AWOL

[define]

To be honest, I'm not sure where to put it but I think this forum fit best.

A bit of background on the situation. My friends husband recently enlisted in the Army. His whole reason for joining the Army was because he wanted a career change, and to get his Bachelors degree. He graduated boot camp and is at AIT, but finishes up his AIT within the next month or so. He found out where he is going to be stationed and that he'll most likely deploy to Iraq shortly after arriving at his duty station. How accurate this is, I'm not sure but I wouldn't doubt it.

This morning, my friend sends me a text message this morning telling me she wants my husband to talk to her husband. Also, she tells me that her husband wants to go AWOL because he doesn't want to die in Iraq, and he thinks going AWOL is worth it. What the hell do you tell someone who has said this?

yeah um AWOL is not worth it. Thats just stupid. They will find him, and if they dont at first, they just wait for him to f up on his own. Thats just so dumb. I cant believe someone would do that. I get really upset about this. If he wants out bad enough there are ways to get out.

Err this upsets me. Did he not know what happens when you join the Army?

[chelsea<3josh]

yeah im sorry but didnt he know that it was highly likely that he would be deployed when joining the army right now?

but i can relate to this situation-sort of. there is a friend of db's family who's son joined the army and went awol after boot camp. he has been out and awol for over 2 years. db and i totally and completely DISAGREE with this and db says that mostly all that can happen short of turning him in is to just wait for him to eff up and eventually he will get caught. he is the one that has to live in fear of getting caught for something like that. how cowardly! it makes me so mad that there are so many men and women deployed risking their lives and then people like him go awol. sorry it's a touchy subject but i would highly encourage him to not go awol. that is just not honorable and it is not something your friend will want hanging over her shoulders. also he should have deff thought out the pros and cons of joining before he joined...he chose to join he needs to do what is required of him. i hope he decides to do the right thing.

[GlitterCrotch]

One of our friends went AWOL. He just didn't get on the plane to deploy. Here's the long story of what happened.

He comes back from his 2nd tour (was a 6 month tour) and got to see his wife and his newborn baby. He got orders to redeploy in 2 weeks for 4 months. He was set to get out in 3 months. He decided that he would ask his wife to swallow pills so he wouldn't have to go.

She swallowed a bottle of tylenol in the parkinglot of the hospital. They went in, did all that stuff. She got him out of going. So he's sitting at home, ignoring the newborn, wife is in the hospital, the roommate's wife is taking care of the baby. (he only liked the baby for the 1st week he was home.)

He gets orders to redeploy in 2 weeks AGAIN for 3 months this time.

He decides and TELLS his superiors that he IS NOT getting on the plane to go. They tell him he BETTER go, or he will be sorry. They send a packet saying what Dishonorable Discharge will do to his life. They sent one to him, one to his parents. His mom supports him NOT going. The time rolls around to go, and he just doesn't go to the airport or whatever it was. He kept reporting to work this whole time.

Then they finally realize he's not where he's supposed to be (took about 2 weeks). They sent some MPs or something to get him at his house, and he is restricted to base. He stays on base for a week, decides he's bored and wants to go home. He leaves his car on base, and has his wife pick him up. He stays home. He got caught at home, got restricted to base again. Then he went home on weekends because no one cared enough to check on weekends.

He got a court date for the AWOL, and he then decided to claim mental illness. He had just had a counseling session, and his wife said he was fine (we were all concerned about PTSD). He went to court over a period of 2 months or so, and they ended up letting him out of the army. ONLY because he was so close to getting out, and because they really DID think that he had PTSD even though he wasn't diagnosed with it. He most likely really does. He didn't get an honorable or medical, he got a general discharge.

I don't know what your friend's husband is thinking, he will not be able to hide from them and provide for his family. He may be able to get out, but it would most likely be dishonorable and he'd be screwing over his family in the long run.

[define]

Originally Posted by MrsBarnum yeah um AWOL is not worth it. Thats just stupid. They will find him, and if they dont at first, they just wait for him to f up on his own. Thats just so dumb. I cant believe someone would do that. I get really upset about this. If he wants out bad enough there are ways to get out. Err this upsets me. Did he not know what happens when you join the Army?

I can't say but I believe that he thought he wouldn't deploy because of his MOS. While in boot camp, he started to regret joining the Army (which he still does).

He seems to think that going AWOL is worth it, but I don't think he realizes the consequences of it especially considering he has three kids. I'm not sure there's a way to change his mind at this point either.

Originally Posted by define I can't say but I believe that he thought he wouldn't deploy because of his MOS. While in boot camp, he started to regret joining the Army (which he still does). He seems to think that going AWOL is worth it, but I don't think he realizes the consequences of it especially considering he has three kids. I'm not sure there's a way to change his mind at this point either.

Then he needs to talk to his higher ups, and let them know. There are ways to get out. unable to adapt is a big one. I hate to say it, but tehre are tons of sites on the internet dedicated on how to get out of the army. There are so many other ways than going AWOL. What does his wife think? Is she ok with it?

[define]

Originally Posted by chelsea<3josh yeah im sorry but didnt he know that it was highly likely that he would be deployed when joining the army right now? but i can relate to this situation-sort of. there is a friend of db's family who's son joined the army and went awol after boot camp. he has been out and awol for over 2 years. db and i totally and completely DISAGREE with this and db says that mostly all that can happen short of turning him in is to just wait for him to eff up and eventually he will get caught. he is the one that has to live in fear of getting caught for something like that. how cowardly! it makes me so mad that there are so many men and women deployed risking their lives and then people like him go awol. sorry it's a touchy subject but i would highly encourage him to not go awol. that is just not honorable and it is not something your friend will want hanging over her shoulders. also he should have deff thought out the pros and cons of joining before he joined...he chose to join he needs to do what is required of him. i hope he decides to do the right thing.

That's exactly what my sister said when I told her.

I understand how it is a touchy subject because I've dealt with them before with friends and my husbands soldiers. It makes me angry but I'm trying to put the anger aside, and that won't last long. She is suppose to call me sometime and talk to me about it, but we'll see. I hope he does the right thing too.

[define]

Originally Posted by MIKOSWIFEY One of our friends went AWOL. He just didn't get on the plane to deploy. Here's the long story of what happened. He comes back from his 2nd tour (was a 6 month tour) and got to see his wife and his newborn baby. He got orders to redeploy in 2 weeks for 4 months. He was set to get out in 3 months. He decided that he would ask his wife to swallow pills so he wouldn't have to go. She swallowed a bottle of tylenol in the parkinglot of the hospital. They went in, did all that stuff. She got him out of going. So he's sitting at home, ignoring the newborn, wife is in the hospital, the roommate's wife is taking care of the baby. (he only liked the baby for the 1st week he was home.) He gets orders to redeploy in 2 weeks AGAIN for 3 months this time. He decides and TELLS his superiors that he IS NOT getting on the plane to go. They tell him he BETTER go, or he will be sorry. They send a packet saying what Dishonorable Discharge will do to his life. They sent one to him, one to his parents. His mom supports him NOT going. The time rolls around to go, and he just doesn't go to the airport or whatever it was. He kept reporting to work this whole time. Then they finally realize he's not where he's supposed to be (took about 2 weeks). They sent some MPs or something to get him at his house, and he is restricted to base. He stays on base for a week, decides he's bored and wants to go home. He leaves his car on base, and has his wife pick him up. He stays home. He got caught at home, got restricted to base again. Then he went home on weekends because no one cared enough to check on weekends. He got a court date for the AWOL, and he then decided to claim mental illness. He had just had a counseling session, and his wife said he was fine (we were all concerned about PTSD). He went to court over a period of 2 months or so, and they ended up letting him out of the army. ONLY because he was so close to getting out, and because they really DID think that he had PTSD even though he wasn't diagnosed with it. He most likely really does. He didn't get an honorable or medical, he got a general discharge. I don't know what your friend's husband is thinking, he will not be able to hide from them and provide for his family. He may be able to get out, but it would most likely be dishonorable and he'd be screwing over his family in the long run.

Thanks for your story. I'm going to share it with my friend and hopefully she'll share it with her husband. Since she is new to the military world, I don't think she realizes how serious it is and how it can affect her family.

[define]

Originally Posted by MrsBarnum Then he needs to talk to his higher ups, and let them know. There are ways to get out. unable to adapt is a big one. I hate to say it, but tehre are tons of sites on the internet dedicated on how to get out of the army. There are so many other ways than going AWOL. What does his wife think? Is she ok with it?

Honestly, I don't know what my friend thinks about it. We haven't really talked about it besides what was mentioned in the texts she sent me. However, a part of me believes that she's ok with the idea because of being away from her husband and having her kids cry constantly for their dad.

[360Sweetie]

Oh no..that would just be a bad idea to go AWOL..i met a guy once and he told me he went AWOL but turned himself in thats why he was still living in the barracks but was waiting to get sentenced to up to a year in army jail..i guess there are alot of people in the jail on the base here serving jail time for going AWOL.I hope he doesnt decide to go AWOL and asks what he needs to do to get discharged!