Expert: MARK A. HOWELL - 10/15/2009

Question
Hello, my name is patrick oglesby and i was discharged for bi-polar at reception.. well for two years i've been trying to re-enlist.. the bi-polar that i was diagnosed was a misdiagnoses and i got the dr's letter to prove the bi-polar was a misdiagnoses.. but i was told i need the medical reason of discharge.. i've gotten in contact with fort sill,the v.a in st.louis and my hometown in ohio. I don't know where it is and i need the medical reason of discharge that states why the dr discharged me.. please help!!!! my discharged was uncharacterized with an re-enlistment code RE:3

sincerely,

Patrick Oglesby

Answer
Patrick,
Nobody else could answer your question so they passed it to me.

Bi-polar is easy to misdiagnosed but once you've been told you have it it's hard to prove otherwise.  Which doctor is saying it was a misdiagnosis?  It will have to be from a VA doctor...civilian doctors' opinions don't count for much with the military.

Somewhere in your discharge paperwork you should have a DD214 Form entitled CERTIFICATE OF RELEASE OR DISCHARGE FROM ACTIVE DUTY.  Down at the bottom in Block 26 there is a 3-digit code that represents your reason for discharge.  If you send that to me I can decode it for you.  That may not be the exact medical reason, but it will be the category your discharge came under.  If that doesn't help then it must be in your MEDICAL records somewhere.

If you no longer have your records, you can request a copy of your DD214 online.  The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) has provided the following website for veterans to gain access to their DD-214 online: http://vetrecs.archives.gov/

If the NPRC doesn't have it, then nobody can prove you were ever in the military, let alone discharged.

Try this website and let me know your code.
Good luck,
Colonel Howell