National Guardsman sues Army for "personality disorder" discharge

Former soldier sues Army for alleged wrongful mental health discharge
Air Force Times
By Patricia Kime
Staff writer
November 21, 2013

A former Army National Guard soldier has filed a lawsuit against the Army, saying the service illegally denied him medical retirement by discharging him for an adjustment disorder when he actually suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Former Sgt. William Cowles of Connecticut alleges he was wrongfully denied full retirement benefits when he was medically evacuated from Iraq in 2003 following a mental breakdown.

He later was discharged for adjustment disorder, a condition considered to exist before a person enters military service, and therefore he is disqualified from disability compensation.

Cowles’ mental health crisis stemmed from seeing several men in his unit die and watching the killing of a civilian truck driver. Two months after he was dismissed from the military, Veterans Affairs Department physicians diagnosed him with service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder.

Cowles is seeking the maximum amount allowed under law for damages — $10,000 — but he really just wants to be medically retired, according to his legal counsel, two law student interns from the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School.

“The Army Board for Correction of Military Records has denied every single application from veterans who received discharges for adjustment disorder and requested corrections to military retirement for PTSD in the past decade,” second-year law student Sopen Shah said. “This discrimination against disabled veterans is intolerable.”
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Sen. Michael Bennet from Colorado wants to find out about the others receiving other-than-honorable discharges for "discipline problems" when most of the time it turns out to be PTSD.

Lawmakers already have been pressing the Pentagon to examine 31,000 discharges since 2001 for adjustment disorders and personality disorders, mental health conditions considered to presage military service and generally not considered compensable conditions.