For decades, U.S. veterans who sought to upgrade to their less-than-honorable discharge have complained that procedures on the service branch level have produced disparate outcomes.
Veterans who were separated from service under similar conditions might obtain different results. Thus, one veteran would receive an upgrade, granting access to GI Bill benefits, healthcare, home loans, and even employment opportunities. In contrast, a similarly situated veteran from a different branch of the armed forces would be denied the upgrade and all attendant benefits.
In 2020, Congress created the Discharge Appeal Review Board to conduct a final review at the Department level. The goal is to standardize and modernize the discharge upgrade process across all branches of the armed forces. If you are a veteran whose service-level appeal yielded an inequitable result, you might be eligible to pursue an upgrade via the DARB.
What Is the Discharge Appeal Review Board?
The Discharge Appeal Review Board is a Department of Defense entity established to provide a final administrative review for service members or veterans seeking to upgrade the characterization of their military discharge. Unlike previous review processes that were handled strictly within each service branch, the DARB serves as a centralized, DoD-level appellate board. It reviews discharge upgrade decisions after a service member has exhausted all existing internal remedies, offering a last chance to seek equitable treatment.
Congress created the DARB as part of the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act and codified it as 10 U.S.C. § 1553a. The law directed the Secretary of Defense to establish a process for the final review of discharge upgrade requests denied by service Discharge Review Boards or Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records.
Why Congress Created the DARB
Congress created the DARB for three key reasons:
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Address inequities in the existing upgrade system — Before the DARB, veterans seeking a discharge upgrade started their appeals at the service level, either with the Discharge Review Board of their branch or, if denied, with the Board for Correction of Military/Naval Records. These boards often applied different standards and had varied practices from branch to branch, leading to inconsistent outcomes for similar cases.
Thus, two service members with similar backgrounds and circumstances could receive vastly different decisions simply because they served in different branches or were evaluated by different boards. Congress recognized that this system lacked a uniform standard of fairness, which could undermine trust in the military justice process. The DARB was intended to provide a standardized, independent review, reducing service-specific variance and increasing fairness in outcomes.
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Closing the “Final Review” gap — Under the old system, once a veteran exhausted all internal service appeals, there was no consistent, final administrative review mechanism before moving to judicial action, such as pursuing relief in federal court. This gap left veterans in limbo and disproportionately disadvantaged those without resources to pursue legal action. The DARB fills this gap by acting as the final administrative review board for discharge upgrade requests, providing a definitive conclusion on equitable and procedural questions before any judicial review.
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Supporting modern understanding of trauma and behavior — Modern legal and medical scholarship increasingly recognizes that disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury (common among combat veterans) can significantly affect behavior and may contribute to misconduct that leads to a discharge. Prior boards sometimes failed to adequately consider this evidence.
The DARB’s establishment reflects a broader legal shift toward recognizing the intersection of behavioral health and trauma with military conduct and discharge characterization. While the DARB itself is primarily a records-review body, the underlying statutory structure that mandates broader consideration of trauma in discharge review reflects this evolution.
How the DARB Changes Substantive Law and Procedure
DARB modifies the appeal process in significant ways:
- Creating a centralized national review — Before the DARB, discharge and dismissal upgrade appeals were handled strictly within each military department’s review boards. Each branch had its own criteria and procedural norms, which sometimes led to significant disparities. The DARB introduces a uniform federal review process for final adjudication, meaning all branches are subject to the same overarching standard when the case reaches the highest administrative level.
- Clearer exhaustion requirements — To appeal to the DARB, a veteran must first exhaust all available service-level remedies—the DRB and BCM/NR—and have been denied relief there. The DARB is explicitly designed as a last administrative stop, ensuring that applicants have pursued every available resource within their service before reaching this platform.
- No personal appearances or new evidence — Unlike many service DRBs, which allow the applicant to appear in person or submit additional evidence, the DARB generally reviews only records from previous boards. Applicants cannot introduce new evidence directly to the DARB; instead, new evidence must first be submitted and considered by the BCM/NR before DARB consideration. This procedural rule emphasizes completing the entire evidentiary record before final appeal.
Importantly, the DARB makes recommendations to the Secretary of the respective military department (Army, Navy, Air Force, etc.). The Secretary then takes the final action on whether to change the discharge characterization. This preserves civilian oversight and ensures that the final decision is both administratively sound and reflective of military needs and fairness.
Who Is Most Likely to Be Affected by the DARB?
The DARB applies only to individuals who were discharged on or after December 20, 2019. That date aligns with the statutory enactment of the DARB’s authority, meaning veterans discharged earlier are generally not eligible. Thus, DARB will specifically impact veterans with less-than-honorable discharges from December 20, 2019, forward. As stated above, veterans must exhaust their service-level appeals before appealing to DARB.
Additionally, the statute explicitly allows surviving spouses, next of kin, or legal representatives of deceased or incapacitated veterans to petition on behalf of the veteran. This ensures that the interests of vulnerable veterans or those who have passed away are also protected.
For veterans who’ve been frustrated by the appeal process, the Discharge Appeal Review Board represents a major opportunity. For veterans and their dependents, the DARB offers a vital new avenue to correct past injustices, help veterans obtain the benefits they deserve, and reclaim the dignity their service has earned.
If your discharge upgrade was denied at the service level, the Discharge Appeal Review Board may represent your final opportunity for administrative relief. The DARB process is highly technical, record-driven, and unforgiving of earlier missteps. Our team helps veterans evaluate eligibility, identify procedural errors, and ensure the strongest possible record is presented before this final review. Contact us today at 470.751.9910 or online to discuss whether a DARB appeal is right for you.