revere787 said:
Listen, your husband has not graduated from basic training/ait yet. He has not been in for 6 months. Tell him he can get an entry level discharge, because he has not been in that long. All this bull**** from these G.I joe wannabes is bull****. ON tv, they say, the war with iraq. That is the way they put it, but right now they are just re-building the country, WE ARE NOT AT WAR TIME, AND IF YOUR HUSBAND LEFT TO SEE YOU AND THE BABY , TELL HIM TO WAIT 30 DAYS UNTIL THEY DFR( DROP HIM FROM THE ROLLS), HE CAN GO TO FORT SILL, OKLAHOMA, TURN HIMSELF IN AND THEY WILL ADMINISTRATIVELY DISCHARGE HIM. THAT WILL BE AN OTHER THAN HONORABLE DISCHARGE. HE NEEDS TO WAIT UNTIL HE IS (DFR), THEY WILL PUT OUT A WARRANT FOR HIS ARREST AND THEN HE CAN TURN HIMSELF IN. THERE IS A DESERTER HOTLINE TO FIND OUT IF HE HAS BEEN DFR YET. THAT # IS......1-502-626-3711.......ALL THESE ****EN IDIOTS THAT ARE SCARING YOU WITH DESERTION/25YEARS IN JAIL. DONT LET THEM SCARE YOU. IF ANY OF THEM HAD ANY ****EN BRAINS, THEY WOULD KNOW THAT WHEN YOUR HUSBAND TURNED HIMSELF IN, HE ISNT DESERTING ANYMORE AND THEY COULD NEVER CHARGE HIM WITH IT. DESERTION IS IF YOU INTEND TO STAY AWAY FR0M MILITARY CONTROL. IF YOU TURN YOURSELF IN, YOU DID NOT INTEND TO STAY AWAY. THINK ABOUT IT. CALL THE G.I RIGHTS HOTLINE AND THEY WILL TELL YOU THE SAME THING. THEY ARE A NON-PROFIT GROUP WITH ADVICE AND KNOWLEDGE ON MILITARY LAW AND RIGHTS. THEY WILL HELP YOU, THERE # IS....1-800-394-9544. ANOTHER THING, THE ARMY WILL NOT, I STRESSSSS WILL NOT COME LOOKING FOR HIM, THEY DO NOT HAVE THE RESOURCES. EMAIL ME WITH ANY
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Lets at least give the original poster ALL the facts.
1. revere is correct, in that this is not a wartime offense and he will not face those penalties.
2. revere is further correct that they will probably DFR (drop from rolls) your husband and put a warrant out for his arrest after 30 days. It is important to note, however, that this does not always occur, and sometimes units do not process the paperwork to DFR. As such, if your husband's unit does not, he will, upon his return, simply be returned to the unit to face disciplinary action.
3. He is NOT guaranteed an administrative discharge (other than honorable) at sill. That is probably what will happen, but there is no guarantee. If they do decide to court-martial him, he is facing, at the very worst, a dishonorable discharge, confinement of 1 year, and forfeiture of all pay and allowances (if not terminated by apprehension).
4. revere is further correct in that the army will not actively go looking for him. However, the army will probably put a warrant out for his arrest, and if he so much as gets a speeding ticket, then they will arrest him for the AWOL (then he is looking at a max of 18 months in prison).
5. An other than honorable discharge, which, as revere said, is probably what he will get, deprives him of all benefits and carries a stigma with him. It will likely bar him from federal employment and has a significant impact on his pursuit of any type of professional career. Employers are entitled to ask about it, and can deny employment on that basis.
6. You also need to be aware of the fact that there is a growing trend in the army, and a new program, to return AWOL soldiers to their units and impose NJP for AWOL offenses to prevent people from gaming the system and to help increase retention. There is a chance your husband, if he decides to go AWOL, could simply be returned to his unit (no matter how long he was AWOL), and forced to serve the remainder of his enlistment.
I cannot tell you, or your husband what I would do in this case. I would, however, advise that you think about all the options, try to exhaust military administrative channels, including writing appropriate congressional officials and lodging IG complaints, prior to resorting to committing the crime of AWOL.
--badapple, LTC, USAFR
