Story highlights Brandon Heffinger: There is a bitter irony that veterans who are less than honorably discharged because of PTSD issues cannot claim benefits

Congress must amend the law to ensure our veterans -- particularly those struggling with mental health issues -- get the medical attention they need

Brandon Heffinger is a Marine Corps officer, the Director of the Wake Forest Veterans Legal Clinic and a current MPA student at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.

(CNN) Joseph Heller would have had a field day describing what happens to too many American soldiers these days. While on active duty in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, they begin suffering mental health problems -- often they reflect the early onset of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Because of their illness, they act out, get in trouble with their chain of command, and are forced to leave with less than honorable discharges.

But when they return home, their less than honorable discharges prevent them from being considered veterans, so they can't get help from the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to address their PTSD.

It's a classic Catch-22.

Their exclusion from services is both cruel and absurd in cases where the mental and physical scars they bring home from combat, in the form of PTSD or traumatic brain injury (TBI), caused the behaviors that got them discharged less than honorably. Although Congress is working to correct this issue, more must be done -- and as soon as possible.

Service members receive a discharge when they leave active service. Discharges are characterized as Honorable, General, Other Than Honorable, Bad Conduct, or Dishonorable, depending on the circumstances under which they are discharged. The term "less than honorable" refers to any characterization that is not Honorable.