AWOL for ~5 years

[Catch77]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?TN
I left my duty station in Jan of 2000 and have not been back since. I had served for 2 years and 1 month (out of 4) when I left (finished basic, ait, etc). I was facing punishment for taking leave a day earlier during Thanksgiving break (left town Sunday when leave didn't start until Monday). To make a long story short after receiving the punishment (30 days extra duty) from my CO, I decided to leave the Army. I know that there was a better way of dealing with it but that's beside the point. So no preaching, please I am wondering what my options, if any, are. I have family and financial obligations ( a kid and a mortgage) that I didn't have when I was in. I don't want to be "rehab"d, I don't care what kind of discharge I receive, I just want to be processed out. Is this something that can be done in a week or two. I would like to not have it interfere with my current job and living situation. Should I get a civilian lawyer to handle it for me? Also I've called in to the deserter info point every 6 months for the last five years and they tell me that I am not in "deserter" status, but DFR, my unit hasn't reported me and I don't know if they plan to. Is there a statute of limitation on this? I don't want to be 60 and having to deal with something that happened 40 years ago, so I would like to take care of it ASAP. I've been stopped by civilian police at least 3 times in the past years and I don't come up on the NCIC check. So I can't even just show up at Ft Sill, can I? I guess what I really wnat to know is that can I negotiate the terms of my return to military control, i.e. calling my unit and seeing if the current commander will just process me out if I show up. Any reasonable advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[badapple40]

You can be processed at fort sill. A civilian attorney can negotiate on your behalf with the unit. I'd expect there to be hell to pay given that you also will be charged for willful disobedience of an order by breaking restriction.

[lvn4ever]

BADAPPLE is JAG atty/AF. He knows what he is talking about. I hope you take his advice to heart.

As you may find out, DESERTER is a term that is often misused. When dealing with this problem for a friend, I found that the term DESERTER is initially used for someone gone for 30 days or more because after the magic time of 30 days the military says you ARE NOT coming back. NONETHELESS, once you do return to military control, if it is by surrender rather than apprehension, it seems that you MAY revert to be charged with as AWOL rather than DESERTER. At that point, the term DESERTER means reflects what are going to be charged with.....does the military feel that you never intended to return or, after the fact, have you been proven to have had no intention of returning on your own. So the term seems to reflect both the amount of time you are gone AND what your intentions are judged to be. My understanding of this term may be somewhat flawed, but I think I have the gist of it.

As for not having any problems when the police ran your SSN at routine traffic stops, God has smiled on you! I was in contact with one AWOL female who had been stopped at least twice and both times the police let her go. Once there didn't seem to be any glitch, the second time they told her she should report to the nearest military facility immediately and let her drive off. Your concern about facing the consequences when you are 60 are well founded as I read of one AWOL who, like you, had been gone for a long time, started a new and agreable life and then WHAMMY got stopped by police for the proverbial "tail light out". A friend was posting here for info on what to do for this guy, who was sitting in a county lock up in East Nowhere, waiting for the MPs to pick him up. You can imagine he had some explaining to do to his wife, children, boss etc when he finally returned to his new life.

Although you have been fortunate, everyone's luck runs out sopner or later. I hope this gets resolved quickly for you.