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Military Discharge Policies and Practices Result in Wide Disparities: Congressional Review Is Needed

FPCD-80-13 Published: Jan 15, 1980. Publicly Released: Jan 15, 1980.
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Highlights

The military departments characterize the service of each member by the type of discharge imposed when the individual is separated. The Department of Defense adopted the current three-tiered system of discharges in 1947, but each service has developed and implemented its own set of philosophies and practices and individual commanders within each service approach the question of characterizing a member's service differently. As a result, former service members with similar service records have received different types of discharges, and large disparities exist in the frequency with which the individual services assign less than desirable discharges.

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Military dischargesMilitary justiceMilitary personnelRetired military personnelVeteransMilitary forcesHonorable dischargesVeterans benefitsHearingsUnauthorized leave