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Idiot Soldiers soon to be AWOL

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  • Idiot Soldiers soon to be AWOL

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer


    Soldiers Miss Flights Back to Iraq
    Few of More Than 30 Absent Troops Offer Explanation
    By Steve Vogel
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Tuesday, October 21, 2003; Page A20


    More than 30 soldiers who came home from Iraq for two weeks of leave have failed to show up for their flights back to the combat zone, military officials said yesterday.

    The soldiers, among more than 1,300 troops so far in the first large-scale home leave program since Vietnam, have yet to be declared absent without leave -- a violation of military law, said Army Col. Paris Mack, the Pentagon official overseeing the program.

    A week after return flights began, 28 soldiers had not made it to Baltimore-Washington International Airport for the journey back to Iraq, said Air Force Maj. Mike Escudie, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command in Tampa. Six others did not make yesterday evening's flight out of BWI for unknown reasons, said Lt. Col. Robert Hagen, an Army spokesman.

    Escudie said "a small number" have been granted emergency extensions by military commanders because of extenuating circumstances, including deaths in the family. Military officials could not say how many presented valid reasons or how many others had failed to contact authorities.

    "Many of them are understandable due to illnesses or canceled airline flights," Escudie said. One soldier was unable to board his flight to BWI because he lost his wallet, while another had a sick baby, Hagen said.

    But a military advocacy group cited two cases in which service members called to say they do not want to return to the long and difficult mission in Iraq.

    "Ultimately, every one of these cases will be looked into and there will be a determination if there are any mitigating circumstances," said Marine Maj. Pete Mitchell, a Central Command spokesman.

    Mack said the soldiers who have missed their flights are "definitely a concern," but she added that the Army had anticipated that some soldiers would not return, and that the numbers thus far are small.

    "If you put it into the context of the 1,200-plus who have returned, it's not a large number," Escudie said.

    Mack said no consideration is being given to curtailing or canceling the leave program because of the absent soldiers. "The program is going very well," she said.

    A survey of 1,935 soldiers in Iraq published last week by the military newspaper Stars and Stripes found that 49 percent rated morale in their unit as low or very low.

    Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center in Silver Spring, said the absences demonstrate that "there is a morale problem." Robinson said he had been contacted by two soldiers home on leave who do not want to return to their units

    One of the soldiers, a National Guardsman from Florida, missed his scheduled flight back to Iraq three days ago, Robinson said. "I told him he needs to get his [rear end] back to Iraq," Robinson said.

    "I definitely don't want to go back there," the guardsman told a reporter for CBS News. "I think most people -- if not all people who are there -- don't want to be there."

    The soldier did not return a message left on his cell phone yesterday. "He's on the run," Robinson said.

    Soldiers failing to return from leave on schedule is an old story for the military, but nonetheless potentially a significant problem for commanders. Soldiers could face demotion or jail time for the offense.

    "We had the same problem in Vietnam," said retired Marine officer Gary Solis, who commanded a company in Vietnam and later wrote a history on military law during that war.

    Solis, of Alexandria, said the combination of "Australian women and Australian beer" kept several of his Marines from returning from leave on time.

    The leave program from Iraq, which unlike in Vietnam is bringing soldiers home to the continental United States to reunite with their families, may make it even more difficult for soldiers to return, Solis said.

    "It's a lonely thing to do, but then that's the soldier's duty," he said.


    © 2003 The Washington Post Company
    Theres always a few ....
    Your look more lost than a bastard child on fathers day.

  • #2
    I read that AWOL is high as also suicides in Iraq. I sure would like to know the acutalty of the same. It is natural in high stress situation but is it really alarming?


    "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

    I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

    HAKUNA MATATA

    Comment


    • #3
      What happens when someone who went AWOL is caught?
      Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

      Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

      Comment


      • #4
        Ray,

        The only reason this grabbed my attention is the fact that if it keeps going on it will screw up leave for everyone. Thats what pisses me off, when a small group of people gets selfish and everyone else gets the shaft.

        BR,

        In theory since they are missing shipment to avoid hazardus duty they could be shot (in a time of war which is a gray area for us at this point). That of course will not likely happen. Most likely they'll get charged with an Artical 85-2. which will grant them a Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 2-5 years at the "Fort Leavenworth Health resort and gym".
        Your look more lost than a bastard child on fathers day.

        Comment


        • #5
          What's the difference between a Dishonorable Discharge and a Big Chicken Dinner?
          Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

          Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by bigross86
            What's the difference between a Dishonorable Discharge and a Big Chicken Dinner?
            One of the big disadvantages to a DHD is that you have to state to any employer what kind of discharge you got a dishonorable looks real bad on a resume.
            Your look more lost than a bastard child on fathers day.

            Comment


            • #7
              They won't get dishonorables unless they are declared as deserters of a combat zone(MUCH worse than being AWOL).

              The penalty for desertion can include the firing squad.

              These yokels will probably get a Chapter 13 administrative discharge, under Less than Honorable conditions, or at worst a Bad Conduct discharge(which is pretty bad in it's own right).

              You pretty much have to kill someone to get a Dishonorable.

              Comment


              • #8
                I can hope for an 85-2 cant I Snipe? :D
                Your look more lost than a bastard child on fathers day.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Sure, i have no sympathy for someone that lacks extenuating circumstances and is just looking to shirk his duty just because he doesn't want to go back.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Is there a serious difference between an Article 13 and a 85-2?
                    Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

                    Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      when you get a chapter type discharge its about as close to "not" having enlisted as you can get. Mine was a chapter 5 medical, but I still am supposed to list it to an employer and show my discharge papers, I just don't get any benifits for the time I was in. Same for a chap 13 I presume, no benifits upto and including any GI Bill money they may have had.

                      Article 85-2 is missing a shipment to avoid hazardus duty thats what will get you prison time and a DHD.
                      Your look more lost than a bastard child on fathers day.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        There are a variety of Chapters, 13 being the most common.

                        The catch is the separation line on the DD214.

                        A chapter 13 is a general discharge, but can be under honorable, less than honorable, or administrative guise.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Im just curious, lets say I went AWOL and showed up in some small town and was pulled over for speeding by a local sheriff's deputy or state trooper, is there any way that officer would know that im a AWOL soldier? And could he take be back to base or do the MP's have to do that?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            If he ran you through NCIC you would show up as AWOL: WANTED BY FEDERAL AUTHORITIES.

                            The cop would lock you up until CID came and fetched you.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              ok thanks M21

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