Due to PTSD and other factors, many veterans are separated from service with discharges that prevent them from accessing the full range of benefits other vets enjoy, regardless of the number of years of otherwise honorable service they may have provided their country.
This continuing legal education program, designed to help attorneys and GI Rights advocates in assisting veterans in upgrading their discharge to honorable, is put on by the Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild, of which I am a member. (The NLG annual convention is taking place in Chicago from Sept. 4 - 7.)
There are no guarantees that a dishonorable or less-than-honorable discharge can be upgraded to honorable, but in many cases they can be. Many vets are not aware that they have the right to seek an upgrade.
I am sharing this press release here in hopes that the Daily Kos community (veterans and their allies) can help spread the word. If you can't come or find this info after the event, there is a great deal of info on this topic on the MLTF site at MilitaryLawHelp.com and at girightshotline.org.
C.L.E. DISCHARGE UPGRADING SEMINAR
A Continuing Legal Education seminar on military discharge upgrading and discharge review is scheduled for Thursday, September 4, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Chicago Metro Hotel, Metro Rooms 1 and 2, at 733 West Madison, in Chicago. The seminar is sponsored by the National Lawyers Guild’s Military Law Task Force. It will train attorneys, law students and legal workers in representing veterans with less than honorable discharges before the Discharge Review Boards and Boards for Correction of Military Records.
Topics will include an overview of the review boards’ authority, procedures and standards; case preparation and brief writing; working with troubled veterans; and litigation of discharge upgrade cases. The presenters are Becca von Behren, staff attorney at Swords to Plowshares veterans organization in San Francisco; Kathleen Gilberd, a veterans advocate in San Diego; Marian Neudel, in private practice in Chicago; Ray Parrish, a veterans advocate in Chicago; and Jim Klimaski, in private practice in Washington, DC.
Registration fees for the seminar are $75 for attorneys and $25 for law students and legal workers. Advance registration is encouraged; to register or for more information, contact the Task Force at email@nlgmltf.org or 619-463-2369.
The Military Law Task Force is a standing committee of the National Lawyers Guild with the mission of ensuring the rights of servicemembers and veterans, challenging oppressive military policies, and opposing interventionist military action. For more information about its work, visit nlgmltf.org