Last month, I posted a blog about the supplementary guidance issued by the Department of Defense (DoD) to the Military Department Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records regarding petitions submitted by veterans requesting a discharge upgrade based on having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). As I explained in this blog, the purpose of the guidance is to “ease the application process for veterans” and “assist the Boards in reaching fair and consistent results in these difficult cases.” The guidance directs the boards to give “liberal consideration” to petitioners with a General Discharge or an Other Than Honorable (OTH) discharge who claim they had previously unrecognized PTSD. The DoD felt that supplementary guidance was necessary in this area because there has been recent attention focused on petitions from Vietnam veterans claiming they had previously unrecognized PTSD. The guidance concedes that “in these cases, PTSD was not recognized as a diagnosis at the time of service and, in many cases, diagnoses were not made until decades after service was completed.” In order to make things easier for these veterans, a special web page has been launched to assist veterans seeking to upgrade punitive discharges related to behavior problems caused by post-traumatic stress. The web page provides information and applications to seek an upgrade to discharge from service. The page can be found at http://arba.army.pentagon.mil/adrb-ptsd.cfm. If you or someone you know wants to look into trying to change their separation reason or discharge characterization based on PTSD, this guidance and webpage are certainly helpful. The time to apply for this relief is now. I am here to help. To speak to an experienced court-martial and military defense attorney, call Bill Cassara at 706-860-5769 for a free consultation.