has struck a blow against a Pentagon policy regarding how military boards evaluate mental health claims, ordering the Army to take a second, harder look at a veteran’s request for medical retirement.
In a decision handed down Thursday, Judge Armando O. Bonilla of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled that the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR) failed to properly evaluate the case of Nathan D. White, a former soldier seeking to convert his disability separation into a medical retirement. The distinction is financially significant: a medical retirement offers lifelong pension payments, while a separation provides only a one-time lump sum.
The ruling in White v. United States specifically targeted a 2024 Pentagon policy directive—known as the "Vazirani Memo"—which instructed military boards to apply "liberal consideration" to discharge upgrades but not to medical fitness determination.
Judge Bonilla rejected that separation as "contradictory and unworkable."
White's case has been remanded to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records for a do-over, with some detailed instructions on what that do-over must address and how that must be documented.
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