"I Was Young and Dumb": Why Age Should Be Considered in the Military Discharge Upgrade Process

Approximately 40% of the United States military is no older than 25. Despite the robust and continued prevalence of young people serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and Space Force, no special consideration is explicitly given to a servicemember’s age when considering upgrades for those discharged under less-than-honorable conditions. These young people volunteer to risk their lives, expecting to be honorably discharged and eligible to receive the benefits promised to them during recruitment and enlistment; however, many instead find themselves with a less-than-honorable discharge, thereby barred from the benefits that motivated them to join in the first place. This Article is the first to explore the relationship between age, brain development, and the military discharge upgrade system. Using a juvenile criminal law lens, the Article looks at what psychologists and neurologists say about brain development in young people, before examining the impact of this research on the criminal law system. It then evaluates why and how this same type of analysis could and should apply in the military context. Ultimately, it shows that age should be factored into the discharge upgrade process as an explicit consideration and offers some proposals on ways to implement this consideration.