Separation and boards
A separation notice starts a different clock
An administrative separation ends a career without a trial. Enlisted members get a notification and often a board; officers can face a show-cause notice or a board of inquiry.
You can usually ask for a board, and you can bring a lawyer. Whether to ask, and what to say, is a decision that reaches your benefits and your civilian work for years. We go through it with you before you choose.
What we handle
Notices of separation and what to answer
Administrative separation boards
Boards of inquiry for officers
Show-cause notices
Characterization of service
Rebuttals and character statements
What goes in front of the board
A board decides on what it is shown. We make sure it is shown the whole of your service.
The basis
We read the notice, the evidence behind it and the rule it cites, and check each against the others.
Your service
Evaluations, awards, deployments and statements from the people who served beside you.
Witnesses
Who should speak, who shouldn’t, and how to get them ready for questions.
Your options
Contest it, negotiate it or accept a separation on the best terms available, with the consequences for benefits laid out first.
The deadlines are short
The window to answer a notice, or to ask for a board, is often days, not weeks. If you’ve received one, the most useful thing to do today is write down when it was handed to you and the date it says a response is due.
Then call. Waiving a board without understanding it is the one decision that is hard to undo.
Questions about separation
What is the difference between an honorable, general and other-than-honorable characterization?
It describes how your service is recorded. Each level can change which veterans’ benefits you can use and how civilian employers read your record. We explain what yours could mean before you respond.
Is a board the same as a court-martial?
No. A board is an administrative hearing with no criminal punishment, but its findings can end a career. The rules of evidence are looser, and the stakes are real.
Do officers and enlisted members face the same process?
They overlap but differ. Officers may face a show-cause notice or a board of inquiry; enlisted members face separation processing. We tell you which applies to you and what that changes.