How Military Discharges Actually Work

How Military Discharges Actually Work From Honorable all the way down to Dishonorable, this is how a military discharge actually works: what Block 24 on the DD-214 means, why a General discharge costs you the GI Bill, what an Other Than Honorable discharge does and doesn't take away, why only a court-martial can hand out a Bad Conduct or Dishonorable Discharge, why officers get a dismissal instead, what the blue discharge of World War Two was, and why no discharge ever upgrades itself, from the 167 Brownsville soldiers in 1906 to the veterans who got their honorable discharges at ninety. 0:00 167 soldiers, no trial 0:24 Step 1: The DD-214 1:15 Step 2: Honorable 1:48 Step 3: Uncharacterized 2:13 Step 4: General 2:58 Step 5: Other Than Honorable 3:57 Step 6: The hidden wounds 4:25 Step 7: Bad Conduct 5:12 Step 8: Dishonorable 6:26 Step 9: The blue discharge 7:29 Step 10: Upgrades Sources: Congressional Research Service, military discharges (R48907): https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R48907.html GAO-17-260, misconduct separations and PTSD/TBI: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-17-260 GAO-25-107354, discharge upgrade boards: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-107354 10 U.S.C. 1177, medical exam before administrative separation: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/1177 VA final rule on character of discharge (2024): https://regulations.justia.com/regulations/fedreg/2024/04/26/2024-09012.html ATF, "discharged under dishonorable conditions" (27 CFR 478.11): https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/27/478.11 Texas Tribune, Sutherland Springs settlement: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/04/05/sutherland-springs-lawsuit-air-force George Mason University, Veterans Clinic, blue discharges: https://mvets.law.gmu.edu/?p=1707 Military.com, Don't Ask, Don't Tell discharge review (2024): https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/10/15/hundreds-of-veterans-kicked-out-of-military-being-gay-will-have-discharges-upgraded.html Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.