What is the name of your state? Oregon
Hello, I am wondering if I have a good chance of getting my OTH RE-4 from the USMCR upgraded. The separation code is due to participation failure.
Back Story... looong:
I went to boot camp Feb/91 during the first Gulf War and was on active duty a little over 6 mos before I was released to my reserve unit. I had good scores in my SRB and zero disciplinary issues. I only made it to drill for about 6 or 7 mos before I wrecked my hand (as a civy). It required a surgery so I missed a couple of drills since I was useless. That surgery didn't work so I had another one that made me miss more drills. About 2 months after my second surgery, I visited Oregon to see if I was going to move there or not and the reserve unit was in CA. Since I had previously called the unit each time when I couldn't drill due to my injury, I did the same when I was in Oregon and talked to the TOP SGT. He told me to just let him know what's going on and if I was going to move or not. About 2 months later, I called him and told him I was pretty sure I would stay in Oregon but not 100%. He said call him when I'm sure. In between all of this, I would get an occasional call from a unit admin that was just checking in to make sure I was still alive.
Fast forward three months later: I get a call from someone I had never heard from before who must have had his boxers in a bunch that day. Absolutely lays into me telling me I’m UA and this and that. I tell him to talk to the TOP and he tells me he retired and is no longer reachable. Evidently there was no record in my file that I had two surgeries, or was in the process of moving. He told me that if I didn’t have some kind of proof of my surgeries faxed to him in 24 hours, then he was giving me a general discharge. I called my Dr. and his entire office was on vacation so I couldn’t get the records I needed. I called and talked to Sgt. What’s his name and told him this and he thought I was lying and said he was sending out paperwork for me to sign for a general discharge. I told him that I want to see about transferring to a different unit up here since there was one in Portland. He told me that he already checked and said there were no billets for radio operators and that I had missed too much training anyway.
The paperwork never came and I figured something must have been holding it up. About 3 or 4 months later, I get some military pay deposited in my account and figured that I was done, besides, they knew how to reach me and would have cleared something up if needed. I didn't carry around a book on UCMJ so I didn't know how these things should happen.
I never knew what kind of discharge I received until recently when I requested my records from the archives. My DD214 was never updated after I got released from active service to the reserves and they sent that one. They also sent a copy of a letter that looks like it should have been sent to me that I hadn’t seen before. It was dated Nov of 1993 and stated I was administratively discharged for failure to participate in the reserves and has a reenlistment code of RE-4.
I never signed any paper work agreeing to or acknowledging the discharge. I was never informed of the conditions of the type of discharge I would receive, other than a general one which is not what I got. Do you think I have a good shot of getting my record upgraded? I’m not sure if I would ever reenlist since time is running out due to my age, but I would REALLY like my record fixed since OTH is pretty harsh. I have also done some research and found that the Marines tend to give out OTH discharges like candy for reservists with poor participation, when the other services tend to give general discharges under honorable conditions.What is the name of your state?
Hello, I am wondering if I have a good chance of getting my OTH RE-4 from the USMCR upgraded. The separation code is due to participation failure.
Back Story... looong:
I went to boot camp Feb/91 during the first Gulf War and was on active duty a little over 6 mos before I was released to my reserve unit. I had good scores in my SRB and zero disciplinary issues. I only made it to drill for about 6 or 7 mos before I wrecked my hand (as a civy). It required a surgery so I missed a couple of drills since I was useless. That surgery didn't work so I had another one that made me miss more drills. About 2 months after my second surgery, I visited Oregon to see if I was going to move there or not and the reserve unit was in CA. Since I had previously called the unit each time when I couldn't drill due to my injury, I did the same when I was in Oregon and talked to the TOP SGT. He told me to just let him know what's going on and if I was going to move or not. About 2 months later, I called him and told him I was pretty sure I would stay in Oregon but not 100%. He said call him when I'm sure. In between all of this, I would get an occasional call from a unit admin that was just checking in to make sure I was still alive.
Fast forward three months later: I get a call from someone I had never heard from before who must have had his boxers in a bunch that day. Absolutely lays into me telling me I’m UA and this and that. I tell him to talk to the TOP and he tells me he retired and is no longer reachable. Evidently there was no record in my file that I had two surgeries, or was in the process of moving. He told me that if I didn’t have some kind of proof of my surgeries faxed to him in 24 hours, then he was giving me a general discharge. I called my Dr. and his entire office was on vacation so I couldn’t get the records I needed. I called and talked to Sgt. What’s his name and told him this and he thought I was lying and said he was sending out paperwork for me to sign for a general discharge. I told him that I want to see about transferring to a different unit up here since there was one in Portland. He told me that he already checked and said there were no billets for radio operators and that I had missed too much training anyway.
The paperwork never came and I figured something must have been holding it up. About 3 or 4 months later, I get some military pay deposited in my account and figured that I was done, besides, they knew how to reach me and would have cleared something up if needed. I didn't carry around a book on UCMJ so I didn't know how these things should happen.
I never knew what kind of discharge I received until recently when I requested my records from the archives. My DD214 was never updated after I got released from active service to the reserves and they sent that one. They also sent a copy of a letter that looks like it should have been sent to me that I hadn’t seen before. It was dated Nov of 1993 and stated I was administratively discharged for failure to participate in the reserves and has a reenlistment code of RE-4.
I never signed any paper work agreeing to or acknowledging the discharge. I was never informed of the conditions of the type of discharge I would receive, other than a general one which is not what I got. Do you think I have a good shot of getting my record upgraded? I’m not sure if I would ever reenlist since time is running out due to my age, but I would REALLY like my record fixed since OTH is pretty harsh. I have also done some research and found that the Marines tend to give out OTH discharges like candy for reservists with poor participation, when the other services tend to give general discharges under honorable conditions.What is the name of your state?