Thread by @KrisGoldsmith85

After over 12 years of advocacy, filing appeals, raising awareness for #badpaper... + hundreds of hours on the part of the attorney @UrbanJustice connected me to a decade ago... My discharge has finally been upgraded to Honorable.

A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who supported me!

@UrbanJustice As wonderful as it is to have this one box on my DD-214 fixed... the @USArmy couldn't let me go without leaving something on my enlisted service record to make it look like I'm a criminal. They've given me an arrest record... which, I do not have.

The new separation authority that they inserted in Box 23 says: "AR 635-200, PARA 5-14."

That translates to "Concealment of Arrest Record (para. 5-14) – If false statements regarding a juvenile or adult offense were made in enlistment documents."

2id.korea.army.mil/soldiers/pdf/l…

The new Separation Code in Box 24 is "JND."

That translates to "Other, Concealment of arrest record."

dd214.us/reference/SPN_…

So, even after over a decade, the Army insists on punishing me for a suicide attempt related to PTSD.

When people see shit like this they often say "there ought to be a law!"

Well I've passed three.

1. The Military Mental Health Review Board Improvement Act

(113th Congress, 2014)

- makes sure that mental health experts are included in discharge review boards when evaluating appeals involving PTSD and related conditions

congress.gov/bill/113th-con…

2. The Fairness for Veterans Act (113th Congress, 2016)

Ensures that veterans with PTSD and related conditions receive "liberal consideration" when applying for discharge upgrades based upon events related to those illnesses

congress.gov/bill/114th-con…

3. The Honor Our Commitment Act (2018)

Ensures that veterans with OTH discharges (a level of discharge below mine, which was "General") have access to diagnostic services and care at the VA.

congress.gov/bill/115th-con…

The @USArmy has gone from basically saying that my service and sacrifice wasn't honorable... to... pretty much saying that my entire enlistment was fraudulent.

Cool. Cool. Cool. Thanks, guys.

Looks like I've got another decade of appeals ahead of me.

I do NOT have an arrest record. I can’t even begin to fathom why the @USArmy would fabricate one for me.

The worst part about this is that no one was held accountable for my inappropriate discharge back in 2007...

...and 12 years later, no one will be held accountable for falsifying my military records during this discharge upgrade process.

Justice delayed is justice denied.

I’m lucky to have had access to @DeptVetAffairs healthcare with a “General” Discharge. That allowed me to recover, move forward, start using vocational rehabilitation to find purpose and fulfillment.

Since my discharge, and thanks to VA, I’ve been able to accomplish more than I ever imagined possible. Starting with community college, where after years in a dark hole I began socializing again and was elected to lead my @studentvets chapter.

From there I was accepted to @ColumbiaGS, where I’ve honed my skills as a policy influencer. Got hired by @VVAmerica, where I had the chance to be in the room with other VSO reps and congressional staff to come up with the plan for the “forever” part of the #ForeverGIBill.

Opened a pathway to healthcare and recovery for the 505,000 vets with Other-Than-Honorable discharges — who had previously been denied the opportunities and services that pulled me back from the brink.

Started my own nonprofit with a bunch of other vets fighting to improve the lives of our sisters and brothers, @HighGroundVets. Through that we’ve been teaching other vets to tell their stories, turn traumatic experiences into inspiration for positive change.

Then, most recently, write the report on foreign entities targeting troops, vets, and our families online. This’ll hopefully get our government to take more seriously the everyday cybercrime that impacts our communities.

All this, and the Army, for some reason I can’t imagine... needs to fabricate an arrest record for me on the discharge paperwork I’ve spent 12 years fighting to have fixed.

I just want to know: why?

Was this incompetence, a mistake?

Or was it deliberate, with some admin looking to retaliate against me for speaking out against unjust DoD policies?