The USA’s Department of Defense has upgraded the discharge status of hundreds of former service personnel who were forced out of the armed services under the controversial ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.
The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was in effect from Feb. 28, 1994, until Sept. 20, 2011. During that time, gay, lesbian and bisexual service members could not be open about their sexual orientation. Under the policy, the services wouldn’t “ask” sexual orientation, and gay and lesbian service members couldn’t “tell.” If their sexual orientation became known, service members were separated. 
More than 13,000 service members were separated from the military under the policy which was brought in under the Clinton administration and removed by President Barack Obama.
Christa A. Specht, director of legal policy at the Pentagon’s Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, said they had now identified over 800 people whose discharge status could be upgraded from dishonourable discharge to honourable discharge.
“Even though the majority of service members discharged for their sexual orientation during Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell were honourably separated, nearly 2,000 were separated with less than fully honourable characterisations,” Specht said.
Following the repeal of the policy in 2011, those separated under it could appeal for an upgrade, and many did. After applying to the Military Department Review Boards, 85 percent of those who applied received some form of relief. Others affected by the change likely had no idea such relief was possible, Specht said, and did not apply.  Â
Last year, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks initiated the record review with an eye toward upgrading those discharges. Rather than wait for requests, DOD looked at all the records of eligible former service members separated under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and processed them through the services.  
That process is now complete, Specht said, and DOD has submitted corrected records and mailed letters advising affected individuals how they can obtain copies of their new discharge certificates. 
The review looked 851 cases and found that relief was warranted in 96.8 of those instances. The 824 cases include 84 from the air force, 236 from the army, 258 from the marine corps, and 246 from the navy.
This latest effort means “that more than 96 percent of the individuals who were administratively separated under DADT and who served for long enough to receive a merit-based characterization of service now have an honorable characterization of service,” Specht said.
Changes to discharge characterisations may result in additional benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Â
The US military has six levels of discharge it can apply to service personnel as they leave including honorable, general, other than honourable, bad conduct (special court-martial), bad conduct (general court-martial) and dishonourable.
“We’re encouraging anyone who still believes that there is something in their military record that is an error or an injustice — in particular, service members who might have been impacted by records that predate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell who were separated for their sexual orientation — to come forward and request relief through the boards,” Specht said. “They have a high chance of success.”
Source: Pentagon Media Release
