HARTFORD, Conn. — Navy and Marine Corps veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan with mental health problems were unfairly given less-than-honourable discharges by the Navy, preventing them from getting Veterans Affairs benefits and other support, according to a lawsuit filed Friday. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Connecticut seeks class-action status for thousands of Navy and Marine Corps veterans. The veterans are represented by students with Yale Law School’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic, which filed a similar lawsuit against the Army last year. The veterans say they were less-than-honourably discharged for minor infractions related to post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries and other mental problems they developed during their service. The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, Marine veteran Tyson Manker, of Jacksonville, Illinois, said Americans need to know that hundreds of thousands of veterans with service-related mental health problems are being denied Veterans Affairs resources because of unfair discharge classifications.

Source: National Post March 02, 2018 17:11 UTC