Did you know the military actually started cancel culture?
Yeah. That's right. They actually would cancel people before they even had their day in court and fire them from their jobs, strip them of their entire identity and their benefits simply because of a weak allegation outside in the civilian world before those people ever had their day in court.
Hey, I'm Cody Harnish, UCMJ attorney, and today we are talking about involuntary administrative separations.
This is the process that the military uses to remove people from the military.
Unlike a court martial, this is not a criminal proceeding.
It's an employment action.
It's a hiring or firing decision from your employer, the military, on whether or not they're going to fire you.
And if they're going to allow you to keep your benefits or strip them away from you.
You can lose your VA benefits.
Health care and even education benefits.
A less than Honorable discharge can even prevent you from getting some civilian employment in the future, especially if those jobs require security clearances and your reputation can be damaged affecting you professionally, but definitely personally.
When you are administratively separated, there's three types of discharges that can be given to you in order, it goes from Honorable, General, to Other Than Honorable [OTH].
Now there are two worse ones a Bad Conduct and a Dishonorable Discharge, but those can only be given that a court-martial.
And we're not talking about that. We're talking about administrative separation boards.
So at those you can only get one of these three Honorable, General, or OTH.
Now with a General, you're going to keep most of your benefits, but you're going to lose your GI Bill. Now, most people think that if they have a previous enlistment, a previous DD214 with Honorable, that they can get their GI Bill.
That's not correct.
Your most current DD214 must include an Honorable in order to use your GI Bill.
With an Other Than Honorable, you're basically going to lose all your benefits.
It could prevent you from getting some civilian employment, and it's going to tarnish your reputation. So what do you do for facing an AdSep?
Well, one elect to have a board. Now, if you've been in longer than six years, the law requires that you be given the opportunity to fight it in front of a board.
But what if you haven't been in for six years?
What if you've only been in for 2 or 3 or 4 or 5?
Well, you don't automatically get a board
Unless, unless your command is recommending an OTH.
That's right. Even if you've been in 18 months in your command is recommending an OTH you have the opportunity to fight it at a board, and you should.
Speak to an attorney.
The attorney should help you gather evidence, character letters, letters of support documents that are going to show that what you did wasn't wrong or that you didn't do it.
And they're going to help you prepare a strong defense.
An administrative separation doesn't have to end your military career.
Fight for a fair process.
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