A military discharge upgrade can dramatically change the life of a veterans. With the right type of discharge a military veteran can gain access to a wide variety of veterans benefits such as health care and education benefits. However, if a veteran was unfairly discharged, the process to correct this injustice can be very time consuming.
First an original claim must be filed, and it is not uncommon for these claims to take over one year to be decided. If it is denied, then the veteran is entitled to an appeal; however, this appeal may also take up to one year to be decided.
Appeals are heard by either a board of representatives or by a judge. In order to combat this extensive wait time, many Discharge Review Boards have instigated the use of video conference procedures in place of a live in person appeal. Under this format, the veteran may appear at their Regional VA office, in a private conference room, and present his or her case via video conference to the applicable Discharge Review Board or Judge. This has proven to be tremendously effective as it allows one Judge or Review Board to appear in multiple places across the country on the same day.
Ideally, the continued use of video conference technology will be a major tool in reducing the wait time for a military discharge upgrade appeal.