By Anne Lee, Dwight Hall Community Response Fellow

Four years and three months in the military changed Tara’s life. She was an officer and nurse in the Navy’s emergency services. She left as complications with her Navy fiance’s mental health and eventual death became too much to bear.

The Navy recommended separating her with a “General” discharge. Usually, this is printed on a DD-214—the official record of each person’s discharge or release from the military— as “General (Under Honorable Conditions).” But Tara’s DD-214 read “General (Other Than Honorable).” Such a character of discharge does not exist, and this one single typo was the root of so many other problems to come.

The VA could not help Tara transition into civilian life because they interpreted her discharge as Other Than Honorable. Still, Tara held onto her nursing career and managed to make it on her own for ten years. But ten years later was also the tenth anniversary of her fiance’s death. Her own mental health failed her, and she fell into a downward spiral. When she lost her job and home, she finally reached out for support. The initial bottleneck that her mislabeled DD-214 caused continued to prevent her from receiving any benefits or services. In between her constant returns to the VA with newly requested files and documents, she started drinking. “It was disastrous,” she recalls. “I was screaming and begging for help.” All the while, she was just marked down as unqualified. There seemed to be no way out.

Tara’s first contact with CVLC was in a haze.

She was in and out of hospitals, sometimes barely conscious. CVLC attorney Alden Pinkham was able to stay in contact with her through her clinician. Alden was the one who finally pointed out the issue in Tara’s DD-214. For Tara, meeting CVLC was a serendipitous moment. She reflects, “I honestly don’t remember [how I got in touch] but I did, somehow.”

After years and years of fighting, her record was corrected. Tara could start over.

Tara is now 100% service-connected for PTSD with a permanent and total disability rating, which means the VA cannot reevaluate her and change her status. Her medical, dental, housing, and tax needs are completely covered. Tara joined a residential PTSD program as the first woman in the program, then graduated to the Rocky Hill campus. Tara now lives at Rocky Hill, drives the older veterans around to their appointments, and volunteers at an animal shelter. She has been elected as the President of the Veterans Council in Rocky Hill and is the newest member of the Connecticut Veteran Affairs Board of Trustees. Her dream next year is to travel the world, especially the South Pacific.

“Getting 100% [disability rating from the VA] for the rest of your life was like winning a lottery ticket,” Tara says. She no longer has to put all her problems behind her. She can confront and prioritize her mental, emotional, and physical health–a work still in progress. Alden was there for her every step of the way, and Tara is beyond grateful. Alden convinced her to fight for her benefits when she wanted nothing more to do with her military past.

“They owe you. You deserve it,” CVLC attorney Alden told her.

All Tara had to respond was: “You’re right, let’s do it.”