As former JAG attorneys, we represent military clients all across the world, and we are willing to travel anywhere to represent you.
We frequently help military clients who have mental health problems. Often, these issues come up in AWOL cases and have a lot to do with why the member went AWOL. We have seen a disturbing number of cases where the military will make the member perform hazardous duty in spite of the mental health concerns. Unfortunately, most of these cases began all the way back during the recruitment process, when the recruiters ignored the health issues and misled the military into enlisting someone who never should have been in the military.
We have a lot of experience dealing with recruiter misconduct, mental health diagnoses, and fighting the military when it refuses to acknowledge our clients’ medical problems. Here are just a few of our success stories:
Two weeks into basic training our client suffered a severe mental health problem. The family retained us to help get him out of his service commitment. With our help, he was out of the military and back home in two weeks with an Entry Level separation. A military member with a history of mental illness had been misled into joining the military by his recruiter. Once he was through training, his mental health deteriorated and he began having suicidal urges. We filed a memo on his behalf seeking an administrative separation based on his mental health history and the recruiter’s misconduct. We got him an Honorable discharge.
A military member with a history of mental illness had been misled into joining the military by her recruiter. The recruiter coached her on how to get through MEPS without letting the military know about her mental health issues. She got through MEPS but when she was in training she began having problems. When the military wouldn’t help her and refused to acknowledge her mental health history, she went AWOL. We negotiated her return to the military and we filed a memo on her behalf, seeking an administrative separation based on her mental health history and the recruiter’s misconduct. We persuaded the military to give her a humanitarian separation.
The military tried to discharge an NCO after she was diagnosed with a serious mental health disorder. Our client was in the medical profession and this kind of discharge would have prevented her from ever working in medicine. We reviewed the case history and believed the diagnosis was wrong. The government denied us appropriate expert assistance to prepare for the case. Using our own research, we conducted a devastating cross-examination of the government’s psychiatrist and won this complex case. The NCO saved her career and her future employability in the medical profession.