Senator Guglielmo Applauds Connecticut’s Program to Help Veterans Obtain Discharge Upgrades

HARTFORD, CONN. – State Senator Tony Guglielmo (R-Stafford) today applauded the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), the VVA Connecticut State Council (VVA-CT) and the Veterans Legal Services Clinic (VLSC) as they launched the country’s first program to notify Connecticut veterans with “bad paper” discharges about new opportunities to seek discharge upgrades. The program will help connect veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder with service providers to assist them in this process.

Veterans who have discharges below “honorable” will have the opportunity to seek discharge upgrades to access benefits through administrative boards at the Department of Defense (DOD). This program will improve the process for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I applaud the work that was done here in Connecticut to help Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder – ‘bad paper’ discharges have a serious impact on veterans’ lives,” said Sen. Guglielmo. “Without these upgrades veterans are barred from benefits they earned, including disability compensation, healthcare and education. These veterans also face many obstacles to employment.”

Last week detailed notices were mailed to more than a thousand Connecticut veterans informing them how to navigate through this new process. These notifications are the first in many steps to help provide assistance to Connecticut veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Addressing undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder has had a broad impact on many families, including both honorable and bad conduct discharges,” said Sen. Guglielmo. “This is a great program and I am thrilled to support the work that was done to help our veterans.”

Additional resources and information about the discharge upgrade process are available for veterans and advocates at CTLawHelp.org/dischargeupgrades.