The Board determined that the appellant's character of discharge from military service is a bar to VA benefits due to his willful and persistent misconduct, despite his claim of insanity at the time.
The deciding factor: The appellant used illegal drugs on multiple occasions prior to entering active duty and was unfit for service. The Board found this to constitute willful and persistent misconduct, which resulted in an OTH discharge under dishonorable conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- Drug Use
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 4, 2009
- Citation
- 0941971
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 0941971.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board found that the appellant's discharge from service was due to drug use and misconduct, resulting in an OTH (Other Than Honorable) discharge. This constitutes a bar to VA benefits.
- Granted
The Board found that the Veteran's discharge was not due to willful and persistent misconduct, thus his character of discharge does not bar him from VA benefits.
- Denied
The Board denied the Appellant's claim that his character of discharge is a bar to VA benefits due to a continuous period of AWOL for over 180 days. The upgraded discharge did not set aside the bar to benefits.
- Denied
The Board found that the evidence does not support a finding of service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, including PTSD, depression, and drug use. The Veteran's current mental health conditions are attributed to his active service but also related to other factors such as substance abuse and life stressors.
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