The United States Coast Guard is routinely misusing the Uncharacterized Discharge in administrative separations of tenured enlisted military members for alleged offenses without the legal due process promised by the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). The UCMJ and all derivative military justice manuals state that administrative action is not to be punitive in nature; rather, it is meant to be corrective and rehabilitative. However, as an Uncharacterized Discharge comes with no veterans’ benefits, the effect is punitive and equates to extrajudicial punishment. As such, it is directly counter to the legal protections provided for in the U.S. Constitution.

The vast majority of Uncharacterized Discharges are awarded to entry-level personnel either in or having recently graduated from boot camp and are administered by the recruit training center. In fact, the Uncharacterized Discharge was specifically created to suffice when not enough time in service had passed to fairly evaluate a service member’s conduct and performance. However, in the case of a tenured Coast Guard member, an Uncharacterized Discharge doesn’t fairly reflect the member’s multiple years of service. Characterizing a separating enlisted Coastguardsman’s service simply involves reviewing the member’s professional performance and comportment evaluations for the full period served.

Today, all characterized discharges other than an Honorable Discharge come with an escalatory reduction in veterans’ benefits tied to the seriousness of the offense that resulted in the discharge. This demonstrates that the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs consider a reduction in VA and other veterans’ benefits to be punishment. Therefore, the awarding of an Uncharacterized Discharge with no benefits to a service member after one to eight years of active service amounts to extrajudicial punishment, as it is punitive in nature, awarded for an alleged offense only, and administered without any UCMJ-sanctioned proceeding. Extrajudicial punishment of US military members violates the Constitution, a host of Federal laws, and the UCMJ.

Military justice manuals universally convey that commanding officers are expected to use administrative corrective measures to further the efficiency of their commands. Approved measures fall into three categories: Extra military instruction, withholding of privileges, and non-punitive censure. However, the same manuals also state these measures are not to be imposed as punishment. A discharge of any type or character of service is not an approved non-punitive measure, but the Uncharacterized Discharge is increasingly being used by the Coast Guard to administratively punish enlisted military personnel.

The forfeiture of veterans’ benefits via an Uncharacterized Discharge is significant punishment. To receive any benefits, the discharge must be Honorable or Under Honorable Conditions. To receive education benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the veteran’s character of service must be Honorable. Military members who receive an Under Honorable Conditions Discharge through non-judicial punishment or court martial retain nearly all benefits, while those administratively separated with an Uncharacterized Discharge — without any legal due process — forfeit all benefits. Significantly, the only characterized discharge in which all veterans’ benefits are forfeited is a Dishonorable Discharge. Thus, the loss of all benefits as the result of an Uncharacterized Discharge places the tenured service member in the same post-military benefits category as service members convicted in courts-martial of only the most serious crimes, including murder, rape, and treason.

In Title 38 of the US Code, the Department of Veterans Affairs defines “veteran” as “a person who has served in the active military, naval or air services, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable.” Further, it states “for enlisted personnel administratively separated after October 1, 1982, only three categories of administrative separation do not require a characterization of service by the military department concerned: (a) Entry level separation, (b) Void enlistment or induction, or (c) Dropped from the rolls.” Thus, the administrative separation of a tenured Coastguardsman with an Uncharacterized Discharge is directly counter to U.S. Code, and involves the otherwise benevolent Department of Veterans Affairs in punishing those they define as legitimate veterans.

It is clear that some junior service members are simply unable to adjust or adhere to what is expected of them, and the administrative separation of those deemed unfit for military service has been upheld by the courts. But it must be done in accordance with the Constitution, Federal law, the UCMJ and service regulations. Otherwise, with as many as eight years of military service, the tenured service member separated with an Uncharacterized Discharge is stripped of their military ID and uniforms, escorted off base as if a convicted criminal, and treated forevermore as if they had never served in the military.

The Coast Guard’s misuse of the Uncharacterized Discharge should be immediately prohibited, and restitution of VA and other earned veterans’ benefits provided to those young men and women with one to eight years of service separated in this manner. They are legitimate veterans and should be treated as such.

A U.S. Coast Guard cadet inexplicably presents Donald Von Shitzenpantz - seen here rocking a simply fabulous Mohawk comb-over - with a U.S. Navy officer’s sword. Several in the audience suggested he use it on himself.