Can an Other Than Honorable Discharge Be Upgraded?

An Other Than Honorable discharge can be upgraded, and upgrading an Other Than Honorable discharge starts with an application to a military review board. Whether you succeed depends on the facts of your separation, the evidence you assemble, and which policies apply to your case. Between January 2018 and March 2024, boards granted upgrades in roughly 18 to 49 percent of the cases that qualified for special mental health and equity consideration.¹ The application itself is free, and free legal help is available.

Why an Upgrade Is Worth Pursuing

An OTH is the most severe administrative separation the military can issue without a court-martial. The characterization sits on your DD Form 214 and shapes what you can access as a civilian.

GI Bill education benefits and VA home loan guarantees generally require a discharge “under honorable conditions” — Honorable or General. Federal veterans’ preference in hiring, the Veterans Recruitment Appointment authority, and consideration under the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act are limited to those same characterizations.² State property tax exemptions and veterans’ bonuses typically require at least a General discharge, though the rules vary. Over a lifetime, the cost of lost education funding, mortgage terms, hiring preference, and tax benefits can run into six figures.

One thing an upgrade is not: it is not the only way to reach VA health care. The VA runs its own “character of discharge” review that can open the door to care even while your military characterization stays OTH.³ That determination doesn’t change your DD Form 214, though, and won’t help with federal hiring preference or non-VA benefits. For those, you need an actual upgrade from the military.

Grounds Review Boards Will Accept

Boards consider an upgrade if the original discharge was either improper (it violated military law or regulations at the time) or inequitable (it was unjustly harsh under the circumstances). The strongest cases usually fall into a handful of categories:

Undiagnosed mental health conditions, including PTSD and traumatic brain injury, where symptoms drove the misconduct that led to separation.
Military Sexual Trauma that contributed to the behavior leading to discharge. DoD has instructed boards to give these cases liberal consideration since 2017.
Discrimination-based discharges tied to sexual orientation (including under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell), gender identity, or HIV status.⁴
Procedural errors in the discharge process itself, such as denial of rights or failure to follow required separation procedures.
Disproportionate punishment, where your discharge was far more severe than what others received for similar conduct.

Liberal Consideration Under the Hagel and Kurta Memos

Two DoD memos shape how boards weigh mental health cases, and citing them directly in your application helps.

The 2014 Hagel Memo directs boards to give liberal consideration to PTSD-related cases. A PTSD diagnosis from a civilian provider counts. A VA determination of service-connected PTSD carries special weight. And boards must consider whether undiagnosed PTSD contributed to the misconduct.

The 2017 Kurta Memo extended that framework to “non-medical markers” — evidence that a service member was suffering from an undiagnosed condition even without a formal diagnosis. Those markers include substance abuse, self-harm or suicidal ideation, sharp declines in performance or discipline, relationship or financial problems, homelessness, legal trouble, and significant personality changes. A pattern of these can carry the same evidentiary weight as a diagnosis from the period.⁵

Which Form to File

The form depends on how long ago you were discharged.

Within 15 years of discharge, file DD Form 293 with the Discharge Review Board for your branch.⁶ More than 15 years out, you go directly to your branch’s Board for Correction of Military Records (or Board for Correction of Naval Records for Navy and Marines) using DD Form 149.⁷ You also use DD Form 149 if the DRB has already denied you.

On either form, identify the specific changes you want: characterization (OTH to General or Honorable), narrative reason for separation, reentry code, or all three. Asking for a full Honorable does not cost you a chance at a General; boards grant whatever level they find appropriate.⁸

One boundary matters here. Neither the DRB nor the BCMR can review a discharge that resulted from a general court-martial sentence. In that situation, you apply to the BCMR under a clemency standard rather than propriety or equity.⁷

Building an Application That Wins

Most cases are decided on paper, without a hearing. What you submit is usually the only chance to make your case.

Records

Start with your DD Form 214.⁹ Request your full military personnel and medical records through the National Archives, using eVetRecs or Standard Form 180. If the military didn’t diagnose a condition during service, get a current diagnosis from a civilian provider or through the VA. Under the Hagel standards, both count.

Your Personal Statement

This is the single most persuasive document you can submit. Keep it to five pages or less. Cover three things.

Your service: what led you to join, contributions, awards, promotions, deployments. You want the board to see a service member, not a disciplinary file. The misconduct: honest, not minimized. If you were self-medicating with alcohol because of untreated PTSD, say so. If you went AWOL because you were fleeing a sexual assault situation, say so. Your life since: education, work, family, community. Post-service conduct is a factor the regulations specifically direct boards to weigh.⁸

If a mental health condition is central to your case, address four questions the board will ask. Did you have a condition that could explain or lessen the misconduct? Did it develop during or because of service? Does it actually mitigate what happened? Does that mitigation outweigh the reasons for the discharge? Close with the certification: “I certify under penalty of perjury that the foregoing statement is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief,” signed and dated.

Supporting Letters

Specific letters beat character letters. Fellow service members or supervisors who saw a change in you after a traumatic event carry real weight. Family who watched you struggle, employers who can speak to your work, community members who know your volunteer work — all help. “He started drinking heavily after we returned from deployment” tells the board more than “he’s a good person.” Make sure each letter fits the story your personal statement tells.

How Long It Takes

Processing times are long and have gotten worse. The Air Force DRB has historically been fastest, resolving cases in roughly 4 to 11 months. The Naval Discharge Review Board, covering Navy and Marines, has averaged 11 to 16 months. The Army DRB has been slowest, reaching an average of 34 months in 2024 for liberal consideration cases. BCMR cases generally take longer than DRB cases and can stretch well past two years.¹

DRB panels have at least three members by statute and decide most cases on the paperwork.⁷ You can request a hearing, by phone, video, or in person, though hearings are short. If you request a records-only review first and are denied, you can still request a hearing while you’re inside the 15-year window. BCMR panels are civilian, not active-duty; hearings there are rare.¹⁰ If the BCMR finds your application incomplete, it must tell you in writing what’s missing and give you a chance to supplement. If you can’t get your own personnel or medical records, the board must make reasonable efforts to obtain them.

If You’re Denied

A denial isn’t the end. There are three layers of further review, and each takes time.

DRB to BCMR

If the DRB denies you, apply to the BCMR on DD Form 149. The BCMR reviews independently and has broader authority to correct records. New evidence — a fresh PTSD diagnosis, additional letters, changed DoD guidance — meaningfully strengthens a follow-up application.¹⁰

The Discharge Appeal Review Board

If the BCMR denies your upgrade or grants only part of what you asked for, you may be able to seek final administrative review from the DoD Discharge Appeal Review Board. This route is available only if your discharge date was on or after December 20, 2019, and you’ve exhausted DRB and BCMR remedies. You must request DARB review within 365 days of the BCMR decision.¹¹

The DARB reviews independently, giving no deference to the BCMR. No special form is required; a written request with your BCMR docket number is enough. The DARB cannot consider new evidence you didn’t put before the BCMR, so if you have new information, go back to the BCMR for reconsideration first. The Secretary of the relevant military department must act on the DARB’s recommendation within 90 days, and that action is final with no further administrative appeal.

Federal Court

After exhausting administrative remedies, you can challenge a final board decision in federal court under the Administrative Procedure Act. The deadline is six years from the board’s decision. This is genuinely complex litigation and not something to attempt without an attorney.

Getting Free Legal Help

Given how much these applications turn on framing, most veterans should not go it alone. The National Veterans Legal Services Program offers pro bono representation for discharge upgrade cases through its Lawyers Serving Warriors program, reviewing personnel records, service treatment records, and VA claims files at no cost.¹²

The VA runs an online tool at va.gov/discharge-upgrade-instructions that walks you through your situation and points you to the right application.⁴ Veterans Service Organizations like the VFW and American Legion help with the paperwork. Many law school veterans’ clinics take these cases too. For PTSD, MST, and DADT-era cases especially, representation improves your chances, because those cases turn on connecting your circumstances to the liberal consideration standards boards are required to follow.

1
U.S. Government Accountability Office. Military Discharge: Actions Needed to Help Ensure Consistent Outcomes and Timely Decisions
2
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Veterans and Transitioning Service Members
3
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Applying for Benefits and Your Character of Discharge
4
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. How to Apply for a Discharge Upgrade
5
Military Review Boards Agency. Kurta Memo Clarifying Guidance
6
Department of Defense. DD Form 293, Application for the Review of Discharge from the Armed Forces of the United States
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1553 – Review of Discharge or Dismissal
8
eCFR. 32 CFR Part 70 – Discharge Review Board (DRB) Procedures and Standards
9
National Archives. DD Form 214 Discharge Papers and Separation Documents
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1552 – Correction of Military Records: Claims Incident Thereto
11
eCFR. 32 CFR Part 73 – DoD Discharge Appeal Review Board (DARB)
12
National Veterans Legal Services Program. Discharge Upgrades