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Denied

The Board found that the appellant's discharge was under conditions other than honorable due to two periods of absence without leave (AWOL) totaling 225 days. The Board concluded that these offenses were not minor and did not warrant a prolonged unauthorized absence, thus concluding that his character of discharge is a bar to VA benefits.

The deciding factor: The appellant's AWOL incidents were considered significant enough to disqualify him from receiving VA benefits due to the length and nature of the unauthorized absences during service.

Claimed conditions
Not specified in this decision
How they argued it
Not specified
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
None in this decision
Decision date
May 16, 2002
Citation
0204642

This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0204642.

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