United States
Discharge or separation should not be confused with retirement; career U.S. military members who retire are not separated or discharged; rather, they enter the retired reserve and may be subject to recall to active duty.
A discharge completely alleviates the veteran of any unfulfilled military service obligation, whereas a separation (which may be voluntary or involuntary) may leave an additional unfulfilled military service obligation (MSO) to be carried out in the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR).
Below are some of the most common reasons for discharge:
- Expiration of Term of Service (ETS)
- Reaching the maximum age limit
- High Year Tenure (reaching the maximum allowable time-in-grade, and not selected for promotion)
- Disability, Dependency, or Hardship
- Pregnancy/Parenthood
- Personality Disorder
- Condition not a disability
- Physical or Mental Conditions that interfere with military service resulting in being placed on the Temporary or Permanent Disability Retirement Lists
- Convenience of The Government/Secretarial Authority (voluntary redundancy due to funding cutbacks, for example)
- Unsuitability
- Misconduct – Minor Disciplinary Infractions
- Misconduct – Drug Abuse with and without administrative review board
- Misconduct – Commission of a serious offense
- Entry-Level Performance and Conduct
- Resignation (available to officers only)
- Reduction in Force (RIF)
- Uncharacterized if discharged within the first 180 days of service and no misconduct found in service member's record
- Punitive Discharges – Bad Conduct Discharge issued by either Special Court Martial or General Court Martial only. Dishonorable Discharge issued by a General Court Martial only
If discharged administratively for any of the above reasons, the service member will normally receive an honorable or a general (under honorable conditions) discharge. If misconduct is involved the service member may receive an Other Than Honorable (OTH) Discharge service characterization.
Read more about this topic: Military Discharge
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