Your character of military discharge directly affects your eligibility for VA benefits. Honorable and general discharges qualify you for the full range of VA benefits including disability compensation. Other than honorable (OTH) discharges require VA to make a character of discharge determination before processing your claim. Dishonorable and bad conduct discharges from a general court-martial are generally bars to VA benefits. If you received an OTH discharge, VA will review the circumstances of your service and discharge to determine whether your service was honorable for VA purposes. This is a separate determination from the military characterization. VA considers the length of your service, the nature of the discharge, any periods of AWOL, and any mitigating circumstances including whether mental health conditions or traumatic brain injury may have contributed to the conduct that led to the discharge. VA may find that your service was honorable for VA purposes even if your discharge was characterized as OTH. Veterans with OTH discharges may also be eligible for VA health care for conditions related to military service, including mental health care, under recent policy changes. If your discharge was upgraded through the military discharge review process, the upgraded characterization applies for VA purposes. If you believe your discharge character was unjust, you can apply to the relevant military discharge review board for an upgrade.
Note: This article references sections of the VA's M21-1 Adjudication Procedures Manual. The VA periodically reorganizes the M21-1 and section numbers may have changed since this article was written. For the most current section references, visit the VA's public M21-1 Web Automated Reference Material System (WARMS).