A former Marine who received an \u201cother than honorable\u201d discharge in the \u201990s was able to get the Department of the Navy\u2019s Board for Correction of Naval Records to reexamine his case almost 30 years later. The board later agreed with the man that his status needs revision, and on Feb. 17, former U.S. Marine Corps private Steven E. Albright\u2019s status was changed to reflect that he received a \u201cGeneral (under honorable conditions)\u201d discharge. <\/p>\n
In case documents that Albright provided to Saipan Tribune last week, the USMC originally gave Albright an \u201cother than honorable\u201d discharge on Nov. 24, 1993, citing a \u201cpattern of misconduct\u201d throughout his time as a USMC private in the \u201990s that involved Albright allegedly abusing alcohol and cannabis and refusing treatment for his alleged alcohol and drug abuse. <\/p>\n
In his petition to change his discharge status, Albright explained his circumstances during the period of his alleged misconduct. Albright told the review board that he was continuously sexually assaulted by a male supervisor during his time on active duty, and began to exhibit behaviors seen in victims with post-traumatic stress disorder and military sexual trauma. Albright said he sought help through the Navy, but he was \u201cnot offered treatment following relapse.\u201d Albright said he then turned to alcohol and drugs to cope. <\/p>\n
Almost 30 years later, after reviewing all evidence it had on record, the Board for Correction of Naval Records sided with Albright and understood his situation. The board made clear in documents that it does not condone Albright\u2019s actions, but given its \u201ccurrent understanding of mental health conditions,\u201d saw that changing Albright\u2019s discharge status was warranted.<\/p>\n
Albright spent the early parts of his life in Florida, found himself homeless for some years in Hawaii, and eventually made his way to Saipan, where he resides today. In a phone call with Saipan Tribune, he looked back on his life and shared why he felt his story needed to be told.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had a heck of a life. I\u2019ve been homeless for a time, I\u2019ve been labeled a drug addict, and I couldn\u2019t get a decent job for the longest time due to my discharge. People need to know the truth. I wasn\u2019t a bad Marine, I was just in a bad situation,\u201d said Albright. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A former Marine who received an \u201cother than honorable\u201d discharge in the \u201990s was able…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":330356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-346185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}