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Markd AWOL for Drill weekend

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coldsteelscout

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington

I'm in the army national guard and also a DOD civilian for the navy.. i hurt my back on the job (civilian) end of june and have been on profile in the army since. This last friday i had an epidural (cortisone shot for my spine) and the doctor gave me a note "disabled from work from jan 7, 2011 to jan 10, 2011" so just for the weekend. He told me to take it easy and just relax because i have orders to fly to japan for my DOD job this wednesday Jan 12th. So i notified my Troop on friday at around 1400 and told them i had a doctors note excusing me from work. They said they would pass it on to the commander and if he accepts it i'll be excused if not they would give me a call back. First formation was @ 1900 and hadn't recieved a call yet so i assumed i was good to go.. @ 1905 i received a phone call from my first line leader asking where i was at and said if i didn't get there i would be AWOL. I told him i had the doctors note excusing me from drill and that i was still in pain and would not be there.. they were very forward about telling me if i did not i would be AWOL and i continued to tell them i was not going to go against my doctor's orders. I ended up not going at all and from what i'm told by my peers they did in fact mark me AWOL.. Can they do this even though i have a Dr. note telling me to stay home?
 


Play their game.

Keep your documentation from your doctor it may serve to mitigate your circumstances. I would get a follow up from a second doctor that concurred with the first doctor. I would also get a more convincing letter of how important it was for you rest that particular weekend from the first doctor.
AWOL happens at 30 consecutive days or more of UA and is considered a serious offence. You were UA from drill. I have even seen it written as just absent or missed too. So don’t get bullied or word baffled into some bogus charges. Don’t waive any of your rights.
Your commanding officer has say over your drill status, not you or your doctor. Your commanding officer makes the decision if you’re too sick to drill and to what degree you will get relief, not your doctor. So you are wrong by not showing up to your drill.

Have you ever missed any other drill at any other time? You can be discharged with an OTH for unsatisfactory participation in the reserve.
FYI refusing to obey orders is punishable by the UCMJ.
 

ERAUPIKE

Senior Member
Keep your documentation from your doctor it may serve to mitigate your circumstances. I would get a follow up from a second doctor that concurred with the first doctor. I would also get a more convincing letter of how important it was for you rest that particular weekend from the first doctor.
AWOL happens at 30 consecutive days or more of UA and is considered a serious offence. You were UA from drill. I have even seen it written as just absent or missed too. So don’t get bullied or word baffled into some bogus charges. Don’t waive any of your rights.
Your commanding officer has say over your drill status, not you or your doctor. Your commanding officer makes the decision if you’re too sick to drill and to what degree you will get relief, not your doctor. So you are wrong by not showing up to your drill.

Have you ever missed any other drill at any other time? You can be discharged with an OTH for unsatisfactory participation in the reserve.
FYI refusing to obey orders is punishable by the UCMJ.
Please cite where the UCMJ states anything even remotely similar to this statement.
 

antrc170

Member
The doctor is not in your chain of command, therefore can not give you any order dealing with your military service. You are guilty of Article 86 (Unauthorized absense) in that you failed to show to an appointed place at an appointed time with knowledge of such and without authorization. In fact, you had just the opposite, an order to report when you called in. The doctors note will not be a defense, it may mitigate, but it wont be a defense. You still had an obligatoin to contact your command, advise them of the situation and follow their guidance. You should have attempted to arrange transportation to the event in the case that you couldn't transport yourself.

AWOL and UA are the same thing. While AWOL is common reference in the Army, the Navy and Marine Corps use UA as the designation for being absent from duty. (Any Air Force, feel free to let us know what is used) 30 days or more UA/AWOL can result in Deserter status with a federal warrant issued.
 

coldsteelscout

Junior Member
my sole reason for not following their order to come in is because my back injury through my work is covered under "office of workers compensation program" and from what i'm told to be covered fully for my injury is i have to listen to what my doctor prescribes otherwise if i were to go to drill and further hurt my back then OWCP can drop all coverage for my injury and shift blame onto the guard... and i already know that they guard will not take care of me. When i make any claims to owcp regarding my back they seek out info like when i had drill? what i did there? did i go against my doctors limitations.. etc etc
 

coldsteelscout

Junior Member
i'm not about to lose out on my coverage for a measely weekend of guard bs... all the guys did this weekend was online classes which i can do at home... well i did do them at home so i accomplished just as much as everyone did that was at drill. I called jag and talked with them they're going to get back to me about the situation tomorrow. She said they seemed to be acting very petty in the situation and sounded like a personal vendetta against myself for what happened during DEC drill
 
You are putting more at risk than you’re admitting to yourself.

How long have you been in the guard? Are you willing to lose all of that time?
Are you expecting any veteran benefits? No discounts for you. :p That’s a joke. But seriously benefits are at risk.
Your federal employment could come under fire if you receive a less than honorable discharge.
A poor discharge can affect federal retirement and health care plans.
You can go to jail be labeled a criminal, get a life changing discharge.
If you’re hurt your command needs to approve any missed drills. It's your duty to do whatever it takes to obey your orders. It's not the money or the insurance it you’re HONOR to do your duty for your country. You agreed when you enlisted to do whatever you were told for a certain period of time, an enlistment.
Get your insurance company to draft a demand letter for reimbursement of your medical care to your command. You won’t get anything, but it will distract your command until the petty BS blows over. A letter could also put you right back in the spot light so tread carefully.
Or get you lawyer to imply that something like that will happen. Just keep them dancing until they get tired of it. :cool:
 

ERAUPIKE

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington

I'm in the army national guard and also a DOD civilian for the navy.. i hurt my back on the job (civilian) end of june and have been on profile in the army since. This last friday i had an epidural (cortisone shot for my spine) and the doctor gave me a note "disabled from work from jan 7, 2011 to jan 10, 2011" so just for the weekend. He told me to take it easy and just relax because i have orders to fly to japan for my DOD job this wednesday Jan 12th. So i notified my Troop on friday at around 1400 and told them i had a doctors note excusing me from work. They said they would pass it on to the commander and if he accepts it i'll be excused if not they would give me a call back. First formation was @ 1900 and hadn't recieved a call yet so i assumed i was good to go.. @ 1905 i received a phone call from my first line leader asking where i was at and said if i didn't get there i would be AWOL. I told him i had the doctors note excusing me from drill and that i was still in pain and would not be there.. they were very forward about telling me if i did not i would be AWOL and i continued to tell them i was not going to go against my doctor's orders. I ended up not going at all and from what i'm told by my peers they did in fact mark me AWOL.. Can they do this even though i have a Dr. note telling me to stay home?
You may have misunderstood him. You only drill on the weekends so you will be marked AWOL for those drill periods. You can miss 9 a year before action can be taken against you.

You are not going to be kicked out of the guard for missing one drill weekend. ArmedSupporter has no grasp of the UCMJ or reserve/guard policy, as evident by his failure to provide any citation regarding his assertions of UA/AWOL.

Bring your note to your command when you return and appeal their decision to mark you AWOL.
 

FFuries

Member
As ERAUPIKE stated, in the Reserves you can miss x amount of days before having a bad year, after that I think "If I remember correctly" they can disassociate you from the unit for non-participation.

Currently you have a un-excused absence for 4 periods (1 drill week-end). Typically you have to call in the Wednesday prior to the drill week-end to reschedule or have it excuse, at least that is the way it is for the AF Reserve.

Mike
USAF Retired
 

ERAUPIKE

Senior Member
As ERAUPIKE stated, in the Reserves you can miss x amount of days before having a bad year, after that I think "If I remember correctly" they can disassociate you from the unit for non-participation.

Currently you have a un-excused absence for 4 periods (1 drill week-end). Typically you have to call in the Wednesday prior to the drill week-end to reschedule or have it excuse, at least that is the way it is for the AF Reserve.

Mike
USAF Retired
FFuries, you are absolutely correct.
 

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