Legal Question in Military Law in North Carolina

Re: dropping out of basic training.

This is a very difficult situation. The Military has regs that permit soldier to be discharged with an entry level separation (ELS) if they fail to adapt to the military way of life, and there are also possibilities for a basic training soldier to be easily chaptered out for mental health, physical health or family hardship issues.

The bad news is that the military often ignores these regs and fails to act unless the soldier is seriously suicidal (they often even ignore suicidal statements and actions) or acts out in other ways (gets into verbal altercations, has a nervous breakdown or goes AWOL).

Still despite this culture of command inaction, sometimes commanders do the right thing. The best way to make this happen is for your son to be respectfully assertive and persistent in seeking a discharge. He will likely catch grief over it but if he continues to request help, his unit might do the right thing.

Sometimes it can also be helpful for servicemembers to seek relief in other avenues, such as contacting a congressional office, filing an IG (Inspector General) complaint or even filing an Article 138 complaint. But for the most part these courses of action should only be pursued after less confrontational approaches have been exhausted.

If your son decides instead to AWOL (or UA if he is in the Navy or Marines), he should know what the consequences are--- also I should note that as a lawyer, I of course can't advise him to break the law, but I can tell him the consequences of breaking the law and help him deal with the consequences of whatever choice he makes.

If he is in the Army and thinking about this route, I have article that you and he can read that discusses the law on Army AWOL cases...

http://nlgmltf.org/pdfs/2-16-08%20AWOL%20FROM%20THE%20ARMY.pdf

I would be glad to visit with him or you about his situation if he is in the Army. Shoot me an email and we can set up a free initial consultation.

If he is another branch of the military, I would suggest contacting the GI Rights hotline (www.girightshotline.org). They can provide basic information and/or refer him to an attorney in your area that can help.

Good luck!

Re: dropping out of basic training.

Mr. Branum has given you some good advice. With great respect for Mr. Branum's legal advice, Let me offer some practical advice with respect to this situation.

This is a problem you can't fix as a parent. The only person who can fix it is your son, and if he fixes it in the wrong way, he'll screw up his life for a long time. While an entry level separation can be and sometimes is the best thing, it often screws the soldier or sailor over in the long run. On this message board every week there are two or three messages to the effect that "I got chaptered out and want to upgrade my discharge." The ELS often prevents a person from getting a security clearance or government job later (particularly if coupled with AWOL or court martial). In most of those cases no relief is going to be forthcoming through the Board for Correction of Military Records.

The decision to enlist carries with it significant responsibilities. Your son signed on the line, and made the commitment to serve. I applaud him for that. But basic can be very disorienting, particularly for someone who has not spent much time away from home. It is a tough and grueling experience, but worth sticking out. I very nearly accepted the "easy way out" when I was in basic. But my unit commander said "no" when I asked, and I was eternally grateful that he did. I spent 3 years in the Army and separated at the rank of E5 with two Army Commendation Medals.

Give you son support, tell him you're proud of him, and tell him to do the right thing and stick it out. If you make it easy for him to quit, quitting will become what he's good at.

My own son graduated from Basic in 2007, and I gave him the same advice.