Discharge Upgrades: The Final Stop

Military Discharge Upgrades: The Final Stop Before Federal Court

If you were discharged with a negative characterization of service from any branch of the military on or after December 20, 2019, then there is a new board of review available to hear your case for a military discharge upgrade. As of April 7, 2021, there is an administrative appeals agency that will review discharge upgrade requests from service members of all branches. Prior to this, the final stop before federal court to contest your characterization of military service was the Board for Correction of Military/Naval Records (BCM/NR) applicable to your service branch. First you had to apply to your appropriate service discharge review board (DRB), exhaust that level of appeal, and then apply to the BCM/NR. If that board denied your request, then you had essentially exhausted your administrative remedies,(**) and were left with the difficult task of filing in the appropriate federal court. Now, there is a document review board called the Discharge Appeal Review Board (DARB), which upon request, will review cases from all the service branch highest administrative review agencies. This will be a document review only and a personal or virtual appearance will not be allowed. Specific rules apply depending on the type of case and/or evidence you wish to present. For a successful appeal, it is in your best interest to speak to an experienced military discharge upgrade lawyers about your case. You can also obtain more information at https://afrba-portal.cce.af.mil/.

**There are certain circumstances beyond the scope of this article in which the BCM/NR can reconsider cases as if they are a new case.

Contact us using the form below or call us at (808)358-7318 to speak with an experienced discharge upgrade attorney about your case.