The Board has determined that the appellant's character of discharge from service is a bar to VA benefits due to willful and persistent misconduct, including drug use, AWOL periods, and desertion. The appellant was not insane at the time of his offenses.
The deciding factor: The appellant had multiple instances of misconduct during service, including drug use, AWOL periods, and being declared a deserter, which constitute willful and persistent misconduct leading to an other than honorable discharge.
- Claimed conditions
- drug use, AWOL (absent without leave), desertion
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- July 2, 2015
- Citation
- 1528518
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 1528518.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to incomplete service records and a need for an addendum opinion on the issue of insanity.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection and secondary service connection due to issues related to antisocial personality disorder, drug use, erectile dysfunction, and lumbar spine disability. The remand requires an addendum opinion from a VA examiner regarding the nature and etiology of the Veteran's antisocial personality disorder.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for a video-conference hearing before a Veterans Law Judge. The issues of service connection are related to new evidence and the exposure basis is not applicable.
- Denied
The Board determined that the appellant's character of discharge was a bar to VA benefits due to his multiple instances of AWOL and other offenses, but did not address service connection or any specific rating.
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