The Veterans Legal Clinic recently obtained an honorable service characterization for a client from the military board, who had initially been discharged under an other than honorable conditions characterization. Third-year students Sara T. Helton and Nathan C. Whisamore were the final student team to work with the client through a multi-year process, producing the written submission to the military board requesting the client’s service characterization be upgraded to under honorable conditions.
“The upgrade to an honorable service characterization not only allows the client to now receive VA benefits for service-connected disabilities, but also allows the client to receive the GI Bill benefits and establishes eligibility for VA home loans—both of which would have been barred with a general service characterization,” according to Clinical Assistant Professor & Director of the Veterans Legal Clinic Brenda J. Gohr. She added that the students’ efforts to obtain a corroborating expert opinion was “central to the win for this case and would not have been obtained but for the generosity of the VLC donors.”