Is a General Other Than Honorable Discharge a bad thing?

Question

My buddy is a marine and is getting an OTH from the corp. He has been told that this type of discharge is no different from a dishonorable or a bad conduct the only exception being is that he wont get the felony that goes with it. What i am asking is will he be able to get a decent job when he returns to being a civilian?

Answer 1

Um depends on what he got it for.  My younger brother got and OTH from the US Navy for smoking marijuana.  Also, I guess it kinda depends on what you consider a decent job.  He was working in a hospital for awhile (not sure what he was doing).

Answer 2

Yes it is bad bad bad, the only one worse is Dis-Honorable

Vet-USAF

@dded: Hope you are wrong and it is a Under Honorable instead,

Answer 3

Well its' not good.... I know of some people who have gotten them, and It makes things hard at times. depending on the employer the might see that and think less of your friend. Since it was a felony I'd imagine it was bad. I would say a real good job, yeah, it is much harder to get hired but don't let him get down on himself. He'll need a few big positives to erase the negative. just like when anyone makes mistakes.

Answer 4

He'll be ok.

The OTH discharge is NOT the same thing as a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge.  It's like the difference between having a misdemeanor on your arrest record vs. a felony.  A felony will keep you from getting a decent job, a misdemeanor won't.

I got an OTH discharge, and it's never even come up in my almost 20 years in the job market.  Now if he was trying to get a job doing work for the government or something like that it would affect his chances, but in the GENERAL workforce it shouldn't make any difference whatsoever.  A lot of places won't even look it up, and I've never had trouble getting any job because of it.  Even the ones that do a "background check".

Most of my employers were impressed by my previous military service.  No one has ever said anything about my type of discharge.  You obviously don't want to bring up your OTH discharge in your job interview, but most places don't even ask about the type of discharge you got.  

The only thing that sucks is giving up the veterans benefits.  But as far as getting a job, he shouldn't have any trouble.

Edit:  I'm getting some thumbs down, but I know what I'm talking about.  Remember, I have one.  I've made over 6-figures before, and I've never made less than $30,000/year... even right out of the military when the discharge was fresh.  (And that's in Alabama where income and cost of living is really low.)  I've been a loan officer at a bank making $60,000+/year and I've been in management for a couple of different companies.  You might have trouble getting a few select jobs like with the government or something, but there are plenty of good jobs out there that you can get with an OTH discharge.  

"James" below has it right but in more technical terms.  I'm just speaking from experience.  "RE-4 code won't effect his other civilian job prospects since it's just an OTH."

He's not ruined for life or anything.

Answer 5

Yes, he can get a decent private sector job with no problems, State and government job-he might have a harder time.

OTH isn't a good thing...

Answer 6

If he has an RE-1 to RE-3 code on his DD214, it won't effect any job prospects. If he has an RE-4 code on his DD214 when he got kicked out of the military (which is what he'll have if he's getting an OTH), he might not get a civilian job with the government or the military like the post office, secret service, or border patrol and he won't be able to re-enlist in the military. That's it. However, RE-4 code won't effect his other civilian job prospects since it's just an OTH.

Answer 7

An OTH sucks, but it's not the same as a BCD or DD.  BCD and DD are punitive discharges that can only be given at a special or general courts-martial.  If his future employer wants to see his DD-214 they and they notice his characterization of service it most likely will effect whether or not they hire him.  I worked a job when I was going to school after I got out that didn't ask for my discharge papers, but that hasn't been the norm.  The job I currently have pays great and the first thing they wanted to see when they saw I was a vet was my DD-214.  

Answer 8

It's probly better then a section 8 discharge. Things have changed so much since I was in the military.Back in the day, as they say,  you were in and that was it. if you thouhgt you made a mistake joining. tuff. Today if you don't like the way they screem at you,they let you go home to mom with a general discharge. woose.  

Answer 9

With businesses downsizing and people unable to get jobs of any sort, he will find it exptremely difficult.

There are things in life, that will haunt you forever. This is one of them.

Answer 10

yes he can the employer does not care what type of discharge he received . they will not check his milarty back ground. so he does not have to worry about it .

usn vet