Legal Question in Military Law in Kentucky

Re: Awol

Well, there is much that needs to be covered. Your boyfriend needs an attorney. One will be appointed to him free of charge when he gets moved back to the military installation. He may also retain civilian counsel at his own expense. There is not much you can do other than helping to ensure counsel gets involved early on in the process.

What will most likely happen is that he will be picked up soon by military police and returned to military control and shipped to the unit he went AWOL from. Then, he will probably be afforded a pretrial confinement hearing within about 7 days to determine whether he should remain in confinement pending trial or should be released to serve in his unit pending trial.

This is assuming that he has been AWOL more than 30 days. If less, they may just simply put him back in his unit with a view toward taking other action. However, based on the fact he was arrested for having been AWOL, I'm assuming he is classified in deserter status and will probably move right to the pretrial confinement hearing.

After that, a lot will depend upon how the offense is charged--whether with a view toward a special court-martial (max punishment 1 year confinement and a Bad Conduct Discharge) or with a view toward a General Court-Martial (max confinement capped only by the statute under which he is charged--if desertion--3 years and a dishonorable discharge (DD)--if desertion with intent to shirk/avoid hazardous duty, 5 years and a DD (this would be charged if, for example, he went AWOl around the time he was supposed to deploy somewhere). Other factors would include whether when he went AWOL he was pending some court-martial charges already.

Feel free to call me at 512-259-7324 for a free initial consultation, e-mail me at [email protected], or visit my website at www.courtmartialbrand.com

Sincerely Yours,

Steve Brand

Re: Awol

Mr. Brand's reply is complete and accurate. I concur.

Re: Awol

The replies of my colleagues are accurate, but I write to tell you what you should not do. You should not put pressure on this young man to return to you, or to leave the military. Doing so, particularly with a less-than-honorable discharge, will follow him for the rest of his life.

If he has not been gone longer than 30 days, then he may well get only an Article 15 for his bad conduct, and will lose some pay and benefits over the course of the next 3 to 6 months. If he was classed as a deserter, then he has some serious problems.

In my view the last thing you want is for this young man to shirk his military responsibilities. It teaches him that you don't mind someone who shirks their duty. If he deserts the Army, would he not desert you?

Be strong for him. Tell him you're behind him. Tell him to pay the cost of his bad behavior, and then work with him on building a new life. Also, if possible see to it that he gets good counsel to assist him. But under no circumstances make his problems worse by complaining about his absence or doing other things to convince him to get out of the military. In my view you will only make your life worse.