AWOL and Desertion in the Military

After being a former military member and working in the administrative department I got to know a lot about the rules and regulations of the UCMJ Articles. If you are AWOL or in Deserter status the best thing you can do is voluntarily turn yourself back in. The number one reason you should turn yourself in is because they tend to be more lenient with your punishment then if you're arrested by civilian law enforment and returned to the military. And if you voluntarily return you will not be placed in confinement instead you will be placed at a TPU under legal hold which is basically staying in the barracks, working from 7-5. The rest of the day is yours. You can go wherever you'd like and still get paid. Now, if you're apprehended by a law enforcement official, you'll have to spend several days if not months in a civilian county jail while waiting for the military to make arrangements to pick you up and transport you to a military jail.

Military Lawyer

If you have the money, obtain a lawyer who deals with military crimes, because they can negotiate what will happen to you once you return to military control. In many cases I have seen lawyers get their client in and out in under a week's time with no conviction. Now they do have a court-appointed military lawyer if you can't afford one but they are usually friends with the prosecution and hardly ever care for your best interest. People have a tendency to mistake the terms AWOL and Desertion, but the two actually fall under three diferent aritcles unter the UCMJ.

Article 85-Desertion

Now desertion is the worst out the three articles. They actually have it to where you can face the death penalty but don't worry the last time anyone faced death was in 1945 by a private Eddie Slovik. Many people have it confused that if anyone who is absent without permission for more then 30 days their offense changes from AWOL to Desertion but thats not true. The only time one is guiilty of Desertion is if they have no intent on returning to military control ever again. Prime example you can be gone for more then 30 years but if you had the intent on returning to military control then your are only guilty of AWOL.

Article 86- AWOL

AWOL, Absent without Leave, and Unauthorized Absence are all the names given to a member who simply is not where they are supposed to be. Case and point if you are late for work, missed a medical appointment, or disapear for days,months,or even years it is all considered AWOL. As long as you had the intention of returning to military control that is all you will be charged with.

Article 87-Missing Movement

Now a member can be in violation of article 87 by intention or neglect. If the member was ordered to report to a ship or an aircraft and failed to do so they are guilty of article 87.

30 Day

Now once 30 days have passed the military administratively classifies the member as Deserter. The military then enters the members info into the Deserter Information Point (DIP). The military stops all of the members pay, allowances, and contacts the family member in hopes to convince them to return before the 30 day mark. Now on the 30th day of being absent the member is officialy dropped from the "Unit Rolls", along with electronically entering all their information in wanted persons file with FBI's National Crime Information Center and makes the members status available to every law enforcement agency in the United States. DIP also sends the members information to the Department of the State who in return cancels all passports the member may have.

Policies

Even though the UCMJ is followed by all branches, each branch has a different policy and procedure on how a returnee is dealt with. You can find the Navy procedures in the Navy Personnel Manual Milpersman 1600-030. For the Army you can find their procedures in Army Regulation 190-9, the Air Force procedures can be accesed in the Air Force Instruction 36-2911, the Marines in MCO P5800-16A in the Marine Corps Manual for Legal Administration, and for the Coast Guard you can find their procedures in the Coast Guard Personnel Manual Chapter 8C. All of these instruction and manuals can be easily found in a google search.

sources: www.jag.navy.mil