When Eve Richardson began working with the Military and Veterans Law Clinic at the UNC School of Law in 2019, clinic director and law professor John Brooker asked her a simple but powerful question: “What do you want to get out of this?”

Like many of Brooker’s clients, Richardson had endured traumatic experiences during her time in the U.S. military. But when she enlisted in the Army in the early 1980s, she was filled with hope.

After completing basic training, she served as a cook in the mess hall and quickly proved her talent, winning several cooking competitions. Her dedication and skill propelled her through the ranks, rising from private to sergeant in just three years. She was even stationed in Germany for a time.

“It was fabulous — until it wasn’t,” she recalls.

Richardson became trapped in an unhealthy relationship with another service member that led to severe depression and anxiety. It took time to recognize the toll it was taking on her, and when she finally decided to end the relationship, she found little support from the military.

“To be a victim you have to know you’re a victim,” Richardson says. “When people tell you it’s your fault, you begin to believe it.”

Then came a crisis: Her young son was hospitalized with kidney problems. Richardson stayed by his side for nearly a month. For that, she was arrested for absence without leave. Her options? Face time in a military prison or accept an other than honorable discharge.

She chose the latter — despite having served her country faithfully for nearly eight years.

Richardson’s story is not unique. Brooker, who spent 15 of his 20 years in the U.S. Army working as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) officer, has heard many like it.

“What piqued my interest was service members with repeated drug use or absence offenses,” Brooker says. “Those are the two big reasons for other than honorable discharges, and I’ve seen this situation over and over again — especially with people who have trauma from war that impacts their judgement.”

Historically, the military has struggled to fully understand how conditions like major depressive disorder, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, racism, and assault trauma affect mental health.

These conditions often contribute to other than honorable (OTH) discharges, which are issued for misconduct such as security violations, assault, abuse of authority, or drug use. As a result, service members with OTH discharges can lose access to critical veteran’s benefits, like health care and disability pay, and face long-term barriers to employment, as the discharge remains on their permanent record much like a criminal conviction.

“In the civilian world, being late to your job can’t get you sent to jail and likely won’t leave a permanent mark on your character,” says Jillian Foye, a third-year law student who works in the clinic. “But if you’re in the military, that’s exactly what happens.”

Today, an estimated 400,000 service members are at risk of being denied access to benefits they’ve earned, according to the Legal Services Center at Harvard Law School. The UNC Military and Veterans Law Clinic is working to change that, one case at a time, by helping veterans upgrade their discharge status. It’s a vital service in North Carolina, where nearly 10% of adults are active duty or former military personnel, or work as civilians for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Understanding the roots of these injustices — and how to fight them — became a personal mission for Brooker, shaped by his own journey through the military ranks and legal system.

From ROTC to JAG

Growing up in Durham, Brooker learned about the Army ROTC scholarship, which offers free tuition in exchange for military service after graduation, from a recruiter. He earned a nearly full ride to Wake Forest University, where he studied politics and history, and was commissioned as an Army officer in 1998.

He began his military career in the Transportation Corps — a logistics branch responsible for moving personnel and supplies via trucks, trains, planes, and boats — at Fort Eustis, Virginia. There, he oversaw watercraft operations on the Atlantic Ocean.

“I loved every minute of it,” Brooker says, grinning.

One day, while reading the on-base newspaper, Brooker learned about the Funded Legal Education Program, which pays for law school for service members who want to join the JAG Corps.

“It seemed too good to be true,” he says. “It meant I’d owe two years in the Army for every year I was in law school. But I really loved the Army and what I was doing at that point.”

Members of the JAG Corps serve as prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges in military trials. They also work in the Army Legal Assistance Office, which provides free legal representation to soldiers, family members, and retirees.

Brooker enrolled at the UNC School of Law in 2000. Just one year later, he witnessed a dramatic shift in the military — from peacetime on September 10, 2001, to wartime on September 11. After graduating in 2003, he joined the JAG Corps and went on to complete two combat tours in Iraq.

“I had to learn how to do legal work overseas,” Brooker says. “Like, how do you have a trial when you don’t have a courtroom? In one instance, we actually built one in Baghdad at a small operating base because our witnesses were there. The war changed the daily nature of what we did all day, every day.”

Returning to his roots

During his time in the Army, Brooker handled many cases involving minor offenses that would be overlooked in civilian life but were punished harshly in the military, such as one-time drug use or absence from duty. These offenses often led to OTH discharges, which could severely impact a service member’s benefits.

“I was very cognizant that an other than honorable discharge could take away someone’s benefits forever,” Brooker shares. “So I’d try to be on the side of the soldier.”

 Toward the end of his military career, Brooker was stationed in Charlottesville, Virginia, home to the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School. He received his Master of Laws degree and worked on the faculty there, where he collaborated with two colleagues to write a book-length guide for the Military Law Review on benefit eligibility for OTH discharges.
 
“In a way, we’d like to think we cracked the code,” he says.
 
This work caught the attention of former UNC School of Law Dean Martin Brinkley, who called Brooker in 2018 to offer him a job running the Military and Veterans Law Clinic. It was too good to turn down, according to Brooker.
 
“When I got offered the clinic, I decided to take cases to help some of the people I was defending when I was in service,” Brooker says. “At that time, there was a lack of understanding of how mental health conditions impacted behavior. And now, we can go back, explain what happened, and ask the military to upgrade their discharge statuses.”

Building cases, changing lives

Research in the clinic involves working closely with clients to help them build a case for discharge status upgrades. This includes reviewing military records, interviewing fellow service members, and understanding the culture of the unit at the time.
 
“Sometimes you’re searching through thousands of pages of service and treatment records,” says Mya Fernandez, a third-year law student who works in the clinic. “You need to understand the Department of Defense language and the code of regulations for the Veterans Benefits Administration.”
 
“It’s similar to historical research,” Brooker adds. “You’re looking back at facts from the past to construct a narrative of what happened.”
 
For veterans who served in the 1960s, for example, the team must research the military’s stance on civil rights, the state of mental health care, and other factors that could have influenced discharge — such as exposure to Agent Orange, a toxic herbicide used during the Vietnam War.
 
To strengthen their cases, clinic students and staff collaborate with a network of interdisciplinary experts. Kimberly Tran, a licensed clinical psychologist and adjunct professor in the clinic, guides students to develop mental health arguments. They also consult with providers from Carolina’s Transforming Health and Resilience in Veterans Program on traumatic brain injuries and work with addiction specialists to address substance use issues.
 
“Professor Brooker not only helps us learn the unique ways this study of law works, but gives us the agency to represent our clients,” Jillian Foye, another student in the clinic, says. “There’s this phrase in law we hear often: Be a zealous advocate for your client. Professor Brooker truly embodies this. He cares so deeply about all clients within the clinic. And he makes it a point to help us have that same kind of energy.”

Upgrading military justice

So far, clinic students have assisted Eve Richardson in obtaining full veteran’s benefits, which have greatly improved her quality of life. She now has access to comprehensive free health care and sees a therapist to help process her military experiences. Her three great-grandchildren, whom she has custody of, will receive education benefits that will help them attend college or obtain other vocational training.
 
While Richardson is still waiting to hear back about her discharge upgrade — a process that can take up to two years — she’s incredibly grateful for the clinic’s support.
 
“Honestly, I was waiting for the clinic to stop calling me, and that never happened,” Richardson says. “This was the first time someone was calling me. And for something that happened over 30 years ago. Mr. Brooker and the students have been a godsend. I wish we had more colleges doing this.”