AWOL back to Ft. Knox PCF

[newyorkman]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY
July, 2008

This is a factual experience of going AWOL and being discharged from Ft. Knox. Do not listen to people who have not gone through such an experience, they don't know what they are talking about or are trying to scare you to stay in. Military law holds that you can receive the death penalty for desertion, but the reality is that it never happens. Same deal with going AWOL, the reality is right here in this thread.

Profile :
IET soldier, completed basic, no pending charges/article 15's. (There were permanent party soldiers with me at Knox too and they received the same deal as IET soldiers. I think if you go AWOL while serving overseas they treat you differently. There were also soldiers with a record of field grade article 15's, but as long as they are over and done with, you are treated the same as this profile)
I waited till I had confirmation that I was DFR'd, and took the bus to Ft. Knox and arrived on a Teusday. I did not want to be apprehended because you will be held at a local jail until they get you on a bus/plane to Knox/Sill. I avoided going this route because you can be held up to 30 days in local (usually 3-10 days), and won't shower, eat well, etc...
*If you are taking the bus, take it to Elizabethtown and not Louisville. Louisville is about 30 miles from Knox while Elizabethtown is only 15.

What to bring?
>Underwear/boxers. They let me keep a solid white undershirt and solid white ankle socks.
>A couple of good books.
>Money for food/drinks on (for some people) can be a long ride to PCF and back home.
Anything else will be put away into a locked room. Valuables such as keys, cellphone/charger, money, wallet, etc... will be sealed and put away and given to you moments before you are ready to leave the base and go home. Unopened cigarettes can be put in this bag as well, but if they are open they will be destroyed.

If your profile is like mine, the only way you will be held longer than the customary 3-4 days is if you bring up any issues that the Army has to investigate. Ie, recruiter fraud, problems with cadre/other soldiers, or if you put up a legal defense to the charge of going AWOL.

Arrive on a Teusday morning, eat a good meal, make sure you get there by noon so they can process you in that day. Theoretically you can still make a Friday departure if you get there on a Wed, but don't bet on it, just get there on Teusday.

Here is my experience :
I arrived at the gate where the civilian security frisked me, and searched all of my belongings. If you have cigarettes they will tell you to smoke a cigarette because you will not be able to smoke at the PCF.
MP's pick you up, cuff you, and drive you to the MP station. There you will be fingerprinted and the initial paperwork is done. This process isn't long at all. After they are done with you, they drive you to the PCF facility.
At PCF you will surrender your belongings and fill out in processing paperwork. You will get a foot locker, lock, Army sweats, sheets, pillow, blanket, and hygiene bag.
Your head will be shaved.
The rooms generally hold 3 people at most. When I arrived there was less than 10 people at PCF, by the end of the week that number would swell to over 30, but by the time it gets that large, most of those people go home.
The bed is comfy and you will sleep well. There is FG and CQ every night.
The food is provided by the RCF (military prison of Knox) and it is absolutely horrible. You get fed 3 times a day.
All day long you will sit in the day room and do nothing but talk to each other or stare at the wall. I only went on detail once, and I was glad to go because we bummed cigarettes of our civlian handlers.
The man in charge of PCF is Lt. Laplace. He is not an Army Lt. He is a cop Lt.
There is no PT or morning stretches whatsoever but if you are a real jackass Sgt. Rich will drop you.
Wake up is around 5:30a. Free time is around 6p. You can watch t.v., they generally let you watch whatever you want (they have cable). Or you can just go upstairs and pass out. Lights out is at 10p.
You get ACU's not BDU's, and no they do not fit right at all.

Here is the procedure: If you get there on a Teus.
Teus - In-processing into PCF.
Wed. - You meet civilans on the second floor to gather up your legal documents requesting a Ch. 10 OTH.
Thurs - You meet JAG lawyers, they only meet you on Mon, or Thurs. If you accept the Ch. 10 and they sign off on it, you are almost out the door. In the afternoon you are given a class detailing what this discharge affords you benefits wise, and all that other good stuff.
Fri - In the morning you hand everything in and basically outprocess. You change into your civies, are given your leave papers, and board a bus that usually comes around 11a. Yes, you leave in the morning. The bus takes you to 1 of 2 destinations, the airport or bus in Louisville. The best time to get a ticket is 1am or past. Those that had a 12:30 bus ticket just barely made it, I mean they were literally a minute away from missing their bus.

Thats all for the facts folks, not here comes my advice (I can't stand by the following comments seeing as to how I am fresh out of PCF, but these are the impressions that the experience has left me)
Going AWOL saved my life and can save yours too. If you feel like you have no options to get out or just feel stuck and don't know how, (so long as Army policy doesn't change) going AWOL is an absolutely painless/easy way to get out.
Under current Army policy, you will be given a Ch. 10 general discharge under other than honorable terms (generally referred to as a Chap 10 OTH).
This discharge will not ruin your life. It will simply close doors in it and decrease opportunities you had before you joined.
The thurs. class basically told us an OTH gives us Tricare health insurance until we get our discharge papers.
You are not discharged from the Army until you receive those papers, you are instead given leave until then.
Supposedly we can still go on base and use PX and stuff like that.
They will also help you find work if you want, they offer free workshops on preparing to find work and etc... They even give you a federal job website and encourage you to apply for federal jobs. Yes thats right, according to them, the federal gov't will still employ you. The impression I got was that if they ever reached your name and gave you an interview, you just better have a good story for why you have a Ch. 10 discharge. The biggest drawback, is kiss any financial aid for school goodbye.

Here is why you can stay longer, much much longer at PCF. If you say anything about your experience in the Army that would cause them to investigate. Some people were there for almost 60 days, but these people were getting a general discharge under honorable conditions which is ideally the discharge you would like to get. The smartest thing to do would be to consult with a military lawyer and come up with a plan to have this happen. Even if you stay at that crummy place for 60 days, getting a general discharge will be highly rewarding and you won't regret it. I don't think its hard to drum up a story to get them to grant you the discharge, but I haven't tried. Getting an upgrade after you sign the OTH is very difficult if you have no legitimate reason to seek it. I believe the percentage of people granted one is under 15%.
OTH discharge is permanent (unless you are granted an upgrade), so think long and hard about whether or not this is the best thing for you
Coming home after serving for months or years might be a damn good feeling, but the novelty starts to wear off and you start realizing why you joined in the first place. Give this more thought than I gave it. Not that I regret it, but I acted in haste and cost myself many treasures that could have been gotten with some patient thought.

I am writing this because I wish I had such information available to me. Thanks to those on this site that posted PCF stories, you were my only ray of hope.

Good luck!

[Peligroso27]

You say, "Going AWOL saved my life and can save yours too. If you feel like you have no options to get out or just feel stuck and don't know how, (so long as Army policy doesn't change) going AWOL is an absolutely painless/easy way to get out."
Then you go on to say, "This discharge will not ruin your life. It will simply close doors in it and decrease opportunities you had before you joined." You also forgot to add oppritunities you would have had after you got out honorably as well. Also you state, "kiss any financial aid for school goodbye." So it seems that a chapter 10 is not so painless after all. You confuse me a little bit with your crazy double talk. I hope this is the last I got done from being awol story that gets posted on here. I have read quite enough of them.

[newyorkman]

"absoultely painless/easy.." Poor choice of words written in my hastely worded opinion. But that's the process of how it goes. If you feel you really you made a mistake, get out before it gets worse. That's one way to do it, the way I did it and it worked to get me out. But not without scratches to my future.

[missc123]

what if they lose your papers? my daughter wanted out of army.went awol i boot camp and turned herself in but they are keeping her there a long time.they say they lost her papers from ft knox.gwena

[newyorkman]

If she's already there, she'll have to suck it up until they get her papers together.

Ideally, you don't want to go until you have confirmed that your packet (this is hand in hand with being Dropped From the Rolls), has reached PCF facilities at Knox or Sill (I think both of them would get it). I say ideally because some people get apprehended before the usual 30-45 days of being DFR'd.

If you are not DFR'd, every indication that I've seen says you will be on the first flight/bus back to your former unit.

Make sure you are PCF eligible before you undergo this process. Call GI Rights and ask them how [to find out]*edit, they came to my door and delivered a message saying I was dropped.

[CMTRMN]

Originally Posted by newyorkman

If she's already there, she'll have to suck it up until they get her papers together.

Ideally, you don't want to go until you have confirmed that your packet (this is hand in hand with being Dropped From the Rolls), has reached PCF facilities at Knox or Sill (I think both of them would get it). I say ideally because some people get apprehended before the usual 30-45 days of being DFR'd.

If you are not DFR'd, every indication that I've seen says you will be on the first flight/bus back to your former unit.

Make sure you are PCF eligible before you undergo this process. Call GI Rights and ask them how [to find out]*edit, they came to my door and delivered a message saying I was dropped.

How do you find out if they have your packet and if you are DFR? I heard they do not give that information over the phone???

well hell i wish it was that easy for me you lucky dog, crap man ive gone awol 4 times already been to the PCF once and still aint DFR'D after a year and a half!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

so dont tell people on here its that easy because its NOTTTTTTTTTTTT

until im DFR i cant get out, i really wonder what would happen if they sent me back to bootcamp , would they pull there usual "Let him cook" routine or would they just restart me?

interestting thought since they never did my FREAKN PAPERWORK, yeah after being gone awol 3 times i just kinda gave up on turning myself in because i have no warrant and i got some NGB forms in the mal but surprisingly no DD 214 with em, so they ive been attached to bootcamp or whatever the hell that means, anyway GOOOOD JOB!

GL with your oth though

[ulsterjack]

hey newyorkman. thanks for your post. question for you- do you know anything about awols who left their units while on leave from iraq? do they get the same treatment as you? ive been gone 7 months now, and was in the army for almost a year. i saw a case about a guy who left while on leave, gone 10 months, but now is being prosecuted. im looking just to get out, same as you, and not justify my actions.

[suw07]

"There were also soldiers with a record of field grade article 15's, but as long as they are over and done with, you are treated the same as this profile"

I had a pending Field grade Article 15 before I left. I've been told it should not pose a problem with me getting out of there in 3 days. Do you agree? Did you meet anyone with a pending Art. 15?
I should be going soon. Just trying to be assured as much as possible.



Also, you said you can "kiss any financial aid for school goodbye"

Why is this? Did they say this to you? Do you mean all financial aid or just government scholarships/grants?

[girightslawyer]

First, thanks NewYorkMan for posting your experiences at Ft. Knox PCF.

I do have one correction though. With regards to financial aid, a chapter 10 OTH discharge will only mean you won't get your GI Bill. You still are fully eligible for all other federal financial aid such as Pell grants, student loans, work study, etc. All of that is not based on the military and you get that aid based on need after you fill out a FAFSA (find out more at fafas.ed.gov)

Also some of other folks have asked about pending article 15's. In theory a unit could ask for a soldier to come back because of that, but I've never had that happen to any of my clients. A bigger issue is if you get in trouble with the law while you are AWOL.

Good luck to all who are working on being free from the Army. Don't give up hope! You can get out.

[lbcr22]

hello newyorkman, first of all thanks for taking the time to post your experience so that those of us who want to turn ourselves in have an idea of what to expect. i understand each case is different but thank you nonetheless. i'm turning myself in next week and wanted to ask you if you know of any soldiers there getting the opportunity to finish what's left of their contract?

[angelydiablo6]

I really don't know your story but yes my husband is finishing his contract with no punishment but thats not likely. But he was active duty and went back to his duty staion not sill/knoxville so I don't know about those places. He went to Iraq and finished the tour. It all depends on your Commander mainly. Good Luck

[lbcr22]

well, i left during a change of duty station. should i turn myself in to where i was supposed to be stationed next or to ft knox?

[lifehappens1]

Interesting thread, more and more it helps me understand what and why I went through what I did being married to someone in the military. Oh, he didn't go AWOL from the military he is still there, he just went AWOL from his family... But given the dynamics of how the army handles things, well it puts a whole new meaning to why they couldn't get their act together regarding my case.

FYI for those that are staying longer than your stay, I think you said some where in the PCF for 60 days, I figure it's got to be all about the numbers. They really don't want the public to know how many people are defecting from a messed up system. No matter how patriotic we try to be as a society, most people can't handle being in stressful situations for too long. War is stressful, and for those of you who say they knew that going in, sure but the reality didn't set in until they were actually in it.

Thanks for the post. Good luck to you.

[angelydiablo6]

Ok I dont know exactly what you should do but according to some soldiers, if you actually outprocessed from your old duty station then you should go to the new duty station. If you havent outprocessed yet then you need to go back to your old duty station. Like I said I dont know anything for sure but i am trying to help you the best I can. Honestly they all try to scare the soldiers into this huge punishment for being awol or deserting but its really not that bad and if you dont want to have to worry about it for the rest of your life then just go back whereever you need to go and take your punishment and finish your contract if thats what they want you to do and get out. Then your done and can relax. Its very stressful on yourself as well as your family. Hope that all helps.