Val Kraut wrote:

It would be interesting to get a really knowledgable evaluation of this.
They procrastinated until she made 20 years, and some posts indicate pension
is on top 3 not exit grade - if that's true it was a sweetheart deal. Also
some have indicated successfully appealing a less than honorable is close to
an assured win.

When I was in the Navy 78-84 this would have been called an
"Administrative Discharge under other than honorable circumstances". We
were told it's how Walt Disney was discharged not the popular story that
says it was a Dishonorable Discharge.

I figure it won't be appealed because it was the equivalent of a plea
deal. She could have gotten far worse but she could have appealed. If
she agreed to this as a settlement there aren't any appeals. So yes I
agree that it's a sweetheart deal. But I apparently think so for
different reasons than others.

An appeal would have been a mess for the Navy. She's an astronaut and
therefore did better at everything than pretty much anyone else. They
only take the best. Far too much bad publicity. So she agreed to a
deal that got her cashiered with a pension rather than make a big
publicity splash. Were I her I would not want more publicity. Were I
in Navy leadership I would not want more publicity.

Cashier and try to disappear into obscurity. Having gotten into the
astronaut corps you wanna bet she can thrive under an assumed name
somewhere? Piece of cake. Unless her craziness wasn't temporary ...