HARTFORD, Conn. — The U.S. Army is violating veterans’ rights, its personal laws and the Structure by refusing to provide troopers with alcohol and drug use issues honorable discharges that may qualify them for federal advantages, in line with a lawsuit filed Thursday.
Army veteran Mark Stevenson, with assist from college students at Yale Legislation College, is suing Army Secretary Christine Wormuth in federal court docket in Connecticut, looking for to drive the army department to improve the discharge statuses of himself and different veterans who got less-than-honorable discharges due to misconduct associated to their substance abuse issues.
The lawsuit is much like earlier ones filed by Yale’s Veterans Authorized Providers Clinic on behalf of former army members with post-traumatic stress dysfunction and different psychological well being points who have been denied honorable discharges due to misconduct. These instances resulted within the Army, Navy, Air Pressure and Marines agreeing to rethink these discharge choices based mostly on new standards that acknowledge psychological well being issues can have an effect on conduct.
An Army spokesperson declined to touch upon the brand new lawsuit, saying the department doesn’t publicly reply to pending litigation.
Stevenson, 63, of Stratford, Connecticut, enlisted within the Army in 1977 and stated he developed issues with alcohol and medicines whereas stationed in then-West Germany as an auto mechanic. He stated his substance abuse, together with utilizing cannabis — a concentrated type of marijuana — and heroin, was a think about him going AWOL thrice and receiving a less-than-honorable discharge.
Now an authorized substance abuse counselor and sober for 20 years, Stevenson stated the Army Board for Correction of Navy Data denied his request for a discharge improve in December and refused to acknowledge substance use issues as psychological well being situations.
“I made severe errors,” he stated in an announcement supplied by the Yale authorized clinic. “However I now have 20 years of sobriety. I’ve taken accountability for my actions. I’ve repaired relationships in my life, and turn into a mentor to fellow veterans and others scuffling with habit.”
The army points hundreds of less-than-honorable discharges yearly, which disqualifies veterans from well being and counseling advantages which will assist them, in line with the Veterans Authorized Providers Clinic.
The Army is violating army coverage to offer “liberal consideration” in discharge choices of whether or not misconduct was associated to psychological well being issues, the clinic stated. The department is also violating due course of rights underneath the Fifth Modification that require federal businesses to comply with their very own laws and steerage, it stated.
“This choice harms veterans with addictions … an already doubly-stigmatized group,” Dena Shata, a Yale Legislation College scholar interning with the clinic, stated in an announcement. “Mr. Stevenson has rededicated his life to serving his neighborhood and different veterans. The Army’s choice to satisfy his service with discrimination is unconscionable, and illegal.”
Stevenson stated he did not abuse alcohol or medication when he enlisted within the army. He stated his time in West Germany was tense, as a German gang against America’s presence launched terrorist assaults that killed and wounded U.S. army members. Stevenson, who’s Black, additionally stated he was subjected to racist acts by fellow troopers, in addition to by German locals.
To manage, he stated he started self-medicating with alcohol and cannabis, and later heroin. He claimed the Army “normalized” substance abuse in Germany by offering every soldier with a month-to-month ration card for 3 gallons of liquor, 20 packs of cigars and 4 cartons of cigarettes.
After his AWOL incidents, he obtained an “aside from honorable” discharge that barred him from receiving VA advantages. He struggled with habit for 20 years and ended up homeless in 2002, when he checked himself right into a remedy program. He accomplished this system and labored just a few jobs earlier than incomes an affiliate’s diploma and turning into a substance abuse counselor.
“A second probability would imply every little thing to me,” he stated of his quest for an honorable discharge.
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