Focused legal representation for Sailors, Soldiers, Marines, and Airmen facing administrative separation from the military. Before a command decides how your service ends, make sure your side is fully heard — with a defense grounded in careful preparation, over fifteen years of experience, and a fighting spirit forged in military service.
An administrative separation is not a court-martial — there is no trial and no judge — but its consequences can follow you for the rest of your life. A separation can end your career, cut off military benefits, affect VA eligibility and future employment, and fix a characterization of service — Honorable, General (Under Honorable Conditions), or Other Than Honorable — that stays on your record permanently.
You have rights in this process, and they matter. Depending on your years of service and the characterization your command is seeking, you may be entitled to a hearing before a board of officers, to representation by counsel, to present evidence and witnesses, and to submit a written rebuttal. How those rights are used often decides how your service is remembered.
Facing administrative separation can be overwhelming, especially when your career, your benefits, and your future are decided by paperwork and a board instead of a courtroom. The process moves through defined stages — notification, response, a possible board hearing, and a final decision by the separation authority — and each stage carries its own deadline. Understanding the process is the first step to protecting yourself.
Separation based on misconduct can rest on a single allegation — a failed urinalysis, an Article 15, a civilian arrest, or a serious incident under the UCMJ. The strength of the evidence, and how it was gathered, deserves close scrutiny before it ends a career.
Commands sometimes build a separation case from a series of smaller events — counselings, minor infractions, and negative paperwork. Each entry in that paper trail can be examined, answered, and put in its full context.
When a command claims a service member has failed to meet professional standards, the record does not always tell the whole story. Evaluations, assignments, leadership failures, and circumstances all matter to a fair assessment.
If you are entitled to a board, it is your chance to be heard. Witnesses, documents, character evidence, and your own statement can all be presented — and preparation for that hearing should begin the moment you are notified.
Honorable, General (Under Honorable Conditions), or Other Than Honorable — the characterization you receive affects benefits, education, VA services, and how future employers see your service. Fighting for the right characterization is often the heart of the case.
Even after a decision, options may remain: a written rebuttal before the separation authority decides, requests for reconsideration, and later petitions to a discharge review board or a board for correction of military records.
With over 15 years of experience and a background as a Navy SEAL, Alaric Piette brings a disciplined, strategic approach to every case.
In separation cases, he reviews the evidence, examines the command’s reasoning, and builds a response tailored to your service, record, and future.
Review the separation notice, the alleged basis, your service record, and the deadlines that now control your case.
Examine every counseling, evaluation, and document in the file — including what the command left out.
Build your written response and, if you have one, your board case around the strongest facts in your record.
Stand beside you through the process — advising, preparing, and representing you before the board and the separation authority.
An administrative separation can decide how your service ends — and how the next chapter begins. If you or someone in your family has received a separation notice, contact the Law Office of Alaric Piette, PLLC to discuss your circumstances and your options in a confidential consultation.
