Black Veterans’ insight on racial disparities in military administrative separations

Abstract: Military service provides a path toward the middle class by granting veterans benefits, including healthcare and compensation for disabilities acquired during service. Military characterization of service, assigned by the Department of Defense at separation, can qualify or disqualify veterans from benefits access. Black service members are 50% more likely than White service members to receive an Other Than Honorable rather than an Honorable discharge, resulting in disproportionate impediments to the benefits designed to facilitate re-entry into civilian life and prevent poverty. Yet, the Department of Defense provides little meaningful remedy for Black veterans to correct less than Honorable discharges, instead operating under a presumption that the service member’s own misconduct warranted these discharges. The present study analyzed 26 semi-structured interviews with Black military veterans to gain insight into their experiences in service and how they conceptualize the causes of racial disparities in military separations. The study revealed persistent mechanisms of structural racism in the armed services. The participants (1) described the military as reflective of racialized civilian society rather than a race-neutral meritocracy, (2) emphasized the ability to adapt and conform to white cultural norms as key to success, (3) recounted overt instances of racial harassment, and (4) described a lack of access to accurate information about the administrative separation process. The participants’ experiences of racism in the military suggest that service members’ conduct alone does not explain the statistical racial disparity in ‘bad paper’ discharges and indicate a need for better pathways for Black veterans to correct their discharge status.