I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1701 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Defense 

to establish a special review board for certain former members of the 

Armed Forces with post-traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain 

injury, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 25, 2009 

Mr. JONES (for himself and Mr. TAYLOR) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Defense to establish a special review board 

for certain former members of the Armed Forces with 

post-traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘PTSD/TBI Guaran5 teed Review For Heroes Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SPECIAL REVIEW BOARD. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 79 of title 10, United 

3 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1553 

4 the following new section: 

5 ‘‘§ 1553a. Special review board for former members 

6 with post-traumatic stress disorder or 

7 traumatic brain injury 

8 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—(1) The Secretary of De9 fense shall establish within the Office of the Secretary of 

10 Defense a board of review to review the discharge or dis11 missal (other than a discharge or dismissal by sentence 

12 of a general court-martial) of a covered individual. The 

13 board shall be known as the ‘special review board’. 

14 ‘‘(2) The special review board shall consist of not 

15 fewer than five members, at least one of whom shall be 

16 a health care professional from a field of medicine relevant 

17 to the matter being reviewed. 

18 ‘‘(b) REVIEW.—(1) Upon the request of a covered in19 dividual, Member of Congress, or the surviving spouse, 

20 next of kin, or legal representative of a covered individual, 

21 the special review board may review the discharge or dis22 missal of the individual. A request for review shall be made 

23 not later than 15 years after the discharge or dismissal. 

24 ‘‘(2) The review by the special review board under 

25 paragraph (1) shall be based on— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the records of the Armed Force concerned, 

2 including an evaluation of the actions of the covered 

3 individual before and after a deployment in support 

4 of a contingency operation; 

5 ‘‘(B) the treatment or lack of treatment re6 ceived by the covered individual for post-traumatic 

7 stress disorder or traumatic brain injury; and 

8 ‘‘(C) such other evidence as may be presented 

9 to the board. 

10 ‘‘(3) A covered individual who requests a review 

11 under this section may appear before the board in person 

12 or by counsel or an accredited representative of an organi13 zation recognized by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

14 under chapter 59 of title 38. 

15 ‘‘(4) If the special review board reviews the discharge 

16 or dismissal of a covered individual, a service review agen17 cy may not review such discharge or dismissal. 

18 ‘‘(5) If a Member of Congress requests the review of 

19 a covered individual under paragraph (1) and the special 

20 review board denies such request or does not change the 

21 discharge or dismissal of such individual under subsection 

22 (c), the special review board shall notify such Member of 

23 Congress of the decision and the rationale for such deci24 sion. 


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1 ‘‘(c) ACTIONS.—As the result of a review of a covered 

2 individual under subsection (b), the special review board 

3 may change the discharge or dismissal of the individual 

4 to honorable. 

5 ‘‘(d) CORRECTION OF RECORDS.—The Secretary con6 cerned shall correct the military records of a covered indi7 vidual in accordance with a change made by the special 

8 review board under subsection (c). 

9 ‘‘(e) REGULATIONS.—(1) This section shall be car10 ried out in accordance with regulations prescribed by the 

11 Secretary of Defense. 

12 ‘‘(2) The regulations under paragraph (1) shall speci13 fy reasonable deadlines for the performance of reviews re14 quired by this section. 

15 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 ‘‘(1) The term ‘covered individual’ means a 

17 former member of the Armed Forces who— 

18 ‘‘(A) was deployed in support of a contin19 gency operation; 

20 ‘‘(B) was discharged or dismissed from the 

21 Armed Forces under a general or other than 

22 honorable condition; and 

23 ‘‘(C) has been diagnosed by a health care 

24 professional with post-traumatic stress disorder 

25 or a traumatic brain injury. 


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1 ‘‘(2) The term ‘health care professional’ means 

2 a physician, clinical psychologist, or psychiatrist. 

3 ‘‘(3) The term ‘Member of Congress’ has the 

4 meaning given that term in section 1130(d)(1) of 

5 this title. 

6 ‘‘(4) The term ‘service review agency’ has the 

7 meaning given that term in section 1559(c) of this 

8 title.’’. 

9 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

10 at the beginning of chapter 79 of title 10, United States 

11 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

12 section 1553 the following new item: 

‘‘1553a. Special review board for members with post-traumatic stress disorder 

or traumatic brain injury.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. EXAMINATION AND EVALUATION OF MEMBERS 

14 WITH POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER 

15 OR TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY. 

16 (a) REFERRAL TO PHYSICAL EVALUATION BOARD; 

17 LIMITS ON SEPARATION.—Section 1145(a)(4) of title 10, 

18 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

19 following new subparagraph: 

20 ‘‘(C) If a physician, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, 

21 or other appropriate health care professional determines 

22 in an examination under this paragraph that a member 

23 who was deployed in support of a contingency operation 


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1 has (or may have) post-traumatic stress disorder or a 

2 traumatic brain injury, the Secretary concerned— 

3 ‘‘(1) shall refer the member for evaluation by a 

4 physical evaluation board under section 1222 of this 

5 title; and 

6 ‘‘(2) may not separate the member from an 

7 Armed Force until the Secretary considers the re8 sults of the evaluation as provided in subsection (d) 

9 of such section.’’. 

10 (b) EVALUATION BY PHYSICAL EVALUATION

11 BOARD.—Section 1222 of title 10, United States Code, 

12 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub13 section: 

14 ‘‘(d) EVALUATION FOR POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS

15 DISORDER OR TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY.—With respect 

16 to a member who is referred under section 1145(a)(4)(C) 

17 of this title to a physical evaluation board for evaluation— 

18 ‘‘(1) if the board determines that the member 

19 is unfit to perform the duties of the member’s office, 

20 grade, rank, or rating because of post-traumatic 

21 stress disorder or traumatic brain injury, the Sec22 retary concerned shall retire or separate the member 

23 pursuant to this chapter; and 

24 ‘‘(2) if the board determines that the member 

25 is fit to perform the duties of the member’s office, 


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1 grade, rank, or rating, the Secretary concerned shall 

2 take into account the findings of the board in the 

3 course of any separation of the member from an 

4 Armed Force.’’. 

Æ 


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