Navy UA Discharge procedure (EXPLAINED) 24JUN08

[Nuke MMFR]

What is the name of your state? CA

Okay there really is no information here on this so I'm going to explain the process as best I can based of my experience over the last month.


- Apparently you do not need to be UA 180 days to be dropped from the rolls. It has been dropped to 120 days. I waited 219 days because I was unaware of this new instruction.

- After 120 days you command drops you from the rolls and all your information is sent to Great Lakes. This is key because it removes the commands ability to discipline you and leaves it in the hands of the TPU you turn yourself into.

- I chose to turn my self into Norfolk, VA because I was stationed there, had friends and a place to stay there, had been informed from a good friend on Norfolk's TPU experience and also because Norfolk is a REAL Navy command, not a "training" command like great lakes.

- My wife drove me through the gates and up to the TPU building. I did it in the afternoon with the hoes of catching the lax non working hours crew. In the end it didn't matter. I walked into the TPU building, up to the quarterdeck watch and informed him I was UA and urning my self in. He said "cool a self turn in" then brought me over to the window where another senior watch stander said you got your ID? I said "yup" and he said "sweet this will be easy." At this point I was extremely relieved things looked just like my friend had explained. The watch stander casually took me down to the Master at arms office where I sat down and went over a few minutes of paperwork, basically removing my UA status, reinstating my pay, getting me in the TPU computer system.

- They then escorted me up to the 3rd deck after about 30 minutes. 3rd deck is the "discipline" deck, but don't let the name scare you it's FAR from it...

- On the 3rd deck they casually asked me if I had anything dangerous in my bag, I said no, he poked threw it, assigned me a rack, gave me a locker and had me go over some "house rules."

- That's basically it for checking in, simple, easy going, laid back and quick.

The way TPU work's is just like the Navy... SLOW... The general gist is your basically there waiting for paperwork to float around. Once you get there provided you meet the 120/180 days your process start immediately. For the first roughly week your stuck in this wing called "RILO" Restriction in lieu of Arrest. Basically you can't leave the "base" and you have to sign a muster report every about 6 hours. There will likely be 1 maybe 2 people in RILO with you. The typical day is wake up about 7:00, escort yourself over to the base galley if you want breakfast then head back to TPU 3rd deck for daily muster. They muster you then you start your "work day" There will probably be about 7-10 people on 3rd deck. Your job is basically keep the 3rd deck clean... They will pull 2-3 people to go help out with the Maintenance group in another wing which is the SARPS building, still easy work.

- At about 10:30 you muster again, go to lunch, walk over to the base galley have lunch, relax a bit then muster again at 12:00. Typically thats when our day ended, with some days continuing to 1:00 or 2:00 depending on the work.

- It's all about who is in charge, but those that actually spent some real time in the fleet know exactly what I'm talking about. Most of the staff at TPU knows your processing out so they don't bother giving you a hard time nor do they have "high expectations" of you. Basically you stay out of there way and they don't bug you. For the most part this entails of them telling you to "go clean" at which time you go briefly clean, then skate off for the remaining 2 hours till lunch.

- After the work day if your still in RILO you go back to your wing and just chill till dinner, go eat dinner, come back chill out then go to bed.

- Like I said RILO basically means restricted to the base. Technically your not supposed to even leave the building without a escort but they absolutely don't enforce ****. You can leave to go "smoke" or go eat. There is a C-9 building next door with subway/taco bell/Mini nex etc. that allot of RILO people spend time at.

- Also there is no serious restriction on what you bring. this is KEY so take my advice on this. DO NOT waste your money on filling out a sea bag. All you need to bring is a few sets of utilities (there is a washer and dryer you can use whenever so you could even get away with 1 set) some black socks, boots, command ball cap under shirts and boxers. Also bring enough civilian clothes to get you by. If you like to read, bring magazines or books. Me personally I took a laptop with me because there is a WiFi Hot Spot you can pick up and get free Internet access. Basically bring whatever you want but be respectfully, no porn or knives or **** like that. There is TV's but they get ****ty stations. Someone may have a DVD player or a Xbox/PS3 so you can watch video's on them (or a laptop). There is this really cool machine at the building next door that rents DVDs at a 1$ a day. I used the hell out of that on RILO.

- Weekends in RILO are like "holiday routine."

- After RILO its all down hill everything is the same with the exception of liberty. You leave after the work day (12:00-2:00 PM usually) and muster back at 7:30 AM the next day. Friday's you Leave at 10:30 AM and muster Monday morning at 7:30.

- You don't have to leave, you have a cot and a locker and stuff still. You can leave, go party, come back and crash if you don't have another place to stay.




Now for the other part. If you haven't figured it out it's all a cake walk, but why are you there and for how long?


- Once you get there they send off for your info from great lakes, it gets there in a few days. Likely they just make a "dummy" service record for you.

- Your first stepping stone is your "Sep Physical". Basically after about 3-5 days they get you paperwork started and you go over to the medical building and ave the doctor go over the generic physical stuff with you. Short and brief.

- Next stepping stone is your OTH Brief, After you sep physical about 5 days later you go over to the legal building and they Present you with your "OTH In lieu of Court Marshal" paperwork. Basically your say your guilty of UA, want out and will take a OTH in place of court marshal. If you don't want to take that be prepared to get jacked around for 9 months and ultimately do brig time and end up with a OTH. I'm sure there are small situations that would warrant a "general" discharge over a OTH, but it's not worth it.

- After the OTH Brief you wait a few more days for the paperwork to get sent over to the CO of TPU to sign your discharge and send it back to finish the processing. At this point you get your "Sep Brief" which basically the LN's go over your out processing with you and most importantly give you your separation date.

- Your sep date will likely be about 5-7 days after your sep brief. On your sep date you head over, sign your DD 214, grab a bus if you want or just hop in your car and head home. That's it!



But what if I got picked up by the police?

- Brig people actually get a better deal ironically. They have changed it recently with the intent of getting people out of the Navy ASAP. If you are over 120 and got nabbed by the police you go to the bring and spend about 5-7 days on the block. The block is a cell with a bed, toilet and thats about it. How is this better? Because the brig staff is 200x faster at pushing your paperwork. In those 5-7 days you'll do your sep physical and sign your OTH paperwork. They then will take you over to TPU and check you in to the 3rd deck. But since you did brig time you bypass RILO. Now all you do is wait a few days for your sep brief then a few more for your sep date.


That pretty much covers the jyst of it which should be some welcoming advice to you Navy peeps. I trolled these boards for 219 days and got VERY little Navy info.



Few more things...

- Supposedly you are only reported to your "home of record's" local authorities, so they are the only ones that would know you are UA and nab you.

- I flew many times while UA, I did however use self check in.

- If you Star Re-enlisted like me your in for some serious luck depending on if you waited close to 3 years. Because of the way a star re-enlistment works you are "honorably" discharged then re-enlisted the next day. This counts as a "first enlistment" if it was 3 years or close there to for VA benefits and MGIB. So you should maintain those benefits.

- As for base privileges you only lose your base privileges for The greater Norfolk bases. But honestly who cares Wal Mart prices have far surpassed NEX/Commissary/Base Gas prices years ago. Only thing I'll miss is occasional use of the Hobby shop, but then again a oil change at wal Mart is 19$ lol!

- If you wear like me and have 5+ years honorable service or a prior re-enlistment or honorable discharge have the LN's note that on your DD-214, there is a block for it and it will help with retaining benefits.

- When you get your DD-214 they give you a short and a long. The short does not show your type of discharge or the "nature" to it. If a future employer asks for your DD-214 give then that one. Typically they just want to ensure you are out of the military. If they ask your type of discharge proudly tell them you wear Administratively separated as that IS the truth. OTH is a Admin sep. As is being discharged for PRT failures, Motherhood (women using 1st pregnancy to get out) homosexuality, conscious objector among others. Most employers I have dealt with stop right there at Admin Sep. and could care less otherwise.

[Nuke MMFR]

What is the name of your state? CA


In closing, I applaud anyone that tried it. It being the Military regardless of the branch. I did just shy of 6 solid years, full deployment, countless days at see away from my family etc. No one can take that away from me regardless of the nature of my discharge. I still feel I got the short end of the stick but I don't care it's over I did what the vast majority of America did not or could not do. Anyone that thinks less of me for my decision to leave the Navy needs to do a reality check. The Military is NOT for everyone, but apparently the screening process is non existent these days. I've seen it get worse over the last few years. And then on the other side some times things happen that dictate taking a different path in your life away from the military, So be it, it's your life. At least you tried it.



Here is a link to my reason for going UA if you care to read it.

[url]http://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=383942[/url]





I am no professional lawyer or anything, nor are my posts anything more then advice from my experience. Take them as that. Things change, Especially in regards to who is in charge of you as that has major bearing on the attitude of your stay.

[RealAmerican]

Originally Posted by Nuke MMFR

What is the name of your state? CA


In closing, I applaud anyone that tried it. It being the Military regardless of the branch. I did just shy of 6 solid years, full deployment, countless days at see away from my family etc. No one can take that away from me regardless of the nature of my discharge. I still feel I got the short end of the stick but I don't care it's over I did what the vast majority of America did not or could not do. Anyone that thinks less of me for my decision to leave the Navy needs to do a reality check. The Military is NOT for everyone, but apparently the screening process is non existent these days. I've seen it get worse over the last few years. And then on the other side some times things happen that dictate taking a different path in your life away from the military, So be it, it's your life. At least you tried it.



Here is a link to my reason for going UA if you care to read it.

[url]http://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=383942[/url]





I am no professional lawyer or anything, nor are my posts anything more then advice from my experience. Take them as that. Things change, Especially in regards to who is in charge of you as that has major bearing on the attitude of your stay.

Originally Posted by Nuke MMFR

If they ask your type of discharge proudly tell them you wear Administratively separated as that IS the truth. OTH is a Admin sep. As is being discharged for PRT failures, Motherhood (women using 1st pregnancy to get out) homosexuality, conscious objector among others. Most employers I have dealt with stop right there at Admin Sep. and could care less otherwise.

Your reason for going UA was exactly what I had expected and I could have predicted. Everything is someone else's fault and you got a bad deal.
Let's straighten some stuff out;
If you were so unhappy in the Navy then why did you re-enlist?
You did not spend six years you spent four years and one year UA if I read your posts accurately.
You did one deployment in four (six?) years, thats not a bad record whats the problem?
You do realize that all the stuff you enjoyed for free is actually paid for by those guys that are still serving honorably.
An OTH is not an Admin Sep but you are right about your discharge being the same as being discharged for being a homosexual. ZING!!!
The other discharges you are referring to are actually General Discharges not OTH discharges.


The Navy doesn't need to screen people you are what is referred to as a volunteer. It seems like you expected the Navy to be nothing but fun and games. I spent a total of six years in the Navy and I worked hard every day until the day I finished my enlistment. I completed three full deployments with all associated work ups. Thats a little more than two years spent underway during my sea tour.

Hopefully you can learn to take responsibility for YOUR actions and stop blaming the institution that gave you every opportunity to succeed. You simply refused to adapt to the Navy way of life and subsequently paid the price. I am not the typical Joe Navy sailor and I did not enjoy the majority of my time in the service. In the words of Hank Hill,"Work is not supposed to be fun, thats why it's called work, not fun." You even blame the Navy for your failure to conform. You blame your command for your inability to follow the rules, which in turn resulted in your time in the brig. Think about it.

I am in school receiving benefits and I work at the Veteran's Affairs office at the school. I will be sure to contact the Veterans Administration about people like you receiving benefits you have no right to take advantage of.

Originally Posted by Nuke MMFR

Supposedly you are only reported to your "home of record's" local authorities, so they are the only ones that would know you are UA and nab you.

Completely false, your information is provided to the NCIC database which covers all of the United States.

You do not have 5 years of honorable service you have a captains mast, court martial, and desertion on your record. That would be a pretty bad track record if you consider the four years you actually stuck with it. I don't expect any response but I hope that any awol sailors or soldiers will return and face their consequences ASAP.

[cyberspook]

A honorable discharge, General (under honorable conditions) and a Other Than Honorable discharge are all administrative discharges. A Bad Conduct Discharge and a Dishonorable discharge are punitive discharges.

It is true that a UA/AWOL person is eventually reported to NCIC and a federal warrant will be issued for that persons arrest.

[RealAmerican]

You are right, it is still an Admin Discharge but the reason block in the DD-214 should read something pretty nasty. (Pattern of Misconduct or something to that effect) I think the rest of my post may have been on the nose. Thanks for the heads up.