Brother was arrested for AWOL

What is the name of your state?NY


As looking through this site i see quite a few posts about AWOL soldiers - but I am lost at what to do in my situation and was wondering if I can get some feedback. I will give all the info i have (it is my brothers situation so i do not know all).

My younger brother (he was 19 at the time) went into Marine bootcamp. He finished (graduated?) from bootcamp in Oct 2003 in NC. After bootcamp he went into training and there he injured his back. It was not a bad injury but he was left in the hospital not able to come home but not able to continue training. after 2 or so months in the hospital he got fed up, left and came home. This is where my story is going to get foggy - because apparently my brother lied to me & my family. He told us he went back and worked something out to get discharged with some community service. Us being totally naiive to military goin-ons believed him. Apparently this never happened because last week 2 detectives came into my home and arrested my brother saying he deserted the marines during wartime and he can face 25 yrs in prison. They said he was due to turn himself in to the marines 2/2/04 and he was given a yr, never returned, so they retrieved him. Last ne & my family were able to find out he was taken from our local police precint to the local army base where the marines retrieved him & brought him to Camp Legune in NC.
My family has no idea what is going on what we should do, Should we get him a lawyer? How serious is this offense? Can he really be facing 25 years in military jail? Is there anything at all we can do to help him???

I appreciate any and all help you can give me. Thank you

More than likely there is a lot more to the story than you have been told by your brother.

Desertion during time of war is a serious matter. Your brother joined knowing there was a war and the USMC is not easy to join. If he truly had a medical issue or couldn't adjust to military life there were several options for separation, going AWOL and being aprehended prety much eliminates those options. From what we have heard, military members who after going AWOL and turn themselves in are often able to become seperated. Being AWOL also severely limits employment and access to services and priviledges so it was a matter of time. More than likely he used your family.

The USMC will provide a JAG attorney or your family can retain a civilian attorney which will be very expensive. The choice is up to you, but before you retain a civilian attorney get the real story, remember he lied to you as well, for all you know, he hurt his back while comitting a crime and went AWOL before he faced the consequences not because he was bored.

You are correct in the fact that there must be more to the story because he was lying to us. What i DO know is that he was actually in the "hospital" in NC. I know this because my father had called him there once. We are trying to find out the whole story now, but it is dfficult being as he is "locked up" in NC and we are in NY. Is there any way for me & my family to find out what the story is and also can you tell mea ballpark figure of what the consequence for this is. Thank you.

You will have to have the actual charges. There is a member Badapple40 who is a military attorney who most likely will reply and more specifically answer your questions. At this point we can only guess at why he went AWOL and didn't tell you the truth. Here is info BA provided earlier, perhaps you can give one of them a call?

badapple40 said:

.....

Let me give you a short list:

1. Charles Gittens

Law Offices of Charles W. Gittins
P.O. Box 144
Middletown, VA 22645
phone: 540-868-0949
fax: 540-868-0976
eMail: [email protected]

2. Frank Spinner

Law Offices of Frank J. Spinner
7035 Campus Drive, Suite 904
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80920
phone: (719) 598-6494

3. David Sheldon

Law Offices of David P. Sheldon
Barracks Row, 512 8th Street, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel (202) 546-9575
Toll free (866) 546-9575
Fax (202) 546-0135

Charles Gittens and Frank Spinner have been known to take cases where there has been an injustice and represent the client for free. I doubt you'll be looking at that here, but you may want to call them and see.

Click to expand...

brother arrested for AWOL

Hold on and prepare for some unexpected developments. As you have read, the military doesn't actively go looking for AWOL soldiers, especially new enlistees with no rank and no security clearances. There must be some interesting story why detectives came looking for him. What agency were the detectives from (military or civilian?)...i am assuming you asked THEM for ID. If detectives were looking for him, that makes his involvement with another crime a definite possibility. The story is a bit muddy because all you say the detective mentioned was AWOL and this seems a bit off.

Second, although I am I am speaking from my personal experience and my research with the mess I am involved in, I have found that the "chain of command" often is willing to help the family of AWOL soldiers try to untangle the mess...if the family is willing to help them...you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Try calling the MILIATARY POLICE (MP) at Lejuene and asking them what they know about your brothers whereabouts/charges/future. Identify yourself as a family member and have your bro's Soc. Sec. number handy to verify that you are, indeed, in the loop. If this doesnt help at all, dig out the mailing address you last had for your brother at a unit. (not the hospital) It sounds like it was a school or basic training unit. Soldiers have to be "connected " to some unit at all times...so when he went AWOL SOMEONE was responsible for him. That unit is probabley back in the loop now and possibley the charges for AWOL/desertion will have their Name on them. So, find out where he used to be assigned and call BASE INFORMATION for that Commanders/ First Sgt's phone number. Call them, identify yourselves and ask for info. You can also try the JAG office (Judge Advocate General-military lawyers) and see what they will tell you. If all else fails, try a chaplain and see if someone will help you.

Thanks for your reply. I will definitly try to follow these steps to look into the situation. The detectives that came for him were civilian detectives from the NYPD (my local precinct). You say they would NOT normally come looking for him? The only thing i could think of is he recently took a placement test at a local CUNY (City affiliated) college. Maybe that raised a red flag. After the detectives took him, after some phone calls we found out he was brought to the local police station and than brought to the nearest military base (which is an army base) where he remained until neing picked up by the marines and brought to camp Legune. Which as far as we know (from what we were told by the army) is where he is now.
You say the detective mentioning his AWOl is a bit off?? Why do you say that? What the detective said (from what I can remember - it was 530am and i was half asleep) was that he was supposed to report back on 2/4/04. and he also said they had 4 extra police units outside so he would not run.
I appreciate all & any help i am getting here, for as of now, this is the only source i have found to get ANY information.

If he was AWOL from NC or SC then he would have been taken to Camp LeJeune NC, that is where the military district for Piedmont is based.

rmet4nzkx said:

If he was AWOL from NC or SC then he would have been taken to Camp LeJeune NC, that is where the military district for Piedmont is based.

Click to expand...

Yes i do know that he is at Lejuene - that is what the army personelle told my family this morning

brother arrested for AWOL

Thanks for asking for clarification on what I wrote.

First: the Army is distinctly different from the Marines. I know it is all GREEK to you right now and a confusing system, but in some ways, each branch of the military is different and they definitely do not like to be called the wrong name. Marines has a very very high esprit d'corps and it prob. would be sort of insulting to refer to them as the Army. This is sort of a small point, but as you call around, you don't want to offend anyone. Your brother was a Marine, but after his arrest he was taken to an ARMY base, only because that was the nearest military facility. He is now back under the control of the Marines.

Second: It is the Army policy to not actively look for AWOL/deserters. I am not sure if the Marines have the same policy. This may be one of the differences. If the Marines DO have the same policy, that would indicate that your brother has something else going on that caused civilian detectives to come and arrest him. I read a post very recently ( within last 10 days) about someone who was trying to get a military or civilian cop to go pick up an ARMY AWOL guy and no one would do it... The Army is short on people and resources to chase these guys down AND the overwhelming facts are that young troops who go AWOL will do something else "stupid" fairly quickly that leads to their arrest...even a routine traffic stop and the running of their license through the NCIC system shows them as AWOL and THEN the authorities will bring them in. There was a post referencing this recently too. A guy AWOL for years and years just got pulled over for rolling through a stop sign or something and got hauled away...

Third: So some possibilities are that:
1.the Marines, unlike the Army, aggressively seek their AWOL guys or
2.someone who knew your brother's real situation and current address turned him in or
3.that he is in some other legal situation that brought his name to the attention of the local authorities

...and four extra police units outside....hmmmmm....this is very interesting....

there might be other scenerios, but I can't come up with them.

Tomorrow morning, get on the phone with Lejuene. I am sure you will be able to get some information. As a rule of thumb, ALWAYS take good notes of who you are talking to and what they tell you. If you don't get any satisfaction ask to speak to the person next up in the chain of command.

please keep us posted on how this goes, as the sit. I am involved in still is not resolved and so i am always comparing similiar situations.

OK. So my brother finally contacted me & my family from Camp Lejuine (sp?). It was a bad connection and my he was not able to hear my mother and therefore my mother could not ask him any questions, but what my brother did get across is that hes awaiting another meeting with his JAG laywer, but from what hes been told hes looking at 45-60 days where he is now then he is to "sep down" (i think that was the term he used)
We have not went further to contact anybody else, does this sound like it is a possiblity for this charge?

brother was arrested AWOL

there's a variety of things he could be charged with, but anyway you slice it, if he is only looking at 45-60 days, he made out okay. The Marines sets very high and proud standards and I think they would tend to be the harshest.

Sep Down is military jargon for a seperation from the military. Under what terms is the question....but if he is being confined, it sounds like it will be OTH (other than honorable) The repurcussions of a discharge of this nature are debatable. Some say it is a black mark for life. Others say it doesnt make much or any difference. I think part of that is based on what your hopes for life are. I read of one guy who was confined for AWOL, then went to law school, passed the bar exam, but was denied entrance to the bar to practice law, based on his service record/dishcharge. I have heard that it will exclude you from jobs demanding public trust: teaching, law enforcement, banking. Also may exclude you from federal loan programs-not sure. Someone more knowledgeable will have to address that.

His OWN conscience may be his strongest/or weakest judge