Expert: John L - 9/25/2009

Question
QUESTION: Good morning ,My youngest son was doing great until they sat around in White Sands New Mexico for 8 months waiting to be deployed.Nervous energy and bad choices.EVen the Lt Col told me he was a fine soldier and that they gave him multiple chances whereas normally there is a no tolerance .He was caught drinking underage .His platoon leader ,an E5 provided the beer but ,he got caught going back to barracks while under the influence.His Lt Col of the base says he can apply to come back into the military after he receives counseling for his alcohol intake and his inability to stop partying .They LT Col also told me he was being looked at for NCO school due to his natural ability to lead .Hes messed up but,I ve heard that after he gets this counseling he can get a waiver easier in the National Guard than in the RA.Is this true?Does he have a chance in hell to get this repaired?I will help him if he takes this serious ,otherwise,hes lost his dad.

ANSWER: He can get a waiver to rejoin in the future.  He just need to attend some type of program and get a certificate of completion.  But it all depends on what it said on his discharge.  If you can tell me what the Type of discharge was, the SPD code and the narrative reasoning, I can be more precise.

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QUESTION: jkk general under honorable....More to confuse the issue.I read all the packet and the breathalyzer was clean ,he blew zero.Also,jkk reads as a failed drug rehab.I have read and reread the docs and nothing is in his file about drugs.I do not understand.I called his 1st sgt and he told me that Ric never had a drug issue and he did not understand the reference to drugs.Now ,this is really getting to be a mess.Help if you can ,I find 2 incidents of underage drinking and thats it.

Answer
What I recommend is go to www.va.gov and go under militray records, there is a place there where he can petetion to get his records corrected.  I recommend geting a letter from the 1sgt as well and anyone else involved in the case that has knowledge.

Once it is done, he may not even ned a waiver to join.