Claim Raven explanation
What this means
This section requires VA to provide a process for a former service member to seek a determination about whether the discharge or dismissal from a particular service period bars benefits. If VA finds a bar, it must provide information about ways to address the condition.
The statute guarantees access to a determination process even before focusing on a particular benefit outcome. When VA decides that a bar exists, it must explain the ability to address the condition, including under section 5303 and chapter 79 of title 10. The latter concerns military correction and review processes.
How this helps your claim
The process produces a VA benefit-eligibility determination. It is related to, but distinct from, asking a military discharge-review board to change the discharge itself.
What to check in your records
Identify the service period, discharge condition, benefit consequence, and the path VA explains for addressing the bar.
- Collect the complete discharge and personnel records for the relevant period.
- Keep VA's character-of-service determination and supporting evidence list.
- Preserve information VA provides about section 5303 and military review under title 10.
Keep the VA and military processes distinct
Ask VA to state which period and statutory or regulatory bar it is applying. A person with several enlistments may need a separate analysis of each period. Submit the personnel and circumstance evidence that bears on that finding.
If pursuing military discharge review or correction, track that filing separately. A military board can change the service record, while VA decides benefit eligibility under Title 38. One result may affect the other, but they are not the same proceeding.
Does a VA character-of-service determination change the military discharge?
No. It determines whether the service period is barred for VA benefit purposes. A change to the military record generally requires the applicable service department review or correction process.
Official statutory text
38 USC § 5303B
OLRC release: pl-119-108. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The statutory text is shown here; publisher source credits and editorial notes remain in the linked official release.
§ 5303B. Character of service determinations
(a) Determination.—The Secretary shall establish a process by which an individual who served in the Armed Forces and was discharged or dismissed therefrom may seek a determination from the Secretary with respect to whether such discharge or release was under a condition that bars the right of such individual to a benefit under the laws administered by the Secretary based upon the period of service from which discharged or dismissed.
(b) Provision of Information.—If the Secretary determines under subsection (a) that an individual is barred to a benefit under the laws administered by the Secretary, the Secretary shall provide to such individual information regarding the ability of the individual to address such condition, including pursuant to section 5303 of this title and chapter 79 of title 10.
Related references
- 38 USC § 5303: Statutory character-of-discharge bars to VA benefits
- 38 USC § 5303A: Minimum active-duty service requirements and exceptions
- 38 USC § 5104: What a VA Decision Letter Must Explain
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