New on VCH: Help Your Clients Pursue a Discharge Upgrade
If you represent veterans, you’ve probably run into cases where a less-than-Honorable discharge is standing between your client and the benefits they’ve earned. VCH just made it easier for you to help them do something about it.
We’ve added two new forms to the system: DD-149 and DD-293. Both give you a path to request a correction or upgrade to a client’s discharge; opening the door to VA healthcare, education benefits, home loans, and more that a bad discharge can otherwise block.
Why this matters for your practice
Discharge status isn’t always permanent. If a client’s discharge was shaped by things like PTSD, TBI, sexual assault or harassment, or other circumstances that weren’t fully considered at the time, they may have real grounds for a review, and you’re often the one who has to spot it and build the case.
The two forms, in plain terms
- DD-293 — for requesting a Discharge Review Board take another look at a client’s discharge, generally within 15 years of separation.
- DD-149 — for a deeper correction through the client’s branch Board for Correction of Military/Naval Records, covering discharges DD-293 can’t (like Bad Conduct or Dishonorable), with no time limit to file.
What this means for you
Like every form in VCH, these generate pre-filled with your client’s information, name, service history, address, representative and firm details, and more; so you spend less time on paperwork and more time building the case that gets your client the outcome they deserve.