What is awol in the army

Gregory Morales , who said military investigators were quick to dismiss his disappearance as a troubled troop intentionally absconding from post. They now think he was a victim of foul play. Traditionally, AWOL simply meant that a soldier was not present for duty. Service members who are AWOL for more than 30 days can be listed as deserters. Vanessa Guillen was mentioned during the call Thursday. Guillen was a soldier at Fort Hood, Texas, who disappeared April Her remains were later found near post and prosecutors say she was killed in an armory by a fellow soldier.

There have been other instances in which soldiers were AWOL long enough to be categorized as deserters, only to have their names later cleared. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads.

Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. As a federal warrant is issued for your arrest once you are AWOL more than 30 days, you could be arrested at any time. If this occurs, you will be held in a local jail until you are transferred to a military jail, where you will remain until you have a military court date, which could take some time.

Military prosecutors will aggressively pursue penalties for deserters, as they pose dangers to the safety of other service personnel and the military's reputation. As a military serviceman, you may be anywhere in the world when you go AWOL. In some cases a court martial may absolutely be the right course of action, but in others it is definitely NOT.

Punishment in some cases will be determined and directed at the local command level or even the theatre level. It is up to the chain of command to determine how high to pursue action against someone who is charged with being absent without leave.

A military member can be punished for being absent without leave, but not arbitrarily so. In defining what it means to be absent without leave, the MCM says the following conditions must exist for an AWOL prosecution to be successful:. In many cases these factors can make the issue far more serious. They include:. It has a very specific definition and is often a charge brought against those who must report for duty on board a ship or other vessel.