The Board Correction of Military Record (BCMR) Law Attorneys of The Federal Practice Group Specialize in Submitting Petitions to the Boards of Correction for all Military Branches of Service. Our Practice Serves Nationwide Including Washington D.C., …
The burden of proof is on you to prove an error exists. Before facing a military board of corrections – contact the Military Law Center at (760) 941-3665
Call Board of Corrections of Military Records Defense Attorney John L. Calcagni, III to schedule a free consultation. Military Defense Lawyer Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyers | 72 Clifford St #300, Providence, RI 02903
Mr. Sheldon and his team will: Carefully review the board’s decision and identify appealable errors or other infirmities in the BCMR or DRB’s decision; Assess your chances of launching a successful appeal; Research and draft your federal court complaint and legal documents required for the court’s adjudication; and.
Unfortunately, the military sometimes makes serious record-keeping mistakes. This is not surprising, as this is an issue that occurs with any large bureaucracy. There are currently more than one million active duty personnel across all branches of the U.S. military. Additionally, the U.S.
Mistakes in military records can occur for a wide variety of different reasons. Further, these mistakes can take a seemingly endless number of different forms. In some cases, errors are relatively minor while in other cases they have a tremendous adverse impact on the affected party.
Some errors occur simply because of mistakes made by those inputting data into your records. Though, those are not the only type of ‘errors’ that you can correct through an appeal. You also have the legal right to seek the correction of an ‘injustice’. Similar to errors, injustices can also come in many different form.
The highest level of appeal to correct military records is the Board of Corrections of Military Records (BCMR). Each branch of the military is responsible for operating its own version of the BCMR. Though, each one of these boards operates in a relatively similar manner.
The BCMR is authorized to alter much of the information within your military records. Indeed, one of the only things that the Board of Corrections cannot do is to overturn a court-martial conviction. However, the board does have the authority to:
The BCMR enforces strict time limits for taking action to correct errors or injustice in military records. Generally, you must apply for a change before the board within three years of the date of the issue.
If you are adversely affected by a military record you may also petition the Board for Corrections of Military Records as a civilian. If you are a spouse, former spouse, legal representative, child, or close relative who is affected by a military record, you may also petition the Board for Corrections of Military Records.
The time a military member or veteran must correct their military record depends on whether the individual wants to correct an error or injustice, or if the individual seeks a discharge upgrade.
A veteran’s RE code is determined based on the reason for separation, not characterization of service. A veteran can request the board change their RE code if the code was erroneously entered. An RE code may not be changed based solely on the veteran seeking enlistment into a military branch.
The Discharge Review Board (DRB) only reviews the type of discharge received, the reason for the discharge, and the authority of the command had the authority to discharge the service member. If the DRB determines an error, or injustice occurred, then the board can upgrade your discharge. There are no automatic discharge upgrades.
To petition the Discharge Review Board for an upgrade in discharge, the service member must apply within 15 years from receiving the discharge. The DRB only handles requests concerning discharges, if you want to change or modify your personnel records, you need the Board for Corrections of Military Records instead of the Discharge Review Board.
All services have written requirements that diagnoses of PTSD/TBI be taken into account before a General Under Honorable Conditions or Other than Honorable Discharge is given to a member with those diagnoses. Yet, in the vast majority of cases, that requirement has been just a check in the box before an unfavorable discharge is awarded anyway.
If you received adverse military action that was “erroneous” or “unjust,” Aaron Meyer stands ready to advocate for you in the DRB/BCMR process. Do not simply give up and accept an administrative action or discharge process that was truly inaccurate or unjust. Success rates are not always high.
The secretary of a military department , acting through a board for correction of military records, has authority to change any military record when necessary to correct an error or remove an injustice. A correction board may consider applications for correction of a military record, including a review of a discharge issued by courts martial.
Generally, that means a request to NPRC for a correction (minor corrections can be made by NPRC), then a request to the military service department (service departments can make more corrections than NPRC), and finally if both these fail, then submit DD Form 149, with supporting evidence as instructed on the form.
Each of the military services maintains a discharge review board with authority to change, correct or modify discharges or dismissals that are not issued by a sentence of a general courts-martial. The board has no authority to address medical discharges.
The Navy’s board is called the Board for Correction of Naval Records (BCNR) and processes applications from both current and former Sailors and Marines.
National Veterans Legal Services Program has started a new program to provide free legal representation at the Board for Correction of Military Records (BCMR) to veterans wrongfully separated from the military with or without proper medical disability system processing, resulting in the denial of a medical retirement and the benefits it confers.
A BCMR’s authority to correct military records includes the ability to medically retire a veteran who was administratively separated from the military if it can be demonstrated that the veteran was suffering from one or more mental and/or physical conditions that made the veteran unfit to perform his/her military duties.
What is a Board for Correction of Military Records (BCMR)? Each military service branch has a BCMR that serves as the highest level of administrative review within the branch to correct errors or remove injustices from military records.