Penalty for Deserting?

[HEMI®Dart]

A guy I used to work with deserted from the Army (20 year old kid). I guess he recently joined but didn't like it. He got a traffic ticket and that's when they found out. The paper said he escaped by "climbing out of a window at night"

 

[LSMITH]

A good "counseling session" with a DI would fix this kid right up. Teach him to finish what he started. Loser for life is the prognosis though... ...

 

[machterhof]

UCMJ - Article 85 - Desertion



Maximum punishment.



(1) Completed or attempted desertion with intent to avoid hazardous duty or to shirk important service. Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 5 years.



(2) Other cases of completed or attempted desertion.



(a) Terminated by apprehension. Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 3 years.

(b) Terminated otherwise. Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 2 years.



(3) In time of war. Death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.







I've also seen the court hand down OTH (Other then Honorable) discharges. The OTH can be upgraded to a General discharge after a period of time.



Looks like your friend just hosed himself for the rest of his life.



You can find more info here: http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/mcm/bl85.htm

 

[HEMI®Dart]

Originally posted by machterhof

UCMJ - Article 85 - Desertion



Maximum punishment.





(3) In time of war. Death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.

Holy Moses!



Thanks for the reply Butch

 

[ronco]

How does a dishonorable discharge follow you for the rest of your life? I have heard this, but don't know what takes place! What kind of problems can this kid expect this to cause?



Thanks,



ronco

 

[TomGolden]

My guesses would include:



* Any time he applies for credit (mortgage, car, credit card, etc... ) it would show up, connected to his social security number

* Any time he might have legal issues, such as the afore mentioned traffic ticket, it could compound his problems...

* Never be able to get any sort of government or civil service job

...

 

[46mech]

more so the gov. /civil service job. if he gets hired on with a company and that company got a gov. contract... ... . he couldn't work it.

 

[slavallee]

In the state of california a dishonorable discharge can red flag you for handgun purchaces. From what I understand, you really have to try to screw up bad enough to get a dishonorable.

 

[Kickin Y2K]

A clown worked for us for about a week, then one day told us that he had joined the Marines and left because it was harder than he though it would be. Next day FBI was at the jobsite