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⚓ Veterans

Your claim, and your honor.

Free help to understand and prepare a VA claim — and to walk the road to a discharge upgrade or a corrected military record. Always free.

“Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed.” — Isaiah 1:17

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What we are not — said first

Anchor Core AI LLC is a technology company. It is not a law firm, not an attorney, and not VA-accredited. We do not prepare, present, or prosecute a claim for you — only a VA-accredited representative may do that, and it is free. We point you to one. Nothing here is legal advice, and no outcome is promised.

Why this exists

The oath does not expire.

“I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”

Nothing in it expires when the uniform comes off. A citizen kept from their children by a procedure, a man held past his date by an arithmetic nobody checked, a veteran stripped of an honorable characterization for something that was happening to him rather than something he chose — those are domestic wrongs done to Americans by process. Answering them is the same oath, still being kept.

Built by a medically retired U.S. Coast Guard veteran. Honor · Respect · Devotion to Duty.

Honor restored

If your discharge says something your service does not

A characterization written in the worst season of a man's life is a record of that season, not a verdict on his service. The boards have been told, in writing and by name, to look at what was actually happening to him. This shows you which door is yours, what it takes, and who will walk it with you for free.

The order to walk them

  1. VA Character of Discharge — the parallel road nobody is told about — If health or a crisis is in this at all, start here — care does not wait on a board. Emergency mental health care can be reached with an OTH discharge, and a VA character-of-discharge determination can open benefits while everything else is still pending.
  2. Discharge Review Board — upgrade the characterization — If the discharge is within 15 years and was NOT a general court-martial, this is the faster, more forgiving door, and liberal consideration was written for exactly these cases.
  3. Board for Correction of Military Records — correct the record itself — Past 15 years, or a general court-martial, or the wrong separation code and reenlistment code — this board reaches what the other cannot, and 'injustice' is the widest word in any of it.
A · Discharge Review Board — upgrade the characterization

Who decides: Your service's Discharge Review Board (Army, Navy — which covers the Marine Corps, Air Force, or Coast Guard). A panel of officers, not a court.

The form: DD Form 293 — Application for the Review of Discharge from the Armed Forces of the United States.

Cost: Free. There is no filing fee, and a VSO or a law-school veterans clinic will help prepare it at no charge.

What it takes
The 15-year window SOURCE
The application must be made within 15 YEARS of the date of discharge. Past 15 years the DRB loses jurisdiction entirely and the correction board (Road B) becomes the only route — which is not a dead end, only a different door.
Liberal consideration — the door that opened in 2014 and widened in 2017 SOURCE
Where PTSD, traumatic brain injury, another mental health condition, sexual assault, or sexual harassment may have contributed to the conduct that caused the discharge, the board gives LIBERAL CONSIDERATION. The condition need NOT have been diagnosed while in service — the boards were told plainly that these conditions were under-diagnosed at the time. Evidence may come from outside the service record: a later VA or civilian diagnosis, family statements, letters from people who served alongside you.
Clemency and equity — who you have been since SOURCE
Separately from whether the discharge was wrong, a board may upgrade on grounds of clemency or equity: the whole picture of your service, the years since, your character, and your family circumstances. A man is not only the worst thing in his file.
A personal hearing CHECK
A veteran may ask for a records review or a personal hearing. A hearing is generally the stronger path where the story matters and the paperwork alone does not carry it.
What defeats it
  • The DRB CANNOT touch a discharge imposed by a GENERAL court-martial. That is Road B, and only Road B.
  • It cannot review a Dishonorable Discharge at all — that comes only from a general court-martial.
  • It reviews propriety and equity; it does not retry the underlying facts as a court would.
  • A denial is not the end: the correction board may still be asked, and a denial can be reconsidered on new evidence.
Authority
  • 10 U.S.C. § 1553 — each service secretary establishes a board to review the discharge of any former member, on the former member's application, within 15 years of discharge.
  • 32 C.F.R. Part 70 — the uniform DoD standards the review boards apply.
B · Board for Correction of Military Records — correct the record itself

Who decides: The Board for Correction of Military Records for your service (ABCMR for the Army; BCNR for the Navy and Marine Corps; AFBCMR for the Air Force; the Coast Guard's board sits under Homeland Security). Civilians, acting for the Secretary.

The form: DD Form 149 — Application for Correction of Military Record Under the Provisions of Title 10, U.S. Code, Section 1552.

Cost: Free. No filing fee.

What it takes
Error OR injustice — and injustice is the wider word SOURCE
You do not have to prove anyone broke a rule. An INJUSTICE is enough: a punishment out of proportion, a condition nobody looked for, a command that was itself the problem, a record that tells a true thing in a false way.
The 3-year rule, and why it is rarely the end SOURCE
The statute sets 3 years from the discovery of the error or injustice — but expressly allows the board to EXCUSE the delay in the interest of justice, and in mental-health cases the boards routinely do. Never treat an old discharge as beyond reach; say plainly when you learned that the condition explained the conduct, and ask for the waiver.
It reaches what the DRB cannot SOURCE
This is the ONLY board that may change a discharge imposed by a general court-martial, including a Dishonorable Discharge. Those upgrades are rare and hard — and they are possible, which is a different thing from impossible.
It corrects more than the characterization SOURCE
It can change the narrative reason for separation, the separation code, the reenlistment code, and the dates — the fields an employer actually reads and a benefit actually turns on. Sometimes the characterization is not even the thing hurting you.
What defeats it
  • Exhaust the DRB first where it has jurisdiction — a correction board will usually expect it.
  • The burden is on the applicant, and the board decides on the written record unless it grants a hearing.
  • A denial can be reconsidered on NEW evidence, and reviewed in federal court, which is attorney work.
Authority
  • 10 U.S.C. § 1552 — the Secretary, acting through boards of civilians, may correct any military record when necessary to correct an error or remove an injustice.
  • The same liberal-consideration policy that binds the review boards binds these boards.
C · VA Character of Discharge — the parallel road nobody is told about

Who decides: The Department of Veterans Affairs — NOT the Department of Defense. VA decides for itself whether your service was 'under conditions other than dishonorable' for VA purposes.

The form: Opened by filing a VA claim; VA then makes a character-of-discharge determination on that period of service.

Cost: Free, and a VA-accredited representative will do it with you at no charge.

What it takes
The paper does not decide it — VA does SOURCE
An OTH discharge does NOT automatically bar VA benefits. VA looks at the whole period of service and decides whether it was other than dishonorable for its purposes. A veteran can win here while a board upgrade is still pending, or after one was denied.
Health care that does not wait for any of it CHECK
Former service members with an OTH discharge may receive emergency mental health care from VA, and VA has opened care to OTH veterans beyond that. If someone is in crisis, this road is walked FIRST and the paperwork second.
What defeats it
  • A general court-martial sentence, desertion, and 180 or more continuous days AWOL are statutory bars — with exceptions, including insanity and compelling circumstances for the AWOL bar.
  • A favorable VA determination does NOT change the DD-214. Only Roads A and B change the paper itself.
Authority
  • 38 U.S.C. § 101(2) and § 5303 — the statutory bars, and the exceptions to them.
  • 38 C.F.R. § 3.12 — VA's own regulation for deciding character of discharge.
  • 38 U.S.C. § 5303(b) — the INSANITY exception: a person who was insane at the time of the offense is not barred by it.

What the paper says

  • Honorable — Administrative separation. Full eligibility for VA benefits, subject to the usual service requirements.
  • General (Under Honorable Conditions) — Administrative separation. Most VA benefits remain, but the GI Bill is generally lost. Employers see it and read into it.
  • Other Than Honorable (OTH) — Administrative separation — not a court-martial. Usually bars VA benefits until VA makes its own character-of-discharge determination. Carries a stigma it very often does not deserve.
  • Bad Conduct Discharge (BCD) — A special OR a general court-martial. A punitive discharge. Which court-martial imposed it decides which board may review it — this is the single most important fact in the file.
  • Dishonorable Discharge (DD) — A general court-martial only. The most severe. Bars nearly all benefits. Only a correction board may change it; the review board has no power over it.
  • Uncharacterized / Entry-Level Separation — Separation within the first 180 days of service. Not a bad discharge — it is no characterization at all, though it is routinely misread as one by employers.

Get these first

  • The DD-214 for every period of service — the characterization, the narrative reason, the separation code and the reenlistment code all live on it.
  • The complete service record, including the medical and mental-health record and any counselling statements or non-judicial punishment.
  • The court-martial order if there was one — it names WHICH court-martial, and that single fact decides which board can help.
  • Any diagnosis, in service or since, from VA or a civilian provider — a later diagnosis still counts, and often carries the case.
  • Statements: your own account of what was happening in your unit or your family at the time, and letters from those who were there.
Free, accredited help

Nobody should ever pay for this

Veterans Crisis Line ↗

Dial 988 then press 1, or text 838255. Available whatever your discharge says and whether or not you are enrolled with VA.

A VA-accredited representative ↗

VSOs, state departments, and accredited attorneys and agents — free, and the only people lawfully permitted to prepare and present a VA claim for you.

Texas Veterans Commission ↗

The State's own accredited claims representation for Texas veterans, at no cost.

Law-school veterans clinics ↗

Many law schools run free clinics that take discharge upgrades and board applications.

Start — free, always →

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