the number of eligible veterans.