Legal Question in Military Law in California

been to iraq, now awol

hi i have a brother that has been to iraq, he did a 7months tour there, and he said it was mentally tough for him and when he got home after coming off of leave, he told me he was hazed on the first day back. He then went awol , he plans to work for a friend and he has quite an amount of money saved up from iraq, he says he does not want to go back to his unit so he is desserting as long as he can and turns himself in when he's ready to go back, I was just wondering what if he went more then 10 years in desertion and he turns himself in.


Asked on 5/03/05, 4:41 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Neal Puckett The Law Firm of Puckett and Faraj, PC

Re: been to iraq, now awol

Really bad, self-destructive plan. You should encourage your brother to do the right thing to keep him from destroying his future. Things will only get worse the longer he's gone. He could end up with a federal felony conviction, doing a long stretch in federal prison and getting a dishonorable discharge. He could lose his right to vote, (probably for life), and lose many good job opportunities. He's being very short-sighted. He needs to return to his unit as soon as possible. This problem will not fix itself. Someday when he is least expecting it, he'll be arrested and separated from friends and family while the service takes its time prosecuting, imprisoning and discharging him. If he goes back now, he has a chance of avoiding all of those bad things. You need to make him go back and help him get through the process. Then he can come back and go to work doing whatever he wants.

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Answered on 5/03/05, 7:28 pm


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