Koch attorney Joel Barnes teamed up with the Koch Pro Bono Initiative and The Veterans Consortium to assist a former Marine upgrade his other than honorable discharge and receive the benefits he earned.
Former U.S. Marine Michael Gerardo spent years struggling with substance abuse. It was just one way he was trying to deal with the physical and mental pain left from his time serving in the U.S. military. His substance use led to an other than honorable discharge. That meant he no longer qualified for most medical, educational and reputational benefits of having served in the military.
“I get to live with the torment,” he says, “but I can’t put it on my resume.”
Michael is one of more than 50,000 service members discharged under other than honorable conditions since 2010. Like Michael, many of the other than honorable discharges during this time were due to drug offenses stemming from efforts to self-medicate and relieve the impacts of post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.
The Veterans Consortium believes veterans in this kind of situation deserve the care, benefits and compensation they were promised. It created the pro bono program to provide free quality legal services to help them obtain a discharge upgrade and regain the benefits they lost.
With the help of The Veterans Consortium, the Koch Pro Bono Initiative and Koch attorney Joel Barnes, Michael recently received a discharge upgrade and the reinstatement of his benefits. The effort took years and helps demonstrate one of the many ways Koch and its employees work to remove barriers that prevent people from reaching their full potential.
Michael’s Journey
Michael currently works as a readjustment counselor at the Vet Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Every day he meets with members of the military who need help readjusting to life after combat and the challenges that come with it. He makes good use of his recently obtained Master of Social Work from the University of Arkansas, but he also has something that no degree could give him — his own experience as someone with PTSD who turned to substances to find relief.
Michael’s journey from battling substance use issues to readjustment counselor hasn’t been easy. In the years immediately after his discharge from the military, he spent much of his time going in and out of drug treatment centers. There were run-ins with law enforcement, periods of homelessness and suicidal thoughts.
“I was just kind of running amuck,” he says. “Just dealing, robbing, doing whatever I could to get high every day.”
Michael spent his 26th birthday in a detox facility. He says after this round of detox things finally began to click. In 2016, he got clean and, after taking a few classes at community college, got accepted into Texas Christian University.
“I figured if I put as much energy into university as I did to getting high every day, there’s no way I can’t pass,” he says. “And so that’s what I did — I tried.”
Michael graduated from TCU with a Bachelor of Science in psychology with minors in history and social work.
It was around this time he began looking into what he could do to upgrade his other than honorable discharge. He wanted to be able to get treatment for his unresolved health issues from his time in the military.
Return to Honor
Previous efforts to get his discharge upgraded had not gone well. He’d gotten his discharge upgraded in 2017, but the secretarial review authority of the Navy overturned it.
He’d just about given up when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, leaving him with plenty of time and not a lot to do. That’s when he reached out to The Veterans Consortium, which connected him with Joel Barnes.
“I got the sense almost immediately that he was a good person and was remorseful for what he had done and had changed tremendously,” Joel says.
Joel got involved because he wanted to help real people. Working with The Veteran’s Consortium allowed him to feel like he was making a real difference in an individual’s life.
“Getting an upgrade can mean the difference between somebody leading a normal life and being homeless, frankly,” he says. “Helping them achieve that is simply removing barriers so people can be everything they want to be.”
Since its creation in 1992, The Veterans Consortium has handled more than 67,000 legal requests and recruited, trained and mentored almost 6,000 attorneys, including several Koch attorneys.
At the end of 2023, Michael finally received the good news he’d waited years to receive. His discharge had been upgraded to a general discharge, meaning he’d once again get access to the benefits he felt he had earned.
More importantly, he says, he no longer feels like an imposter.
“I’m covered in military tattoos, and I always felt like I was one of those stolen valor guys,” he says. “Now I get to say I’m a veteran. Now I get to wear these tattoos with honor.”
