Blog

By Kevin Courtney, Esq.  |  Former USMC Judge Advocate  |  California Attorney If you are exploring military disability retirement through the BCMR, a January 2026 ruling from the United States Court of Federal Claims may significantly affect your case. In Meyer v. United States, No. 24-480 (Fed. Cl. Jan....

By Kevin Courtney, Esq.  |  Former USMC Judge Advocate  |  California Attorney A Combat-Related Special Compensation denial is not the end of the road — but it can feel that way. If you recently received a letter rejecting your CRSC application, the CRSC denial appeal process gives you multiple...

By Kevin Courtney, Esq.  |  Former USMC Judge Advocate  |  California Attorney If you have searched for help with a PTSD-based discharge upgrade, you have probably read a dozen summaries of the Kurta and Hagel memos. What is harder to find is a careful read of how...

By Kevin Courtney, Esq.  |  Former USMC Judge Advocate  |  California Attorney If a review board denied your discharge upgrade application, you may have seen the phrase “liberal consideration” scattered throughout its written decision. You may have assumed the board applied the standard. In March 2026, a...

By Kevin Courtney, Esq.  |  Former USMC Judge Advocate  |  California Attorney When the Board for Correction of Naval Records denies your petition, federal court may feel like the next logical step. But what does that challenge actually look like — and what does it take to...

By Kevin Courtney, Esq.  |  Former Judge Advocate (JAG)  |  California Attorney A bad conduct discharge from the Army follows you long after you take off the uniform. It cuts off VA healthcare, blocks federal employment, and sits on your record as the product of a criminal...

Your discharge characterization is one of the most consequential labels the military can place on your service record — and most service members don’t fully understand the different types of military discharge until they are already facing separation. Whether you are currently serving and worried about what is ahead, or you separated...

When you apply for a discharge upgrade, you're not trying to satisfy a bureaucratic checklist. You're trying to persuade a group of military officers that the original discharge was either improper or unjust. That persuasion lives or dies on the strength of your evidence. After years defending service members...

Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) can mean thousands of dollars in annual tax-free income and critical recognition that your disability is combat-connected. But the application process leaves room for costly mistakes. Errors in your CRSC submission can lead to outright denials, long delays in receiving benefits, or the frustrating task of re-filing and...

You didn't plan for this moment. Maybe it was a positive urinalysis that came back wrong, or a decision you made during one of the hardest stretches of your life. Now you're staring at a Statement of Reasons — or waiting for one — and wondering whether your career, your clearance, and everything you've...

Many Navy and Marine Corps military retirees in Southern California — living near Naval Base San Diego, Camp Pendleton, MCAS Miramar, or anywhere throughout the region — are leaving significant money on the table every month. Not because they don’t qualify for Navy CRSC or Marine Corps CRSC. But...