The best reason to get your discharge upgraded is because the characterization of service you received was unfair, unjustified, or inequitable. An attorney with experience in military discharge upgrades can evaluate your request, and advise you of your chances of success. Examples of an unfair characterization of service include that the standards employed at the time you were discharged are no longer in effect (for example, homosexuality,) your age or inexperience at the time you were discharged, a lack of due process at the time you were discharged, etc. Frequently, we hear that the attorney who advised the service member erroneously told them that their discharge would be “automatically” upgraded six months after the discharge, and that the service member would otherwise have fought the discharge.
In addition, the Discharge Review Board will want to know what you have been doing since your discharge. A clean record, volunteer work, completing your education, etc., will all help before the Discharge Review Board.