The Board found that the appellant's discharge from service was under other than honorable conditions due to willful and persistent misconduct, which bars VA benefits except for health care.
The deciding factor: The multiple incidents of being absent without leave were persistent in nature and reflected a serious disciplinary problem. The ongoing conduct did not align with honest, faithful, and meritorious service for which veteran's benefits are granted.
- Claimed conditions
- Undesirable Discharge
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 18, 2006
- Citation
- 0639238
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 362 · Granted: 24% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 0639238.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has determined that new and material evidence has been received to reopen the appellant's claim regarding his character of discharge. The Board also found that the appellant was insane at the time he committed the offenses resulting in his undesirable discharge, thus removing any bar to VA benefits.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board previously denied the appellant's claim that his character of discharge was a bar to VA benefits. The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims has remanded the case, requiring further development regarding the appellant's service treatment records and a medical opinion on whether he was insane during military service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has determined that the appellant's character of service is a bar to VA benefits due to his conviction by general court-martial, but not because of his discharge. The case is remanded for further review and consideration.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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