Legal Question in Military Law in Oregon
awol for 6 years
i have a friend who has been awol since
may 2000, and has been very hesitant
to turn himself in. in the time that he
was away from the army, he went to a
local college and received and
associates degree and got a job, but
this problem seems to haunt him. he
knows that he is considered a ''deserter''
at this point and tried turning himself in
to a local installation towards the end of
2003. he spoke to a the commanding
officer there. they had several
conversations and the commander
surrendered the information given to
the closest JAG office. after about a
month or so, the commander called my
friend and told him that the JAG office
said that they don't have the time to
deal with this situation, and to ''just sit
tight and wait''. that was almost three
yars ago, and still nothing has happen.
at the time, he admits he was immature
and chose a bad path. he is really an
honest and good person, and i hate to
see him troubled. what should my
friend do ; does he re-turn himself in?
and what can he expect to happen in
regards to legal action?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: awol for 6 years
A lot will depend on why he went AWOL in the first place and how long he'd been in the Army - if he wasn't in any type of trouble before he went in, by going back in 2003 to check it out, he's in a better position than otherwise.
He really needs to hire a lawyer that is actually experienced in military law related issues to "negotiate" his surrender and hopefully, also a discharge. He could be prosecuted in a Court-Martial and get jail time, but the longer he waits to resolve it, the worse it's going to get, and the harder it will be for any lawyer to really help him stay out of jail.
Hope this helps - if not, email me privately at [email protected]
Good luck!
Don Rehkopf
Re: awol for 6 years
I have dealt with many of these cases. The best answer is to surrender, at Fort Knox, Kentucky, or Fort Sill, Oklahoma. There are various "rules" that he needs to be aware of when he surrenders. There is no guarantee of a particular result, but over the years more Soldiers have been administratively discharged, than court-martialled. It does depend on the circumstances.
Sincerely, www.court-martial.com
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