Legal Question in Military Law in Virginia

My friend's son-in-law happily joined the Army after they accepted him despite his old injury to his arm (pins holding his humerus together). While in Basic training, his arm gave way while he was doing punishment pushups for being late for formation.

The Army sent him to Walter Reed to fix his arm, then sent him home to recuperate with full pay and benefits for 8 months. Toward the end of that time, they started asking him to report to the hospital. He "called in sick" and, predictably, got in trouble. When he DID get there, he made things worse by being disrespectful. He was confined to the post for a month and lost pay.

When the time came to return for the rest of Basic, he didn't go. He sat at home and collected full pay for about 24 months until the Army figured out that he was neither at Reed nor Benning and stopped paying him.

He was just arrested on a desertion warrant after a traffic stop and has been sent to Ft. Knox.

His friends are pettioning their Congressmen to "expose the Army's despicable recruiting practices" for taking him despite the arm injury.

My question: Are these friends going to make things worse?


Asked on 11/13/09, 11:10 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Neal Puckett The Law Firm of Puckett and Faraj, PC

Well, they won't make it any better. Congressman rarely help, contrary to popular belief. They write form letters to the Army and get form letters in return, then pretend they've helped. The son-in-law handled his situation very badly and the Army will be discharging him with an other than honorable discharge, after charging him with desertion, if he's lucky. More about that later. They're also going to recoup any pay that he got in error. They WILL get all of their money back, because they hook into the IRS. He'll never see another tax refund. He's basically a thief who stole money from the Army that he knew he was not entitled to. If that catches the attention of prosecutors at Ft. Knox, he won't get his routine other than honorable discharge. He'll be prosecuted for fraud and larceny and do a couple of years in an Army confinement facility and live the remainder of his life as a convicted felon. Our law firm can assist if that happens. But we'd need a lot more information to build a credible defense against those allegations.

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Answered on 11/19/09, 9:25 am
William J. Holmes Attorney at Military Law

Going to the media or Congress likely will not help and will probably only make matters worse for him. He is facing criminal charges which could possibly be sent to a court-martial although he might be able to avoid this if he is given an other than honorable discharge. This is a bad discharge with some negative consequences, but far preferable to being convicted of one or several felony offenses. He will need an attorney who can try to help him avoid a court-martial if at all possible.

I hope this has answered your questions. Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

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Answered on 11/20/09, 3:53 pm


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