Connecticut Counts an Other Than Honorable Discharge as Veteran Status in Defined Cases

This entry is a definition rather than a program, and it is first in the Connecticut list because it decides who every other entry reaches. General Statutes section 27-103(a)(2) defines "veteran," for the general statutes as a whole, as a person honorably discharged from, released under honorable conditions from, or released with an other than honorable discharge based on a qualifying condition from, active service in the armed forces. The third clause is the unusual one. In most states an other than honorable discharge closes the door on state benefits completely. Section 27-103(a)(5) defines "qualifying condition" as (A) a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury made by someone licensed to provide health care services at a VA facility, (B) an experience of military sexual trauma as described in 38 U.S.C. 1720D disclosed to someone licensed to provide health care services at a VA facility, or (C) a determination that sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression was more likely than not the primary reason for an other than honorable discharge. A veteran using the third path goes through the Qualifying Review Board that the same section establishes, which reviews the application, makes a recommendation, and has a reconsideration and appeal route. The Department of Veterans Affairs runs the process. The practical consequence is worth stating plainly. A Connecticut resident with an other than honorable discharge who has a VA-facility PTSD or TBI diagnosis, or who discloses military sexual trauma at a VA facility, is a veteran for the property tax exemptions, the tuition waiver, the state hiring preference, the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines Fund, and the rest of this list. That is not a discretionary waiver. It is the statutory definition. The second definition in the same section gates about half of these benefits. Section 27-103(a)(3) defines "service in time of war" as ninety or more cumulative days during a period of war, unless the person was separated earlier because of an injury incurred or aggravated in the line of duty or a service-connected disability rated by VA. If the period of war itself lasted less than ninety days, the whole period counts. Section 27-103(a)(4) then defines "period of war" by reference to 38 U.S.C. 101, with Connecticut-specific additions. The Vietnam Era is February 28, 1961 to July 1, 1975 in all cases, which is wider than the federal definition. Connecticut also counts combat or combat support service in Lebanon from July 1, 1958 to November 1, 1958 and from September 29, 1982 to March 30, 1984, Grenada from October 25, 1983 to December 15, 1983, Operation Earnest Will from July 24, 1987 to August 1, 1990, Panama from December 20, 1989 to January 31, 1990, Afghanistan from October 24, 2001 to August 30, 2021, and Iraq from March 19, 2003 to December 31, 2011 and from June 1, 2014 to December 9, 2021. Read those last two end dates carefully, because they are closed. Service after August 30, 2021 in Afghanistan, or after December 9, 2021 in Iraq, is not service in time of war under the Connecticut definition unless a later period of war is recognized. A recently separated veteran who assumes wartime status because they deployed may not have it for the tuition waiver or the wartime property tax exemption.