Legal Question in Military Law in Virginia

Re: awol

Typically Reserve Component Service Members who fail to show for drills or other training will be documented for unsatisfactory performance. Eventually, the unit will likley notifiy you via certified mail of their intent to separate the Service Member (SM) via involuntary chapter action with a less than Honorable discharge characterization. If the SM does not acknowledge the notice, the unit will have the right to follow through with the chapter. If as you ask, the SM "was caught" it might depend on whether your status is Nat'l Guard enroute to active duty training, i.e., Basic or AIT, or whether you are simply missing drill assemblies. The Guard and Reserves rarely list somone as AWOL per se, however. More often, they pursue the chapter action for "unsatisfactory performance" of duty.