I would argue that being jailed for 12 days, being forced to withdraw from his university and delay his graduation, and losing his financial aid package as a result, all because someone screwed up his discharge paperwork, makes him worthy of "a ton of sympathy".

This isn't about how "much of a veteran" he is. This is about an administrative screw-up costing a young man --- who, by all accounts in the article, was starting to turn his life around --- thousands of dollars and probably months of his life.