Military AWOL

[didds]

reading the thread on furlough got me wondering..

If a soldier/sailor/airman etc is on leave (or furlough or whatever!) on eg a 72 hour pass if on their way back to camp/base/ship something occurs totally out of their control (traffic jams on motorways/rail prob;ems etc) and it is clear they will not be beck in time before their pass runs out and they become AWOL, what provisions are in place?

One presumes that in this day and age of mobile phones they can just phone some number or other and report their likely lateness, but back in the day aside form maybe public telephones might it been a case of finding a MP on a railways station and reporting to them? Or what? It must have been a fairly standard occurrence overall?

And in such cases is the person late still subject to discipline albeit they can;t have done much about it?

didds

[tjh290633]

If you returned to camp after 23:59 you are automatically on a charge of being AWOL. If you arrived back late but got in by avoiding the guardroom, you will face an additional charge of breaking in to camp.

What happens depends on the CO's decision. If it was down to circumstances outside your control, then he may well dismiss the charge. If not, then a week confined to camp might be appropriate. If you arrived back drunk and spewed up over the NCO in charge, it might be jankers for a week. Don't forget the final comment: "Are you prepared to accept my decision?". If you don't, a court martial could follow.

I am not a barrack room lawyer, but I have seen most of it, including attending two courts martial.

TJH

[tjh290633]

By the way, I was orderly officer one night and received a call from the SPs at Euston, who had one of our aircraft men who had done a runner and had had enough.

I told him to give the lad a warrant to Tern Hill and put him on the next train. The SP was surprised that he was not told to escort him home, but I knew the circumstances, and the last thing he needed was a rough escort, probably with handcuffs. He turned up as expected and I believe got a sympathetic hearing from the CO, who put his wife on the job as the SSAFA representative. Others might not have got off so lightly.

TJH

[gryffron]

Many years ago, following a blizzard of "Beast from the East" proportions, EVERY single member of my friend's squadron failed to make it back to their rural training base from leave. I'm pretty sure none of them were disciplined.

Military personnel are supposed to be resourceful. They're not routinely expected to work miracles.

Gryff