Expert: Aaron Shifferly - 8/2/2010

Question
Please explain what an undesirable discharge is?  and also how the Presidential proclamation 4313 on January 19, 1977 affects the thousands of servicemen who were given those types of discharge?

Answer
Undesireable discharge isnt a correct term.  It is really a poorly charachterized discharge such as a bad conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge.  These are given to personnel convicted of crimes at court martial and have serious negative consequences when it comes to further job seeking in the civilian world.  Deserters are usually given one of these two discharges because it is a federal felony to desert.  The presidential proclamation you speak of allows for an amnesty of sorts but it was for a period before 1 January 1975.  This means it has no real effect today.  Here is the text:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=4714


All it basically said is that if you dodged the draft, you could come back, serve a 2 year stint and all would be forgiven.