Correction Of Military Records

Correction Of Military Records and U.S. Court of Federal Claims

The law firm of MCCORMACK & ASSOCIATES has successfully secured favorable corrective action on military records, as well as upgrade of discharge characterization in numerous cases over the years. Greg McCormack has in excess of twenty-eight years of military litigation and administrative law experience and will aggressively represent you in your efforts to secure favorable relief.

Any servicemember, former servicemember or their legal representative may apply to have an injustice in their service record corrected. Each military service has a Board for Correction of Military Records to process and hear these applications. The process for the correction of military records is governed by Title 10, United States Code, Section 1552. Prior to applying to the Board for Correction, all administrative remedies should be exhausted. In the case of upgrading a discharge, the Discharge Review Board for the particular service should be the first avenue of petition. If all administrative remedies have not been exhausted, the Board will return the petition without action. All requests for correction of records should be submitted within 3 years of when you discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, the error or injustice. This limitation can be waived if the Board finds that the interests of justice are served by the waiver. The Board process will often take one year or longer from submission of the petition to final Board decision. The Board has the authority to upgrade discharges, change separation codes, reinstate service members to active duty, and award back pay.

Each Board has a staff who review the petitions and the facts of each case. The cases are then sent out to the appropriate agency to have an advisory opinion prepared. This is typically done by an attorney who will prepare a synopsis of the case and will present the agencies’ position to the Board. If the advisory opinion is in any way adverse to the Petitioner’s request, the Petitioner will have the opportunity to rebut the agency opinion prior to the Board’s consideration of the petition.

Our representation includes the drafting of the underlying petition and rebuttal to the advisory opinions, as well as the search for records to support your claim through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, gathering all supporting personal information on the Petitioner, and other efforts particular to each individual case. In appropriate cases, further appeal to the United States Court of Claims is pursued where we have successfully secured benefits for our clients through the formal litigation process in that court.