Quoted: Question about military discharge

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I will leave answers to those who know more about this issue

Hello. I'm another guy interested in going to Med School, obviously! I have a strong feeling that I have nothing to worry about in concern with what I'm about to ask, but I wanted to double check just in case...

I joined the military when I was younger and I ended up receiving an Uncharacterized Discharge. If an individual leaves the military before completing at least 180 days of service, they receive this type of separation. This type of military discharge can happen for a variety of reasons (medical, administrative, etc.) and is neither good or bad.

My reason for being discharge was purely for medical reasons, NOT for disciplinary reasons. Psychiatrists determined I had major depression. I have never received any disciplinary action in the military, ever. My discharge code was JFV1 - Discharge because of a physical condition which is not disabling. Involuntary.

I was just wondering if this will have any affect on my Med School application and/or for when I try to obtain my medical license. The reasonable (and possibly obvious) assumption is that it won't affect me at all, but I felt it would be wise to ask anyway. Thank you in advance for your responses!

It shouldn't. Period.

Inthe olden days there were a few discharge reasons...they added a few new ones in the past few years.

The top three were Honorable, Dishonorable, and General. Dishonorable is the biggee here. 99% of the time the discharge was for disciplinary reasons (drugs, deriliction (sp) of duty, Mil prison time, etc...)

Some of the newer codes and reasons save the military money. Instead of having folks that cant cope with the military or have a medical condition manifest or be discovered in basic traning medically retired, now they can be discarged from the Armed Forces with no requirement for the Fed Govt to pay/treat them for the rest of their lives.

I had a fellow AF basic trainee get medically retired after he passed out in week 3 of our 6 week (back in the day) basic trng. He did wake for awhile. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Military took him out of our flight and pu thim n medical hold, where he was retired after treatment.

Also this code is not punitive in any way, unlike Dishonorable. In some states this makes you ineligible for employment with state/federal agencies, no VA loan chances...etc.

This will have zero impact on the aspiring provider in question.

Not at all!

this is a general typr of discharge.

The biggee is Dishonorable, that will preclude you from many things in the VA and Fed/state govt.

The discharge shouldn't be an issue, but depending on the wording in the application, you may need to disclose your psychiatric diagnosis (not that it would keep you from getting a license, unless you don't disclose it and they find out). California doesn't even ask if you had been in the military. If your state does, just be sure to read the wording carefully and answer honestly (I have seen the question worded "have you ever received an other than honorable discharge from the military" again not that it would ruin your chances unless you aren't honest about it)

Entry level separations, or uncharacterized discharge, are given to individuals who separate prior to completing 180 days of military service, or when discharge action was initiated prior to 180 days of service. This type of discharge does not attempt to characterize service as good or bad.

If you are really conerned you can appeal to change your discharge with the Board of Corrections by filling out DD Form 0293. Its a long process though, taking upwards of a year in some cases.

Originally Posted by MissR6

Entry level separations, or uncharacterized discharge, are given to individuals who separate prior to completing 180 days of military service, or when discharge action was initiated prior to 180 days of service. This type of discharge does not attempt to characterize service as good or bad.

If you are really conerned you can appeal to change your discharge with the Board of Corrections by filling out DD Form 0293. Its a long process though, taking upwards of a year in some cases.

You can do this for a general discharge, but I don't *think* an uncharacterized, There are entry level separations and more often are due to difficulty adjusting or some condition that does not carry a disability rating.