Son went AWOL/UA

[tess_621]

What is the name of your state? MN

My son recently left the army.....I am so incredibly dissapointed. I don't think he realizes just what trouble he is in. What really happens now? Will they come searching for him...will they try contacting me? I am not allowing him to come home to live....I feel bad about it, but I think he needs to figure out his life from here. I have pleaded with him to go back..that it is not too late. He feels he made a huge mistake when enlisting, he has indicated he is very depressed and has continuous nightmares. I have encouraged him to see a doctor. He plans to go back in 30 days or so to get 'chaptered' out. Not that he will even listen to me...but what advise can I offer him at this point in time?

[cyberspook]

Originally Posted by tess_621

What is the name of your state? MN

My son recently left the army.....I am so incredibly dissapointed. I don't think he realizes just what trouble he is in. What really happens now? Will they come searching for him...will they try contacting me? I am not allowing him to come home to live....I feel bad about it, but I think he needs to figure out his life from here. I have pleaded with him to go back..that it is not too late. He feels he made a huge mistake when enlisting, he has indicated he is very depressed and has continuous nightmares. I have encouraged him to see a doctor. He plans to go back in 30 days or so to get 'chaptered' out. Not that he will even listen to me...but what advise can I offer him at this point in time?

Suggest to him, no better yet make/take him go to the local VA hospital and tell them he is depressed and having "mental" issues. At this point he can put this behind him with relatively few consequences.

That whole go back in 30 days plan and get chaptered out is really like putting money on a horse named MAYBE. Best possible outcome is a Other Than Honorable discharge.

Yes they will try and contact you and no they will PROBABLY not come searching for him, more than likely they will simply put him in a data base and sooner or later he will get picked up by local law enforcement because of something like J walking, and then he will really be screwed.

Best of luck

[tess_621]

Thank you for the response - I will call him and tell him to go to the VA hospital..... so, if he does go there and they indicated he has 'mental' issues. Will the Army discharge him or just medicate him and send him back? What kind of discharge does a soldier get with a medical condition? So, you are saying that if you goes back in 30 days or whenever...he will most likely end up with a dishonarable discharge?

[cyberspook]

Originally Posted by tess_621

Thank you for the response - I will call him and tell him to go to the VA hospital..... so, if he does go there and they indicated he has 'mental' issues. Will the Army discharge him or just medicate him and send him back? What kind of discharge does a soldier get with a medical condition? So, you are saying that if you goes back in 30 days or whenever...he will most likely end up with a dishonarable discharge?

Originally Posted by tess_621

so, if he does go there and they indicated he has 'mental' issues. Will the Army discharge him or just medicate him and send him back?

I don't know what the Army will do, but he will be under medical supervision versus living on the lam.

Originally Posted by tess_621

What kind of discharge does a soldier get with a medical condition?

Honorable. The characterization codes and such may not be so great but that is another matter that MAY be changed later on.

Originally Posted by tess_621

So, you are saying that if you goes back in 30 days or whenever...he will most likely end up with a dishonarable discharge?

He would have to go through a General Court Martial to receive a dishonorable discharge. That is VERY unlikely. If he stays UA/AWOL longer than 30 days he could face a A$$ load of consequences including Brig/Stockade time and a Bad Conduct Discharge.


I have a feeling that he has been listening to his peers and thinks that things will be fine and he will be sent home after he returns after being dropped from the rolls. This may happen and it may NOT. The military has been known for making examples out of folks.

[Lightarms]

My friend from Basic and roomate when we both got to Ft Stewart went AWOL for a year and a half to San Diego, Ca and Mexico after some family problems back hom that the unit wouldnt give him leave for. He came back after a year and a half of being AWOL. While AWOL he was pulled over a few times by cops for violations. But they never found out about him being AWOL. He also had a few crappy jobs because the good ones wouldnt hire him because they could see that he was AWOL when they pulled up his SSN. But anyways he finally came back just in time for us to deploy to Iraq for a year. They didn't do anything to him at all. Except give him 1 week extra duty. They didn't take his rank, or pay. So he was lucky. Really it's all up to the commanding officer of the unit.

[SHORTY LONG]

When a soldier leaves his or her assigned place to be at for more
than 30 days without authorized permission, then, they are not
[AWOL], they are "Deserter[s]."