Citation Nr: 18141565
Decision Date: 10/11/18	Archive Date: 10/10/18

DOCKET NO. 16-06 205
DATE:	October 11, 2018
REMANDED
Whether the appellant's character of discharge is a bar to the receipt of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The appellant had active service from August 1990 to October 1991. He received an other than honorable discharge.
Whether the appellant's character of discharge is a bar to the receipt of VA benefits is remanded.
The appellant asserts that he was bullied on a daily basis while on active duty. He stated that he didn’t know how to deal with it, which caused him to go absent without leave (AWOL). The appellant was treated for psychiatric symptoms and suicidal ideation during service. 
The matter is REMANDED for the following action:
Provide the appellant with a VA medical examination to determine whether he was insane at the time of the conduct that led to his discharge. 
The examiner is informed that for VA purposes “[a]n insane person is defined as one who, while not mentally defective or constitutionally psychopathic, except when a psychosis has been engrafted upon such basic condition, exhibits, due to disease, (1) a more or less prolonged deviation from her normal method of behavior; (2) interferes with the peace of society; or (3) who has so departed (become antisocial) from the accepted standards of the community to which by birth and education she belongs as to lack the adaptability to make further adjustment to the social customs of the community in which she resides. Although insanity need not be causally connected to the misconduct that led to the discharge, it must be concurrent with that misconduct and requires competent medical evidence to establish a diagnosis.”
The examiner must review the claims file, to specifically include the appellant’s lay statements regarding his reported bullying in service and his service treatment records. After a review of all of these records, the examiner should answer the following:
a.) At the times the appellant missed muster on May 22 and 23, 1991 and was AWOL for fifty-one days from June 24, 1991 to August 12, 1991 in violation of Article 86 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and then disobeyed orders of a superior commissioned officer and a non-commissioned officer in violation of Articles 90 and 91 of the UCMJ on August 20, 1991, did he exhibit a more or less prolonged deviation from his normal method of behavior?
b.) At the times the appellant missed muster on May 22 and 23, 1991 and was AWOL for fifty-one days from June 24, 1991 to August 12, 1991 in violation of Article 86 of the UCMJ and then disobeyed orders of a superior commissioned officer and a non-commissioned officer in violation of Articles 90 and 91 of the UCMJ on August 20, 1991, did he, due to disease interfere with the peace of society? 
c.) At the times the appellant missed muster on May 22 and 23, 1991 and was AWOL for fifty-one days from June 24, 1991 to August 12, 1991 in violation of Article 86 of the UCMJ and then disobeyed orders of a superior commissioned officer and a non-commissioned officer in violation of Articles 90 and 91 of the UCMJ on August 20, 1991, was he, due to disease, so departed (become antisocial) from the accepted standards of the community to which by birth and education he belongs as to lack the adaptability to make further adjustment to the social customs of the community in which he resides?
d.) Was the appellant otherwise insane at the times the appellant missed muster on May 22 and 23, 1991 and was AWOL for fifty-one days from June 24, 1991 to August 12, 1991 in violation of Article 86 of the UCMJ and then disobeyed orders of a superior commissioned officer and a non-commissioned officer in violation of Articles 90 and 91 of the UCMJ on August 20, 1991?
 
JENNIFER HWA
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	K. Parke