Discharge status and public health

Abstract

While an expedient discharge of problematic service members aligns well with the mission to fight and win wars, the consequences passed on to the civilian public health and criminal justice systems have yet to be quantified and largely remain unknown.1 The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is federal law that defines the military justice system, in which a military commander has substantial control over administrative separations and courts-martial. While minor infractions are typically handled by sanctions such as extra duty, more serious infractions can lead to involuntary separation from the military. These include
(1) punitive discharges (e.g., bad-conduct discharge, dishonorable discharge) or
(2) administrative discharges (e.g., other-than-honorable discharge).