What Happens at a Navy Administrative Separation Board?

When you get a board

The Navy separates enlisted Sailors through one of two procedures under MILPERSMAN 1910-402:

• Notification procedure. The worst characterization possible is General (Under Honorable Conditions). You can demand a board only if you have 6 or more years of total active and reserve service.
• Administrative board procedure. Used when the command wants the option of an Other Than Honorable (OTH) characterization. You can demand a board no matter how long you have served.

Before you elect or waive any rights, you are entitled to consult qualified counsel (MILPERSMAN 1910-406). Do not sign away your right to a board until you understand what you are giving up.

Who sits on the board

Under MILPERSMAN 1910-502, the board has at least three voting members drawn from experienced commissioned, warrant and noncommissioned officers:

• The senior member must be a Navy officer in grade O-4 or above.
• A majority of the members must be commissioned or warrant officers.
• Enlisted members must be E-7 or above and senior to you.
• If you are a reservist, at least one member must be a reserve officer.
• Your commanding officer and executive officer cannot sit as members or act as the recorder.

A recorder presents the government’s case, and a non-voting legal advisor may assist the board.

Your rights at the hearing

Under MILPERSMAN 1910-504, the convening authority must assign you qualified counsel, and you may ask for a military lawyer of your own choice if one is reasonably available. You may also hire a civilian lawyer at your own expense, as long as it does not delay orderly processing. Hiring a civilian lawyer does not take away your assigned Navy counsel.

Under MILPERSMAN 1910-512, you or your lawyer may:

• Challenge a voting member or the legal advisor for cause.
• Submit written or recorded evidence at any time during the hearing.
• Call witnesses on your behalf and question every witness who appears.
• Testify, or choose not to, subject to your right against self-incrimination.
• Present argument before the board closes to deliberate.

What the board decides

The board’s findings and recommendations (MILPERSMAN 1910-516) answer three questions:

1. Is each basis for separation supported? The board makes findings on each reason the command alleged, using a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard.
2. Retain, separate or suspend? Even if a basis is proven, the board can recommend that you be retained, or that separation be suspended.
3. What characterization? If the board recommends separation, it recommends Honorable, General (Under Honorable Conditions) or OTH, where OTH is authorized.

The second and third questions are where your service record, witnesses and character evidence matter most. Many boards are won or lost on retention and characterization, not on the underlying facts.

What happens after the board

The board recommends; the separation authority decides. Under MILPERSMAN 1910-704, a recommendation for an OTH goes to the general court-martial convening authority. If the board recommends retention and higher authority disagrees, the Secretary of the Navy becomes the separation authority, so a command cannot simply ignore a retention vote. If you are separated, the Naval Discharge Review Board and the Board for Correction of Naval Records are the main avenues for review later.

How to prepare

• Collect your evaluations, awards, qualifications, deployment history and training records.
• Line up witnesses who know your work: supervisors, division officers, chiefs and peers. Live witnesses usually carry more weight than letters.
• Gather character letters that address the specific allegation and your value to the Navy.
• Get medical and mental-health records if a condition is connected to the misconduct.
• Write a private timeline for your lawyer, and do not discuss the case with witnesses or post about it.
• Ask your lawyer about every deadline on your notification paperwork.

Why service members choose Gonzalez & Waddington

Gonzalez & Waddington, LLC is a civilian military defense firm representing U.S. service members worldwide. Michael Waddington is a former Army JAG prosecutor, Trial Defense Counsel and Senior Defense Counsel who has practiced military criminal defense for more than 25 years and has litigated more than 200 contested trials. Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington is a founding partner with more than 20 years of military and criminal defense experience and a former Georgia public defender. Together they have written 14 books on military justice, cross-examination and trial advocacy, and both teach other lawyers at national CLE programs. The firm limits its caseload so the senior lawyers stay directly involved from investigation through trial or board.