Q: Need jag advice. I went awol from the army back in ‘09 and I wish to go back to clear my name. What should I do?
Before I left I told my sergeant at the time that I was leaving and he told me to go take care of my family. I have been gone for almost 14 years and I wish to go back to clear my name. I need an advice from jag as to what I should do or where the best place would be to go to do this.
A:
There are civilian lawyers who can help with this.
Experience shows that a person receives better treatment if they surrender rather than get arrested. 30 days after you left you were declared a deserter and a federal arrest warrant was issued. Mny of my AWOL clients were arrested when they got a traffic ticket.
You can go to any military base or recruiting office and tell them you are there to surrender. The MPs will take it from there.
Depending on how you present your case you may be able to avoid a court-martial prosecution and receive an administrative discharge.
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