7 Mistakes That Can Cost You Your ADSEP Board
7 Mistakes That Can Cost You Your ADSEP Board
An administrative separation (ADSEP) board can decide whether you keep your career, your benefits, and your Honorable characterization. Many of those cases are not lost in the hearing room. They are lost in the days and weeks before, through decisions made quickly, without advice, and under pressure from the command.
Here are the mistakes we see most often, and what to do instead.
1. Waiving Your Board Without Understanding What You Are Giving Up
The notification will ask you to elect your rights, often on a short deadline. Some commands also offer a “conditional waiver,” where you give up your board in exchange for a guaranteed characterization.
Generally, you are entitled to a board if you could receive an Other Than Honorable characterization or have six or more years of service. Once you waive that right, it is very hard to get back.
What to do instead:
Do not sign the election until you have talked to counsel. A waiver can be the right call in some cases, but only when you know what the board could give you and what you would be giving up.
In 2025, a command tried to push our Sergeant First Class client into a conditional waiver. We pushed back, the command backed down, and the client was allowed to medically retire. In a 2023 case, the command wanted to separate a Sailor without a board. We persuaded the Admiral to grant one, and the board quickly found NO BASIS.
2. Talking Before You Get Advice
The investigation does not stop once the notification arrives. Service members often try to explain themselves to their chain of command, a coworker, or an investigator, hoping it will make the problem go away. It usually does the opposite.
What to do instead:
Exercise your right to remain silent until you have spoken with counsel. (See How to Handle CID, NCIS, or OSI Contact Without Making It Worse.) If a statement would help you, your attorney can help you decide when and how to make one.
3. Assuming Your NJP Result Decides the Board
Some service members found guilty at NJP assume the board is a formality. Others found not guilty assume they are safe. Both assumptions are dangerous. NJP is not a judicial proceeding, and an ADSEP board makes its own findings.
What to do instead:
Treat the board as a new fight. In 2024, Steph’s Chief Petty Officer client was found guilty at NJP of six charges and 11 specifications, and the ADSEP board found NO BASIS on all of them. In 2022, a Navy Chief found not guilty at NJP was still sent to a board, and it found NO BASIS in 10 minutes. (For more, see Why You Can Be Separated Without a Conviction.)
4. Accepting the Government’s Packet at Face Value
The notification packet is the government’s version of events. It may be incomplete, one-sided, or built on an investigation that never interviewed the right people.
What to do instead:
Get every document the government plans to use, and challenge it. Look for inconsistent statements, witness bias, gaps in the investigation, and procedural errors. In urinalysis cases, examine every step from collection to notification. In 2025, Steph walked an ADSEP board through flaws in a Marine Sergeant’s THC urinalysis, from collection and storage through shipping and notification. The board unanimously found NO BASIS.
Also ask whether the board can lawfully proceed at all. In a 2024 case, Steph discovered during preparation that the Navy lacked jurisdiction over her client, who received an Honorable discharge.
5. Relying on Weak Witnesses and Generic Letters
A stack of letters saying you are “a great Sailor” rarely moves a board, especially when the writers do not know what you are accused of.
What to do instead:
Choose witnesses who know you, know the allegations, and can speak to specific facts or performance. Prepare them, and ask for live or video testimony when it matters. (See The Effective Use of Character Witnesses.) In 2023, five people accused a Navy Chief of sexual harassment, bullying, and hazing. Steph gathered witnesses who showed why the allegations were not credible and why he was a strong leader. The board found NO BASIS and retained him.
6. Testifying Without a Plan
You generally can testify under oath, which means facing cross-examination from the recorder and questions from board members. You can make an unsworn statement instead, or you can remain silent. Each choice carries risk, and an unprepared statement can undo an otherwise strong defense.
What to do instead:
Decide with your attorney whether to speak and in what form. If you do speak, prepare and practice. Know what you will say about the allegations, what you will not discuss, and how to answer hard questions without arguing with the board.
7. Fighting Only the Allegations
Many respondents put everything into disproving the misconduct and nothing into the next question: if the board finds a basis, should you be kept, and how should your service be characterized if you are separated?
What to do instead:
Build a retention case from the start. That includes evaluations, awards, deployments, rehabilitation, and witnesses who can speak to your value. In 2023, our client with 19 years of service conceded that a civilian conviction was a basis, but fought the other allegations and made a strong case for retention. The board found NO BASIS on the major allegations and unanimously recommended retention, saving his retirement. In 2026, even after a finding of basis, we secured a suspension and an Honorable discharge at EAS for her Marine Sergeant client.
Bonus: Don’t Think the Board Is the End
A board’s recommendation goes to a separation authority, who reviews it and takes final action. You may be able to submit matters at that stage. If you are separated, a Discharge Review Board or Board for Correction may still be an option later. Plan for every stage from the beginning, and preserve the record you will need later.
Get Help Before You Elect Your Rights
The decisions you make right after notification often matter most. Our ADSEP Board Prep Checklist covers what to gather, but there is no substitute for experienced counsel.
Kral Military Defense represents service members at ADSEP boards across all branches, worldwide. Call 855-707-UCMJ or request a free case evaluation. See more of our case results. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
