AWOL or No? (Desparate)

[anonymous]

What is the name of your state?NJ

I am in the Army Reserve and the Army is attempting to re-class me to a truck driver, change my unit and send me to Iraq at the end of January. I was just married to a woman who has lupus and cannot work at the moment. If I go overseas at my rank I will take a deep pay cut and will probably lose my house. No one on either side of our family can help financially or if her symptoms of lupus return. I want to get out completely but I am afraid to apply for a hardship exception because I have seen that the Army doesn't care. The response I got from the IG was "she can be supported with your military money and Tricare for health insurance." My rank won't pay me even close to what my civilian job pays me and NO civilian doctors even know what TRICARE is let alone accepts it as valid insurance. I have been advised by the Unit Admin for the deploying unit to just keep a low profile and stay away until they decide to give me an OTH discharge. I am afraid of what will happen to my wife, my home, and my job if I go to Iraq but I am also unsure if this UA is giving me the right advice. I have seen stories of soldiers getting jail time for going AWOL and missing movement. Please help me. I don't want my life destroyed because of a stupid decision. I want OUT.

Desparate for some answers,

Anonymous

call the G.i rights hotline # at 1-800-394-9544. They are a non-profit group of volunteers that help soldiers with military law and procedure. They are on your side. Being that you are reserves, if you lay low and stop showing up to drills, they could transfer you to the i.r.r or just discharge you, its hard to say, but to send you to jail, you have to be court martialed. Is the military going to waste money on a courtmartial/ trial for a reservist, anything is possible, but i doubt it. Now i am no expert, so call the number above and talk to someone there, preferebly J.C McNeil, she is a lawyer who volunteers there.

If bad apple reads this, maybe he can help. You can ask him for advice. Now remember, he is a former military lawyer, who knows the way things work, but he is not going to encourage you to break the law, but maybe he can level with you on where you stand.

[questionia]

If you are active Army reserve (not IRR) I don't think I would miss a movement. That can't be good. I'm not sure what your doctors are thinking but TRICARE is the nation's largest insurance plan and is accepted almost universally. I'm not buying that one. My pay gets cut by 60% when I go active (I just came off 16DEC05) and my family survives. You need to accept responsibility, ruck up, and march on. If you are afraid of the legal aspects look into the Soldiers and Sailors Credit Relief Act. You can't lose your house when you are activated, your wife can't divorce you, and credit card interest (and mortgage interest) is capped - to name a few things. Work with your deploying unit to figure out your wife's healthcare issues - I'll guarantee TRICARE is accepted and probably better than what you have now - oh, and free! (unless you upgrade but that's not necessary).

[badapple40]

The reclass thing may be a beach of contract -- if so, it is the basis for filing a federal lawsuit to get out of the army.