Legal Question in Military Law in Massachusetts

Awol Advise

My fiancee went awol for 2 months due to some very complicated family hardships at home. He was planning to go out back for a family issue discharge, but from the inability to request a discharge from a time constraint he has now awoled for 2 months. I am nervous and I need some guidance on what he can do. I need advice on what he can do. What are his best options or available options of what he can or should be doing? He really wants to try to get a discharge. Please lead me in the right direction.


Asked on 5/05/08, 9:50 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Re: Awol Advise

If he has been gone for 2 months, he is in "deserter" status and a federal warrant has been issued for his arrest. If arrested, he will sit in jail for a few days until he can be transported back to his base. Local Police departments are paid an arrest fee for picking up deserters and are reimbursed the costs of keeping them in jail, so there is no downside for a department to go looking for deserters. Even if no one looks, sooner or later he will get stopped for a speeding ticket or apply for a job, and the arrest warrant will surface.

The best way to clear this up is for your fiance to go back to the base on his own and go straight to the TRIAL DEFENSE SERVICE (TDS) Attorneys' Office for better guidance. In all likelihood, he will be discharged from the military unless the unit he went AWOL from has deployed.

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Answered on 5/05/08, 10:02 pm


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