This rule provides the liberal consideration procedures and standards the Military Departments’ Review Boards will apply during their review of a former Service member’s request for discharge relief. The Department of Defense (DoD) initially introduced the liberal consideration standard through  policy memoranda, it was partially codified in 2016 and 2017, and the DoD later provided clarifying guidance to the Discharge Review Boards and Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records on the application of liberal consideration in 2024. The purpose of this proposed rule is to consolidate, modify, and replace the current DoD’s policy requirements and procedures for the application of liberal consideration in this rule to clarify existing standards and procedures while ensuring consistency with statutory requirements and providing certainty to former Service members.