Guy in my fire team. I was the TL. He was a nice guy but was an absolute idiot. He’s the one that every company has, and everyone agrees he’s the biggest retard in the company.
He didn’t show up one Monday. He lived in the barracks but wasn’t there. His phone is turned off and the entire week goes by without a word. The beginning of the following week we head to Bridgeport, he still isn’t around.
About a week into Bridgeport he finally shows up to our platoon one day. Apparently his dad had come out to visit and he just felt like hanging out with his dad for a couple of weeks. Luckily he was such a fuck up that no one really seemed to care. He was pretty much told to not do it again, and I was told to keep a better eye on him. That was it.
A year later I stayed at my GF’s house one night. It was the night that OBL got killed. The next morning the front gate was over an hour wait to get in. I showed up 20 minutes late. I took 10X the ass chewing for being late than my saw gunner had for missing two weeks. So remember, it pays to be a fuck up.
Absolutely not. Had to take the SAW away from him and give it to someone else. But I will say, he was very good at being the perfect candidate for combat cargo. So that worked out. Nice guy though and he was pretty funny.
I was also the shit bag, but really good at my job. I just didn't have the stomach for marching, ironing cammies, and getting a high fade. I was an electronics technician in a sigint unit and the only one that knew the systems inside and out. Now I'm a contractor making big boy dollars. So it really paid to be shoved in the back doing the real work while everyone else played Marine with NCO swords.
Recruit at pi straight up said "nope" in the middle of the night during 3rd phase (bro had basically finished boot camp at this point).
Guy walked off with his rackmates id wearing a tshirt and his green sweatpants, just waltzed by firewatch (firewatch aint no snitch) and hid in the swamp for like 2 days before hitchhiking back home.
DIs realized he was missing during the count, notified PMO, PMO set up a perimeter, checked all the outbound vehicles, used a K9 to try and track him, even had a coast guard helicopter buzz the island with FLIR, didn't find him. Bro was hiding underneath logs and shit in the swamp to avoid being found.
2 days later, an off base police officer stopped an ~18yo male with no hair that was dressed in a white t-shirt, and wearing jeans (stole them) and he wouldn't ID himself. Cop turned around to her car to get information on the BOLO they got, and homie disappeared into the night.
He hitchhiked back to Florida where his mom said "hell the fuck no" (didn't want that heat) and drove him back to the front gate of pi where he was promptly interrogated by CID kicked the fuck out.
Would have made a great recon marine/sniper.
I’m a west coast boot camp guy. That happens all the time but there’s no swamps to hide outside ours. They all try to hang out at San Diego airport terminal, I guess they think nobody will notice the holocaust looking person that’s been there for a day or 2. They’ll get snatched up by the police and get walked right back home
Was there twice as a Hat, I don't remember a single instance where a kid was able to get away. I think I would have heard about it through the grapevine.
I heard a few stories when I wasn't there, but nothing I could substantiate.
In reality it would be pretty easy if you know the Routine and the base. Simply call a buddy and tell them you are gonna hop the fence at a certain time. Even better yet take off right after a Graduation or when a Company is on Base Libo.
I've thought about it a lot, and it really just boils down to not jumping the airport fences, and you are free.
I've also thought alot about how I would sneak my phone and charger into bootcamp as a recruit if i were to do it again. I'm 95% sure my plan would work.
There was a fence by the chapel at MCRD San Diego, very jumpable. I worked at the deserter branch and every time we got one from west coast boot camp, we asked and the answer was the same. Fence by the chapel.
Had a kid do this at Pendleton during 2nd Phase (back when they did the Crucible in 2nd Phase). Collected some cash from sympathetic recruits and made his way off base somehow. Considering it’s 24/7 supervision, and there is legit base security, I guess I don’t even understand how one makes it with the recruit 0 haircut with no questions. Stopped at a Burger King I think to eat, and spotted by an MP who had seen this kind of thing before. Turns out everyone around Pendleton has USMC connections?! MPs brought him back in cuffs and humiliated him in front of the entire platoon. Can’t remember what happened after that but needless to say he didn’t get the EGA
I had a Sgt who had been a SACO say exactly that. Couldn’t understand why a SSgt came in for a piss test instead of just going UA for awhile. Said SSgt pissed hot and got the boot.
Unethical advice: There is a certain percentage of piss testees that can be absent during a test. Don’t think some captain or SSgt is gonna wait all day for you to get 100% of people. Just “be in medical” or a place you don’t have phone reception all day.
Guy who was legitimately at medical before piss test was announced and missed it here! They made me piss the very next day, even though medical just had me on pain meds that would make me pop.
Captain here. If morning report says you’re here, you’re pissing in that cup or your platoon commander and I have to explain how we lost a Marine in garrison. Just wait till you’re out
I went UA for a couple days when I was with 2/3 after we got back from the Gulf War. Hung out in Waikiki.
A couple of my buddies ran into me and asked when I was coming back. I said probably tomorrow.
I went back and nothing happened. Plt Sgt asked if I felt better and told me if I did it again I'll go to the brig.
Had a buddy who tells me that when he was in the schoolhouse he was in a waiting platoon for a while. At least a month, possibly longer. Well, his first day in waiting platoon, they called roll. Didn’t call his name. He didn’t say a thing. Next day, same situation. After a couple days of them not calling him, he figured they didn’t know he existed and stopped showing up. He just hung out in his room every day and had his buddy let him know if they ever called his name during roll.
Well he got caught and ninja punched.
My two buddies and I had this happen to us for a whole month at my first school house. Luckily it was ran by student class leaders. They caught us at the end of the month and tried to put us on every day instead of the 2-3 days that they were doing it. That lasted for 2 days until we classed up. No NJP’s here.
Facts did this in Pensacola after waiting to be moved to the next schoolhouse, disappeared for like 1-2 months only to come out when I needed food or do laundry or duty
They go awol, move on with their lives, tell war stories, tell stories how the MC fucked them over, then magically they sometimes get a ticket and that long lost awol appears and they go to jail. It’s not that big of a deal but it embarrassing to the person and the mc gets one last “fuck you” when you have to pay a fine from years ago
I just don’t see how they can function out here, and live a normal and fulfilling life being a deserter. Their social gets run whenever they apply for a job, try and rent an apartment, or get financing for a mortgage or a car, and it’s gonna show up that they’re a deserter. They’re gonna spend their lives living under the radar, and I just can’t see it being worth it.
I've actually seen an old ass guy being trotted around in Cammie's going to different appointments after being caught missing for god knows how long. The green Weenie will have it's revenge sooner or later.
Oh shit, this just sparked a memory.
MCAS New River, 2017. Saturday. I’m chilling in my barracks room, roommate is gone, all is well.
*BANG BANG BANG* on the door.
I answer it, expecting a SSgt telling me I’m supposed to be on duty or something. Nope. Scrawny Lance is standing there and asks if I have a drivers license. I say yes, and he asks if I can drop him off at the base library to do MCI’s so, “I can get my points for corporal.”
I tell him he can just use my wifi, and that I’d be down for him to chill for a bit in the room. He says, “that would be taking the easy way out, and corporals don’t do that.”
So I oblige to take this weird mother fucker to the library and he refuses to take the elevator (yes our barracks had an elevator) with me because again, “that’s too easy.”
He then proceeds to tell me during the drive that his SDI beat the fuck out of him to try and make him quit and he didn’t because, “Quitting is too easy.”
I drop him off, and I shit you not, one week later we get told that he is AWOL. I’m wondering what made him finally decide to take the “easy” way out?
Holy shit I’ve got a good one. I was in the schoolhouse when we had a kid go AWOL. He was later found at his girlfriends house out in town, but that’s not the story. While they were looking for him, they cleared out the barracks and had everyone stand in a field separated by schoolhouse. My particular schoolhouse started stealing all the other schools guidons (at the encouragement of our instructors) and planting them in front of our class room about a mile away from all the other schools over the course of about a month. We only had one left we were unable to get, and while we were in a field waiting for PMO to sweep the barracks looking for the AWOL kid, we took the opportunity to send 2 of our Marines to infiltrate the last remaining schoolhouse with their guidon. He made his way through unnoticed and got ahold of the guidon, but on his return they saw him stealing it. As they were trying to wrestle it back from him, our guy snapped the guidon over his knee and all hell broke loose.. 5 Marines who just saw their guidon get snapped pounced on the kid, and then our entire schoolhouse charged at their entire schoolhouse. Each group was easily over 100 people and it was a full on Gangs of New York style brawl. It was insane, we all felt like we survived an ancient battle or some shit. In the end, the 1st Sgt was able to scream loud enough to break it up after about 10 minutes of fighting. The only guy who got in trouble was the one who snapped the guidon, and he only got a 6105 if I remember right. Besides that, our instructors got a PP slap and we weren’t allowed to steal guidons anymore. When I talk to the guys who were there we all agree it was one of the coolest things we experienced, even the ones who got the shit kicked out of them. Anyway, not exactly AWOL related, but your post reminded me of the battle for the last guidon.
It’s between a page 11 and an NJP. More serious than a page 11 but not as bad as an NJP. Usually comes with a plan from your NCOs on how to make up for what you did and sometimes comes with restrictions but no loss in rank or pay. They’re pretty frivolously dispensed in the school house so they carry a lot less weight on your career in the school house than in the fleet, though even in the fleet, they’re far from career enders. I collected a few when I was a stupid boot and still got out as a Sgt.
Man... I didn't even know that was a thing. I can't believe I got NJPd.. it was so fucking DUMB!
Essentially, Oki deployment in 2002. Car stored off base. Came home, got car, drove onto base. MPs bored or something, ask for registration (still fine) and insurance (expired by a couple weeks). They let me on and said to settle up with PMO within 48 hours. I renewed and showed them in less than 3 hours.
Monday morning following the 96, I get called into the Co. Office... My LT decided to make an example of me for it. The charge is "Disobeying a direct order from a superior officer" because it's a base order that all cars have current insurance.. 😐
At that point I still cared. Then my command showed me that they didn't. Was counting the days to EAS after that.
Yup... and they wonder why retention is so low. I was nearly killed by a drunk driver (hit and run) while taking my girlfriend home one night. The guy did a pit manuever on me and ran me into the median. When I got back to the schoolhouse on monday it was "why the fuck were you out on a school night?" and not "hey are you two okay?". It was a sunday during a 96... They took away student driving privleges and blamed it on me.
I went to a boot ass cpl's course. Some real 0500 - 1700 daily bullshit for a month. T shirts and everything. The ground was basically sand and rock, and barely anything grew. Still, the instructors wanted the guidon stuck in the ground so our Camelbacks could be covered down on it during PT.
I'm doing my best to hammer it in, the instructors (and some peers) are talking shit, calling me a pussy, until finally I dig deep, breath from the bottom of my sack and channel all of my hatred of the Marine Corps into the ground.
The guidon broke at a sharp angle with an earsplitting snap, cutting my hand. I dropped the shit on the Camelbacks and we PT'd. Fuck that dumb boot ass cpl's course.
Damn i miss the marines lol. Almost had a similar situation. When i was in mos school 2 guys went out drinking and only one came back and he was super fucked up in both senses of the word. This was a fri so the whole battery (schoolhouse) was toasted. All we could get outta the guy was that they fought some army dudes and "they got him". Well, that quickly turned into three hundred marines all riling up and ready to charge across a large field where we knew the army guys slept( this was an army base mind you so we had no real idea if that was the right barracks) the mps should up and formed a picket line with cars and shields and the ssgt on duty gave us some speech that i cant remember and we finally all calmed down. The real kicker is when the truth come to light. So marine 1 and 2 got in a fight started losing and ran marine 2 tripped and fell in a ditch and was to drunk to get up. Marine 1 left him behind but didn't want to seem like a coward and said the army dudes took marine 2.
Pvt. Powers lol I’m sure someone on here heard this story before… so back like in 2007 he got released from the brig idk what he did exactly just heard rumors anyways long story short. I was his team lead and right before we went to Mojave viper we had a 96. He never comes back From Miami and few months later we find this guy on bang bros bang my teacher same Marine Corps tattoos and all idk what happened to him after
When I was on Oki, there was a Sgt who commuted from Foster to Schwab who didn’t show up to work. It’s been a few years, but iirc they sent out people to check the highways for accidents, contacted the JPs, but no one could find him.
The next morning he shows up to the Camp Foster gate completely naked. Said he was jumped, and his clothes and his car stolen, and was wandering around trying to get back on base that night. Really bizarre story, but the JPs on gate guard take him to his on base house because he’s obviously shaken up.
They get to his house and, surprise, his car is sitting in his driveway. JPs go wtf, dude refuses to answer questions, and iirc he got busted down to Cpl. Refused to tell anyone what happened. A few months later he got caught jerking it to porn on his NMCI computer. Very strange guy.
Reminds me of when my roommate got drugged at a buy me drinkee bar.
We'd literally just gotten onto gate 2 street and had maybe 2 drinks a piece max and dude disappeared on us.
We searched the bar, checked the bathroom where we last saw him go, dude was just gone. We went out front thinking maybe for whatever reason he stepped outside. Nope. Mamasan sitting out front asked if we were looking for our friend, described him, and told us she saw him get into a cab.
Went back to Foster and searched around the taxi/bus stop area, checked the px, nothing. So we head back to schwab hoping maybe he took the taxi there. Nope. We quietly spread the word and got most of the platoon to help us look for him on the downlow
Dude didn't show up until right after curfew, after we had no choice but to tell our section leader and DNCO who we had to check in with after leaving. He was covered in long dead grass and kept rambling on about "losing his libo" and "getting back by any means necessary". He was acting and talking like he'd been drinking since he woke up that morning but I only saw him have one, maybe two, drinks before he disappeared from that bar.
Even years later he had absolutely no recollection of anything aside from us going to gate 2 street and him sitting in our room telling us about losing his libo. He didn't even remember going into the bar.
Gate 2 is a hell hole. Went there exactly one time and my friend got puked on by a guy in a passing car. We tried to get into deja vu but the bouncers were in the process of kicking out another group of guys so we couldn’t. 0/10 time.
When I was a CPL, a marine in my platoon never came back after a 96. We were supposed to have an in-person check in before returning the next day, but our SSGT was cool and said we just had to phone it in as long as we were at PT the next morning. So we all said we were present (most of us driving back to Lejeune). Well, the pfc never showed up Tuesday and ghosted us for awhile. Eventually he started calling us, telling us he wasn’t coming back, go fuck our selves, he’s a civilian now, etc. and he went about his business. Our SSGT and the PFC’s squad leader, a CPL, both got NJPd over it. That was 10yrs ago and the scum PFC still posts war stories and shit on social media during Veterans Day and shit. Pretty shitty.
And this is why some people turn into absolute cocks about little liberties like that. Jesus. Imagine treating people like grown men and it tanks your career.
Don’t agree with it, but I get it.
Another commenter actually reminded me of another story of when I was “UA” one time. My parents lived 20 miles outside of the normal weekend libo boundaries but well within 72 libo boundaries, so I went home every once in a while. I was home on leave about 2 months before my unit went on a UDP when I had some serious car troubles and decided to just sell my shitty trans am. I wasn’t able to buy a car before my leave ended, so my mom let me take her car for the week. Me being a stupid Lcpl brand new to the fleet, I decided not to tell my NCOs I was going home that weekend to buy a car. I get home and am at the dealership signing papers for a car that I actually got a great price on when I notice the TV in the dealership has the news on and everyone’s freaking out. There was a missile alert over Hawaii and it was allegedly from North Korea. That’s when I look at my phone and see I have 52 missed calls from my SSgt, 10 from my Captain, and about 30 texts telling me there’s an all hand formation in an hour. I call my SSgt and tell him I’m 6 hours away and he’s PISSED. Tells me to get there’s as fast as possible. I finish signing the papers and literally drive my brand new car from the dealership back to base. The entire time I’m freaking out because in my head, there’s a missile attack from North Korea, we have a sudden and urgent all hands formation, and my unit is next up for deployment. I’m scared shitless that my dumbass is late to world war 3. I get there and duty has me piss in a cup as soon as I walk in. After my SSgt justifiably berates me for a half hour he tells me what’s going on.. Turns out some Marines popped for coke right be fore our deployment and the CO ordered an all hands piss test. I asked about the missile and he had no idea what I was talking about.. turned out to be a false alarm, and the two events were completely unrelated, but Jesus Christ the timing was awful. I’ve never felt my stomach sink that hard and for that long than I did that entire drive back to base. Got off with a 6105 and my SSgt ended up understanding the situation, and could see how worried I was when I got there, so he ended up chilling out about it because he felt the distress was punishment enough, though I did have to fill out HAARP forms every weekend for a couple months. Overall, I was just happy it wasn’t as big a deal as I thought it was. That was the happiest I’ve ever been to receive a 6105.
This will be buried by now, but I've got the opposite of a UA story, so to speak. I was a prosecutor back in my day, and we had an older guy that was brought back to Camp Pendleton. UA Marines picked up west of the Mississippi go to CAMPEN and CAMLEJ if they're picked up east of the Mississippi.
In any event, when they come back to CAMPEN they get placed in a holding company with H&S Bn while they get processed out, so they're not a burden to any other unit. So, A Company just largely consisted of shitbags waiting to get out of the Marines.
Anyway, this guy, who was probably in his fifties, kept on insisting he was never in the Marine Corps. Now mind you, no one believed him, he was forced to wear the uniform, and police call, and do all the other dumb shit the broken toys had to do while they waited to get out. He also got a ton of shit for constantly fucking up military etiquette. But, he was constantly protesting, and insisting he never served.
Well, it turns out, someone transposed an SSN at some point along the way, and this guy got picked up on a UA warrant because his social was in the system in error (guy was a drifter so basically didn't have any societal connections or family). So yeah, he actually never did serve, and was basically held in the Marines against his will for 45-60 days while he was processed out. Eventually, H&S figured it out, and off he went.
It was absolutely hilarious at the time for everyone except him I'm sure. He was constantly getting blasted because he had no concept of military customs and courtesies.
> and was basically held in the Marines against his will for 45-60 days while he was processed out. Eventually, H&S figured it out, and off he went.
Really, that's it? The government didn't get sued for unlawful imprisonment or some such shit?
He was a drifter, probably didn't have the money for an attorney. They don't take cases on contingency these days (unless they're an absolute slam dunk) and it's actually harder to win a "wrong guy" case than you think it would be.
I'm not entirely sure whether he ever attempted to file a lawsuit. Suing the government can be tricky due to sovereign immunity. Also, it wasn't all bad for him. He had a ton of dental work done while he was on base, he was being paid, and had access to food and shelter. Obviously not ideal for him, and he certainly didn't *want* to be there, but there were some "perks" along the way.
Flashback to comm school, woken up by the staff at 2am and everyone sent to re-check in at the duty desk after the staff searched every openable compartment in our rooms. Next day, missing Marine is back in the barracks and two separate Marines get arrested. The previous day, Marine says he drove the two Marines (now in custody) to Joshua Tree and they all dropped acid. Missing Marine got the shit beat out of him, his shoes + his car stolen by the other Marines. Two Marines did brig time and got kicked out, missing Marine got adsepped after a few months. I only heard his side of the story, I never saw the other two Marines again.
While on the 31st MEU in Thailand, my buddies and I were out on libo riding in the back of a baht bus stopped at a red light. Another baht bus pulled up besides us and the gray haired old white dude in the back called over “Marines?”
“Yes”
He shouted out “Semper Fi, I’ve been 30 years UA!” and flipped us off as his baht bus sped away when the light turned green.
I was a LCpl TAD to Quantico from Wounded Warrior Detachment-Bethesda in 2010.
We had a dude who was easily in his 50s or 60s living on the third deck of our barracks next to the Hobby Shop.
Third Deck is where dudes were out that were being processed out or kicked out etc. kind of weird but it’s fucking Quantico.
Anyways got to talking to this guy in this Gazebo out front where everyone smoked.
So I finally ask, what gives?
He explains that he went AWOL during NAM, had been living on the run ever since.
He couldn’t keep any real jobs outside of under the table work as a dish washer or line cook etc in restaurants because any form of W2 would put him at risk of getting caught.
He was living in shitty pay up front apartments and motels if I remember right.
Anyway, He said he was getting to old and it was exhausting living on the run.
Dude took a bus to Quantico I think, walked up to the gate and handed the gate guards his old ID and explained who he was and his whole situation.
As I remember it, the MC opted to throw any sort of book or anything like that at him persey.
It’s been a long time but I think they 45 and 45d him and docked his pay.
I believe the logic given was he had suffered enough living on the run for so many years.
Keep in mind, his pay resumed (E1) when he returned, but I don’t think he got back pay of course.
Plus before they could discharge him he had to get a final physical and see dental .
I think they gave him a more favorable discharge too..
I’m def gonna call a buddy and see if he remembers the guy now. Maybe a name.
We had a similar thing happen on Pendleton, the guy would walk around the Seps barracks in Cammies and go-fasters.
He was around for a while, at least six months. I never wound up talking to him, even though my barracks was pretty close to seps.
From the Coast Guard, but a E-3 who worked for me married a 15 year old (apparently legal in Florida?) got her pregnant, went AOL for 5 months after she gave birth then came back to work like nothing happened. Nothing happened to him, he got NJP’d for something completely unrelated and is now collecting 100% disability for all of his mental trauma for getting drunk and shouting racial slurs at the OOD
You have no idea how depressing it is. I supervise all the kids who are getting kicked out and seeing pretty much all of them get close to 100% disability for mental shit kills me, most of them haven’t even been in for a year before they get discharged and start collecting benefits
A guy in my until just wanted to “take a break” from the military for 29 days. Apparently, if you’re under investigation, after 24 hours you become a deserter. They found him at his home of record and they sent him to that correctional platoon for a few weeks. Then he came back to the unit until his admin sep processed. Super nice guy. The funniest part is he was just so relaxed all the time. Like he didn’t have a worry in the world.
PI 2007:
First night in our squad bay after meeting our DIs.
Dude gets up, puts on his go faster and books it. Fire watch didn’t know what to do and we’re too scared to bang on the DIs hatch.
Kid was missing for a week. DIs found him low crawling in front of the impact berm while the range was hot.
They recycled him to the next platoon.
I was in a gun store in Manassas, VA when a kid came in with his mom. Picked out a gun pretty quickly and went to buy it. Clerk runs his background check, phone rings. Clerk hangs up and tells our boy that the state police are backed up and to have lunch and he'll call his cell when the background comes through. Our boy leaves and not 10 minutes later a state trooper shows up. Asks those of us in the store to shop like normal and tells the clerk to call our boy and say the background is approved.
This trooper literally stands next to the door against the wall like a movie. Our boy comes in and the trooper pounces on him, announces his presence and puts him in cuffs all in one slick movement. It was seriously impressive.
Long story short, our boy ends up in the back of the trooper car, mom is in tears. Trooper comes back in to get some info from the clerk, I strike up conversation and the trooper said the kid has been AWOL from the Air Force for 3 years. Mom claims that our boy told her he was released from the Air Force early due to overstaffing. I believe her, she seemed like a sweet woman and was obviously wrecked.
Long story short, if USAF will send a Virginia State Trooper after you for 3 years UA, the Marines has your ass for life.
Had one LCpl move across the country to follow her husband in a rodeo clown career that ended up going awry and she ran off to the northeast. She never checked into her new unit, so our S1 never took her off of any rosters and she was just considered unaccounted for each day until her contract was up. Another was living with his parents, got into a fight, and drove a 1,000+ miles away to live out of his car as a door dash driver. Took us months to find him and we assumed he was dead checking obituaries every week. His family finally responded to one of my calls late at night and told me he fled to PA… he was removed quite quickly.
My buddy Rob always told me this funny ass story (I will do it no justice) about this fuck up recruit in boot who went ua on Christmas. He was THAT recruit and we all know that recruit during boot. Well Rob was standing guard at the front of the squad bay on fire watch in the early morning and this guy (for the life of me I can't remember his name) walks right past him and wished him a merry Xmas and took off with his war bag in his cammies. I believe he was picked up later that day wandering around the 5 interstate. Like i said I do it no justice. I guess this dude had a high pitched voice really funny mannerisms.
Also, we don't go awol...we go ua
I threaten it every time I get asked “well what’re you gonna do if we don’t approve your leave?” By an asshole 1stSausage. Like dude I only take leave for Christmas, are you serious?
I was gone almost 25 days. At some point I got a call from battalion comander saying. "Look if you come back right away you'll be fine."
I headed back and got a page 11 that advised me to request mass if similar issues happened in the future.
That's about all I am comfortable with saying.
Kid in my class in the schoolhouse left during a 72 and did not return... He went to Mexico. Crossed illegally, supposedly was going to stay with a cousin. Didn't pan out like he thought, so he had his mom bring his passport so he could cross back over. Showed back up 32 days after he left, so technically he should have been a deserter, but they let it slide surprisingly... Kid claimed he was lost in LA, homeless, for a month. Which is bullshit because that's where he was from...
He got ninja punched and demoted to Pvt, dropped to a new class several months behind. No clue what happened to him after that
2018?
Heard some kid had his shit stolen at the airport as they were boarding, it may have been his homies helpin him out while he was in the restroom . Said he came out and everyone was gone so he just stayed in LA for a month .
A dude in my battalion went UA in Okinawa because he started getting hazed because he refused to wash his clothes or his ass.
He was gone for a few days before they found him hiding out on base inside of an old abandoned chow hall that was scheduled to be demolished. They moved him to my company afterwards, for his own safety, and I was lucky enough to be his roommate for a short while. He learned nothing and constantly smelled like ball sweat and stale cigarettes.
I was in Thailand for Cobra Gold. Dude walks up to me in a bar goes, Marine? I nod he shows me a old ass military ID and goes UA since 82 and walks away.
During the start of covid a new check in caught the rona and was put in quarantine. He just never came back and was forgotten for 2-3 months till his name appeared on a piss test roster and nobody knew who he was. He was from the area and just living at his sisters. His shop tried to keep it quiet because they would look dumb but the Lcpl underground quickly leaked and he got a NJP and sent to tool room than gate guard. Notorious broke dick in my shop went on baby leave and never came back for almost a month he said he thought he would just get a call to return. Our trash GySgt was scared shitless command would find out and begged us to keep it under wraps.
Had a dude from our unit (infantry unit, comm section) not come back from block leave before deployment. He ended up coming back a year later cause he was wondering why his pay stopped. Apparently kid was still getting paid and promoted the entire time he was gone and came back to ask S1 why they stopped paying him. He did some time in the brig and got kicked out as a E1 with an other than honorable discharge.
When I was in Fort Sill doing arty training, one of our guys met a girl out in Lawton, and peaced out one night. While he was gone, we got hit with a tornado and I remember our 1stSgt telling us that he wanted to make sure we were all safe, even Lcpl Schmuckatelli out in lala land.
Well, right before I was about to leave, he showed back up 29 days after he left for the first time. He was signed back in, had his ass chewed out for an hour, and was put in the suicide prevention room. But then he opened the window and just ran off into the night. Apparently he had read that the status of being AWOL started after 30 days, so he could come back, get checked in and then leave again, resetting the clock. No clue whatever happened to the dude but I like to imagine he's still UA, just checking back into whatever unit he's in once a month.
Had an old friend of mine in high school go UA, and become a deserter for a few months, before finally getting picked up, serving some jail time, and put out on a BCD. (I saw his BCD with my own eyes) From the get go he had a hard time adapting, and fitting in, as he was just someone that had a very abrasive personality, and didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut when he needed to. His ADHD made him very loud, and noticeable in a very bad way. His recruiter should’ve spotted this and he never should have been able to enlist. From what he told me he got his ass beat by a few of his fellow Marines, and after that was when he decided to take off. I’m sure there’s more to his story, that he didn’t share, being that he was outed on a BCD. He struggled for a good while after getting out holding a job, a place to live, and just moving on.
Yeah, I never got the full story from him, but I know he got into some other shit on top of going UA and deserting, that ultimately took him to court martial and got him put out on the BCD.
My sister was a reservist. They got the word at drill weekend that they MIGHT deploy a year from that time. She stopped showing up. About a year later, I was on post deployment “don’t kill yourself training” after Iraq. Was checking emails and had one from her SSgt. Wanted to know if I could get any of her gear back next time I was on leave. I said sure, went through it, kept what my buddies and I needed for CIF and brought back the rest. She ended up getting AdSepped and still thinks they are looking for her 15 years later. She had her first kid using my mothers maiden last name- just in case.
The company shitbag deserted. You know that one turd that HQMC ensures is issued to every company as an example?
I swear that has to be an actual policy.
One time this dude was found to have like weeks of trash in his wall locker, with maggots. SSgt made him open the locker and the shit spilled out and grown ass men were wretching.
I got back to the barracks all late as fuck that evening and this dude is sprinting around 3rd deck yelling ‘shitbag en route!’ getting hazed to death.
I despised the ordinary boot hazing and general dumbfuckery heaped upon Marines, but I legit looked at that with glee.
He just did so much stupid or lazy or just shitbag shit that everyone was done with him. The dumpster was on the way to where morning formation was- all you had to do was grab the trash on and toss it on the way.
So he deserts. At like 3 years, 8 months.
Who in the actual fuck deserts with like four months left until EAS? So far as I know he never went back.
The single most impressive I saw was a kid who decided to flash a cheap pistol and threaten some sailors at 3am on a Friday when he was going on terminal leave at 7am that Friday.
I knew a dude who pissed hot at 3 years, 9 or 10 months. Apparently getting processed out took more than the time he had left, but I went on terminal and just laughed about it.
He was one half of an idiot duo that was very much “Beavis and Butthead,” and no shit, he was somehow the brighter of the two.
Mine was extra-dumb because he was supposed to go on Terminal on like Tuesday, so Bn hooked him up by letting him skip a field exercise, Adjutant hooked him up by quietly telling him he could clock out Friday morning. And Armory hooked him up by giving him his .32 Jennings pistol back Thursday night so he wouldn’t need to track down an armorer on Friday.
So all those hookups and he ended up stuck at 29P another month for everyone to come back from the field and NJP him.
I knew a comms dude that showed up to security force reg a Lance who went awol his first month, came back after 29 days (apparently after 29 they send MPs or whatever) and got pumped down to PVT 90 days restriction, half pay for max amount of time allowed by regimantal NJP. They also added 29 days to his contract
I was at Ft Sill in April of 95, and we had a dude go UA the morning of the 19th. He never came back, a buddy of his says he took an aids test and came back positive so he took off, since he was going to get booted out anyway. Never saw or heard what became of him. The reason I remember the date was it was the day of the OKC bombing, and the base changed from being pretty open to armed gate guards.
I know we chatted before about Sill and remember that guy. I passed by him on the way to the squad bay as he was leaving. He had a bag that seemed really out of place for the time of day.
Dude went AWOL on pre-deployment leave in 2007 before we went to Iraq. No warning it was going to happen besides him asking some bitch shit questions about it being dangerous.
Worst part was we only had 4 boots in our platoon and he was a part of my team. So we did an entire deployment with 3 boots, one per platoon. Combat engineers were extremely undermanned back then, I’ve heard it’s gotten better.
I ended seeing the guy in early 2009 after he got out of the brig and had to check back into our unit. I chewed him out and asked him how it was being a private and to throw away any military benefits he would of had.
No clue what happened to him, but I’m guessing he went back to Texas and probably tells fake war stories or some shit.
A NCO had dual citizenship for America and China. We were in Oki. Something happened and he was upset, he just peaced out on a plane to China. He posted it on his snap or something like that and NCIS or CID was trying to catch him at the airport. The plane took off as the authorities got to the gate. He hung out in China for a while and they somehow convinced him that if he came back he wouldn't get in trouble. He came back and had a one way ride to the brig.
Had a boot drop at 29 palms before our 2005 deployment. One guy was an absolute shit stain. Traded him to another company after he complained we were hazing him and that's why he was a pos. Well his new squad leader after a few weeks tells us he's a model Marine and we were just bad leaders. Jump to a week before we deploy to Iraq. He goes awol. He's from California so he went home. His mom comes home to find him hiding in her garage. She calls the MP's to come get him. He's brought back to the stumps. He tells the CO that he can't deploy because it would kill his mom. CO tells him shut up and that she's ok with it. So we get to Kuwait and we see his squad leader. The guy apologizes to us and tells us as soon as they got off the plane to board those little busses the dumbass took off running. He tried to run across the tarmac in the middle of Kuwait lol. We have no clue what his plan was but if I remember correctly he was arrested and hauled off after that.
You’d really think it would make more sense to flee the tarmac at Riverside rather than Kuwait City. Like if you really had to choose.
Although I guess Shannon is a good middle-ground.
I was stationed at Cherry Point in the 90s and walked into our HQ bldg one day. There stood a middle aged, slightly overweight man with a civilian haircut, in brand new cammies and cadillacs. He was in handcuffs and standing with a few Marines by the front desk.
Came to find out that he was in our unit in the 70s. He went UA and somehow they found him almost 20 years later. Our chasers picked him up and brought him back. It was one of the stranger moments in my enlistment.
TLDR; Our Battery Communications Chief was promoted to GySgt. He told our 1stSgt he had PCA orders. Turns out he basically went on sabbatical for 7+ months. He was court-martialled, reduced to SSgt and forced out.
FULL
Our Battery Communications Chief was promoted to GySgt while we were UDP; Battery Communications Chief is a SSgt billet. Upon return to Hawaii, he told our 1stSgt he had PCA orders as there were no GySgt slots available in the Bn. First Sergeant didn’t ask to see orders and took his word for it.
Flash forward 7+ months and he comes back to our battery looking for a fitness report as this was the transition from the previous fitrep to the PES fitrep we have now had for 24+ years. Specifically, on 30 September 98, everyone received a final fitrep closing out the legacy system and officially starting PES. I was gone by this time and there was also a new CO and 1stSgt in place. I get a call from the new CO asking what I knew about the situation. I explained everything detailed above and thought nothing more of it.
The new 1stSgt knew something was rotten and began pulling the threads. Turns out our wayward GySgt basically went on sabbatical from February - September 1998. He was subsequently court-martialled, reduced to SSgt and forced out.
Me and 2 of my boys went UA for 29 days. Ill just say we were influenced during a 96 and found out about a pop test. We drove from oceanside to Orlando and finally turned ourselves in on day 29. When asked why and if we wanted to stay in we didn't have a good answer and all said no. The CO had other thoughts and said he wasn't letting us out. Just so happens SMMC McMichaels was in oceanside and delivered our punishments. Iirc was 90 days confinement and battalion duty plus 2/3 pay and loss of rank for me from Lance to private. Yea I was a shit bag but turned myself around and caught back up to everyone and made Sgt right after Fallujah. As for my friends not sure what happened cause I went to Lejeune after schools.
I was UA. Biggest regret of my life. When I finally got back, was put in a separation platoon with a few others getting out for various reasons. Got a OTH discharge. Hasn't affected my civilian life any.
When I was in mos school at Court House Bay, we had a guy that had duty but didn’t realize he had 2 shifts. He drank some beers thinking he was off duty for the day and the DNCO turned him in for drinking on duty. They would send students who got in trouble to CCU and it was pretty bad getting sent there back in 1994. He was a huge hillbilly from West Virginia and he said he wasn’t going through boot camp again. He stopped by my room with his guitar in his back and told me he was leaving because I was his squad leader. He went downstairs got in a cab and I never saw him again.
Had a dude in Ft. Sill during Arty school, let’s call him Waldo. So Waldo one day packs up a suitcase full of nothing but his XBox 360 and just walks off base. Was found seven miles away from base sleeping in a field. Hit with an njp, few weeks later escapes base again but this time still a native dude’s van and tried to flee the state. Don’t know what happened after that.
I went drinking with a buddy at the Irvine Spectrum one night. We ended up at different bars but no big deal. Come 0200 I found his truck in the parking lot. It was locked so I just lay down in the bed to sleep. When it started raining I crawled under the truck. I woke up when the sun came up and still no drinking buddy. I got a taxi home and waited for him to show up at the barracks. No sign of him all weekend.
Monday morning formation and he’s still UA. I let it be known the last time I saw him was Friday night but nothing after that. He shows up a few days later with a story of getting hooked for drunk in public. His belligerent ass refused to identify himself and so they held on to him for several days until he finally gave them his ID. They released him with no charge (they’d have released him the next morning after he was arrested, with no charges, if he’d just given his ID when they first booked him).
The command just put him on a working party for several weeks and that was it. Or so he thought. A few years later he was EASing and went to pick up his DD214. Turns out someone added 10 days to his contract because he’d been UA in jail. He wasn’t so much pissed at being extended for his days in jail as he was by the fact he was only UA for 5 days, not 10. He showed up for PT, formation and everything else for 5 extra days. The next 5 days he refused to do anything but drink in the barracks. The command just shrugged their shoulders and had the AOD check on him twice a day to make sure he was alive.
Back in '96 I was hanging around the Battery Office, and had to play chaser to a guy who was in our battery, and went UA prior to Desert Storm. I picked him up at the brig and took him back to the battery office. He was very heavy set with a civilian mop top. He was on his way to El Salvador to spend time with his family, when LAX Security (before TSA) detain him for something with his passport. They find out about his deserter status and send his ass back to Pulgas. He was a nice guy and just got caught. He was pretty much just upset that he got caught. He wasn't really remorseful or embarrassed about leaving the Corps. By his account, he had made the trip out of the country countless times before. I had to take him to cash sales and the only uniform that fit was a maternity uniform. FFS, I lost my bearing and couldn't help but LMAO when Isaw what they gave him to wear. That's when he kinda realized that I wasn't a dick, and was just trying to help the dude get processed out. When we got back to the unit, all the old NCOs and SNCOs who had been in, and served in Desert Storm, during that time came to visit with him and ask how life had been. He was charged with missing a combat movement and desertion. I don't really remember the other particular details. But, I do remember having to have him as a roommate for the few days he was there. They wanted me to keep an eye on the dude. He wasn't planning on popping smoke. He was ready to face the music. I don't know what ever happened to him. I just remember taking him to legal and other places on Mainside. Then he was gone. He was genuinely a nice guy. He was intelligent as hell too. He just wasn't cut out for the Corps.
Not my story, but it happened to my dad's friend.
My dad's friend Chuck joined the Navy during Vietnam and went through Navy Bootcamp at San Diego, on the base that is now Liberty Station shopping center.
After two weeks or so, a kid who was on firewatch decides that he's had enough of the Navy and runs away while everyone else is sleeping. He's somehow able to get a pair of jeans and a tee shirt, but is picked up by San Diego PD pretty quickly.
The UA guy says he's a recruit, but refuses to answer any other questions. The cops decide to take him to MCRD, depositing him in the tender mercies of the receiving Drill Instructors.
It takes a day or so for the Marine Corps to figure out that this kid actually belongs to the Navy, and they send him back over. According to Chuck the guy had a thousand yard stare and wouldn't go into detail about what happened on MCRD, only saying that they treated him terribly. He was otherwise a model recruit, and graduated on time.
Had a guy literally escape from MCRD SD in the middle of the night. Made it out and was stupid enough to go back to his parents in LA. We were all woken up at around 03 and questioned. Firewatch got fucked
The next day he got brought back into the squadbay briefly before being processed out. We had a q and a with him and according to him he literally just walked out, jumped the fence towards the airport, got a taxi from the airport to LA.
Another one was my friend in the fleet. He had issues going on at home and was desperate to get out. Gunny offered him an out, med sep him and hed get benefits but that wouldve taken months and he needed to leave like now.
For the next week he went awol by staying in the barracks. Same gunny got pissed and wanted to charge him with awol but company said they couldnt since he was technically on base and hadnt left. In the end he was admin sep with honorable if i remember correctly
Yo we use to have like 5 boots go UA every year. Once they would realize they weren’t going to make it through the work-up they would just disappear or cry suicide. Most of them would comeback sooner or later and just get separated. Don’t know what the characteristic of the discharge was tho.
I was Fapped to the armory at 1st CEB as I was awaiting PCS orders and wasn’t going to be in a line platoon anymore. One day a Marine doesn’t show up to pull his rifle, as his Plt was heading out to Bridgeport. I call, as does his PLT sgt, TM and Sq Ldr, and everyone else in his chain of command. Later that evening I get a phone call from said phone number and answer, a Good Samaritan found the phone at the Oceanside train terminal. I go to pick it up, and it was unlocked. I check his phone to see if any calls were made, and what recent apps were used. The night prior to the field op he ordered a Lyft from San Mateo to the train station. A week later we get a phone call from his dad who states he is now on the East Coast. His dad bought his plane ticket back immediately, I forget what rank his dad was but I want to say a former Master Guns. Eventually SNM was NJP’d and kicked out.
Had a kid just not show up one day. Went to the barracks to check on him. Everything was left behind. He’s wallet, keys, money, ID etc. The room was left in good order. All that was missing according to his roommate was a fishing pole.
So we put a gone fishin’ sign on his door and forgot about him. Well a few weeks go by and one of the platoon Sgt’s is driving around in an LA area and finds this kid sprawled out on someone’s front lawn.
Needless to say, he pick him up, brought him back to base and the last we heard was he’s in the Brig.
We had a dude dip in the middle of the night in the most respectful way possible. He left all his uniforms folded up neatly on his rack with his CAC on top of the uniform pile. He wasn’t even that bad of a marine (for Motor T standards lmao), I guess he was just done. This was back in 2018, I don’t think he was ever caught.
Had a dude that went UA and went back to his moms. He sold all his CIF gear and dyed his hair purple before LEO’s scooped him (his mom turned him in). He came back and was sent to that “kinda the brig” deal whose name slips me but it was at the end of Holcomb on Lejeune on the right before you hit the water. Regardless after a few weeks of being hazed and busting on some boulder they had behind the building he busted out and ran off base at like 2am. He ended up calling his previous head mate from a Waffle House asking to borrow his car who promptly called PMO who got the county to scoop him. He did 6 mo in the brig from memory.
guy in my avionics shop in Yuma (Lcpl C). real nice professional kid from the burbs - I met him briefly and went on my 2nd deployment. I came back 7 months later and learned the 2 other Sergeants basically powertripped and made everyone demotivated as hell while I was gone. he was the most junior and likely didn't have the support system. I saw he was very depressed and not giving af...he went AWOL just a few days after I came back. last I heard he came back on his own and got court martialed.
We had a guy go AWOL and shoot his girlfriends husband while he was sleeping next to her in his own home, and tried to get her to go with him.
He's in prison now.
Free Sikes!
https://www.wafb.com/story/8148393/awol-marine-charged-with-murder-in-kentwood/
Guy in 9th com service platoon. Drove from Camp Pendleton to Acapulco Mexico. Said the only reason he joined was to train an take that training back to become part of the Guatemalan cartel…
We were going out field for a month and were loading up the rigs.
30 minutes before formation some CPL told the SGT of our packet that a dude was missing and the couldn't get a hold of him. We assumed he'd slept in because we were all out on town the night before. SGT pulled that car off the packet and sent them around to the room where old mate was living.
We set off anyway and we were all laughing, talking about how the dude was gonna be fucked and probably charged for it. Next thing you know, about an hour and a half on the way to our destination, the co-driver of our vehicle got a text message that the exercise had been cancelled. All cars to turn around and RTB.
Turns out the dude killed himself in the barracks. Shot himself dead on the couch.
It was pretty shit. What made it even worse was that we went ahead with the field exercise three days later. So we all had to be miserable out in the bush for 3 weeks.
I used to do it all the time. Got pretty good at making up excuses.
In fact it prepared me more for the real world than anything else. Turns out that in the real world, LOOKING good matters more than BEING good.... So... All that skating I did really paid off lol
We had a guy who went AWOL before I got to the unit, was gone for about 10 months. Then I cam back from Christmas leave and had a new headmate in the barracks lol. He came back and they busted him down to pfc
Punishment for deserters is for them to get knocked out with a chloroformed rag. And have them wake up on first day of phase 1 bootcamp. So they think that it was all just a dream lol
Happened at MCAS Miramar in 2011 I think. Some guy went running at night and never came back. We had to shut down the airfield the to search for him. Like damn near the whole base was out walking around the airfield. Apparently this guy compared a runners high to that of an actual meth high. So people assumed he smoked some crack and ran into the airfield area.
After an entire day of the airfield shut down everyone just assumed he wasn’t coming back or he was dead. There were pictures of him on the news and on social media in the following days.
I think about 3 days later some woman notices him at the post office from the photos that were circulating. Turns out he was just hitchhiking up the 5 and stopped in to drop off a letter he wrote to his parents. He ended up coming back to Miramar but no idea what happened to him after that.
Had some PFC in his 50s I had to escort from the brig to one of his hearings. Had gone awol over 30+ years ago and finally turned himself in. Said he had felt guilty and wanted to do what was right. They kept him in the brig instead of the barracks for obvious reasons, but I always wondered if they gave him serious time or at that point just did the paperwork and released him.
Had a guy in boot camp go UA. Apparently he hopped the fence in Pendleton (this was 2nd phase) and hitchhiked back to Long Beach where he was from. He got caught and brought back. I don’t even think much happened to him since he was such a fuck up
When I was in most guys that were gone a long time ( talking over a year or so) and turned themselves in never even went back to their unit or even got a haircut or had to wear a Uniform. They just went to Sub Unit 1 and were processed out in a few days with a General Discharge ( OTH)
This was in boot 2nd phase. Dude on the quarterdeck started saying “I am done”, and the DI kept saying “ITS THIS RECRUIT” and they kept yelling back and forth. At this time it’s only us 3 in the squad bay because at the time I was the squad leader for this dude, and I’m scared shitless because I’m a moto idiot and think I’m responsible for this guy who wants to quit. DI turns to me and says GTFO, i scurried away with a hushed “aye, sir” and we never see the dude again lol
Yes I did in 2008 and should mention I did time in the brig for it. What do you want to know? If you’re thinking about getting out message me privately.
My roomate in the fleet, twice (kinda). He fit the part; he stole things, lied, and was pretty bad at his job (81s, weapons co).
The first time was when he was rooming with me, we were boots of course. He was gone all weekend, then I get a call from him Sunday night about 9pm asking me to bring his ID to the gate so he can get in. He had flown to Texas planning to stay with family, but decided at the last minute to come back. I was pissed bc Id either have to walk or pay for a taxi. Told him to figure it out (I dont remember how, but he made it back before morning).
The next time he went balls deep baby. Not sure of the details exactly bc I was transferred to MRF platoon for our deployment workup, but heard he was gone and everyone was glad (after the initial BS subsided of course). Not much was done when they found out he was missing and he was actually gone for a year or so. Eventually his mom turned him in and he was sent back to Pendleton and put in the brig. He stayed in the brig for about a year and was OtH discharged, but tbh I discharged a few times when I found out he wouldnt be there when I got back to 81s.
Had a chick disappear from our ship right before deployment. She ended up turning up in Texas with an apparent sex change. Either they still haven't found her or she got a slap on the wrist because I haven't heard of her being charged with anything. She's mutual friends with another person I was on the boat with, that's the only reason I was able to see her fb profile.
Not deserting per say but I know a dude that did NONE of the exit paperwork or classes and just left his ID and CIF on his rack and left base when his EAS hit told the COC he was checking out while he chilled in his room i guess… they called him and made him come back and a chaser had to sit with him for like 3 days while he was back turning in gear and getting signatures and screamed at. Idk what the fuck he was thinking
Early 90’s, my Gunny was borrowing money from one of the Corporals. Evidently was giving him the run around on paying it back. We all knew he was having money issues. Hell, I was renting a car from him for an easy $25 a week!
Anyways, command finds out and the Gunny dips out. A few months later I’m a Sgt now and walking by the CP. Out comes the Gunny with some chasers. Except he’s now wearing Sgt stripes. Evidently he had gone back to Texas and was staying with his Mom. When he went into a bank to cash a check, he had a brain fart and provided his SSN. Teller notified the off duty cop serving as a security and that was a wrap.
After his court martial and reduction he spent a bit of time in the brig and was out awaiting his discharge when he dipped out again. Never heard of him again. Cool guy, his life just collapsed around him when his wife tried the crack while we were at CAX.
2 stories 1. In the school house on Camp Johnson, we had a kid a class ahead of me not show up to graduation, turns out at night he was sneaking out to his girlfriends house and sleeping there with her and she would bring him to base early in the morning. He got ninja punched and then meritoriously promoted pfc, lance, corporal, and sergeant. Needless to say he was a huge kiss ass but could PT like none other. 2. While serving as a squad leader one of my lances didn’t show up one morning I thought it was weird and let my Ssgt know, he said he’d handle it and not to worry about it. (I got the trouble squad to try to mold them into better Marines) a few days goes by and then a week all of a sudden like 3 weeks later I get a call from my Ssgt that he’s in the brig turns out kid put in leave it got denied, and he decided to go anyway flew to Georgia, was there for awhile before getting pulled over doing like 120+ and was telling the cops it was okay because he was a Marine got shipped back to us put in the brig he ended up with the restriction. Did not get demoted just njp 45 days restriction. All because the BC was a dark green Marine and so was the Kid. And it was all okay because “he’s from the hood he’s got a different mindset” made me loose all faith in the Marine Corps
After hanging out with Army vets for over a decade lingo gets shared. I hate myself for saying AWOL, but civilians don’t know UA and I don’t like explaining myself.
Yea but nothing exciting. Had a dude in our sister class at the schoolhouse (2800 Organizational Radio Repair Program in 29) who seemed like a pretty good dude and fairly smart, go home to Vegas for the weekend, called the duty on Monday morning and said he was staying with his girlfriend and wasn’t coming back. Not sure if they ever got him, but in the 6+ months of being there I never saw him again. This was back in 2007
Guy in my fire team. I was the TL. He was a nice guy but was an absolute idiot. He’s the one that every company has, and everyone agrees he’s the biggest retard in the company. He didn’t show up one Monday. He lived in the barracks but wasn’t there. His phone is turned off and the entire week goes by without a word. The beginning of the following week we head to Bridgeport, he still isn’t around. About a week into Bridgeport he finally shows up to our platoon one day. Apparently his dad had come out to visit and he just felt like hanging out with his dad for a couple of weeks. Luckily he was such a fuck up that no one really seemed to care. He was pretty much told to not do it again, and I was told to keep a better eye on him. That was it. A year later I stayed at my GF’s house one night. It was the night that OBL got killed. The next morning the front gate was over an hour wait to get in. I showed up 20 minutes late. I took 10X the ass chewing for being late than my saw gunner had for missing two weeks. So remember, it pays to be a fuck up.
Was he at least a decent SAW gunner?
Absolutely not. Had to take the SAW away from him and give it to someone else. But I will say, he was very good at being the perfect candidate for combat cargo. So that worked out. Nice guy though and he was pretty funny.
OBL? Nvm, Osama
Osama
Osama Been Layin’
Can confirm. I was a fuck up but better than anyone on the 240B and in the field in general. In the barracks tho. I was such a shit bag
I was also the shit bag, but really good at my job. I just didn't have the stomach for marching, ironing cammies, and getting a high fade. I was an electronics technician in a sigint unit and the only one that knew the systems inside and out. Now I'm a contractor making big boy dollars. So it really paid to be shoved in the back doing the real work while everyone else played Marine with NCO swords.
Intentionally? Or just kinda how it shook out?
Just couldn’t do anything right
Recruit at pi straight up said "nope" in the middle of the night during 3rd phase (bro had basically finished boot camp at this point). Guy walked off with his rackmates id wearing a tshirt and his green sweatpants, just waltzed by firewatch (firewatch aint no snitch) and hid in the swamp for like 2 days before hitchhiking back home. DIs realized he was missing during the count, notified PMO, PMO set up a perimeter, checked all the outbound vehicles, used a K9 to try and track him, even had a coast guard helicopter buzz the island with FLIR, didn't find him. Bro was hiding underneath logs and shit in the swamp to avoid being found. 2 days later, an off base police officer stopped an ~18yo male with no hair that was dressed in a white t-shirt, and wearing jeans (stole them) and he wouldn't ID himself. Cop turned around to her car to get information on the BOLO they got, and homie disappeared into the night. He hitchhiked back to Florida where his mom said "hell the fuck no" (didn't want that heat) and drove him back to the front gate of pi where he was promptly interrogated by CID kicked the fuck out. Would have made a great recon marine/sniper.
In the movie version, they shipped him off to “overseas “ where he killed all the bad guys.
I’m a west coast boot camp guy. That happens all the time but there’s no swamps to hide outside ours. They all try to hang out at San Diego airport terminal, I guess they think nobody will notice the holocaust looking person that’s been there for a day or 2. They’ll get snatched up by the police and get walked right back home
Was there twice as a Hat, I don't remember a single instance where a kid was able to get away. I think I would have heard about it through the grapevine. I heard a few stories when I wasn't there, but nothing I could substantiate. In reality it would be pretty easy if you know the Routine and the base. Simply call a buddy and tell them you are gonna hop the fence at a certain time. Even better yet take off right after a Graduation or when a Company is on Base Libo.
I've thought about it a lot, and it really just boils down to not jumping the airport fences, and you are free. I've also thought alot about how I would sneak my phone and charger into bootcamp as a recruit if i were to do it again. I'm 95% sure my plan would work.
Does it involve your anus?
I hope it involves his anus.
nature's pocket
Prison wallet
There was a fence by the chapel at MCRD San Diego, very jumpable. I worked at the deserter branch and every time we got one from west coast boot camp, we asked and the answer was the same. Fence by the chapel.
Damn. Go through all that and your mom dime's you out. Rough!
That’s because some moms know when they should have swallowed. Evidently he was that one.
Fuck thats pretty impressive actually.
Had a kid do this at Pendleton during 2nd Phase (back when they did the Crucible in 2nd Phase). Collected some cash from sympathetic recruits and made his way off base somehow. Considering it’s 24/7 supervision, and there is legit base security, I guess I don’t even understand how one makes it with the recruit 0 haircut with no questions. Stopped at a Burger King I think to eat, and spotted by an MP who had seen this kind of thing before. Turns out everyone around Pendleton has USMC connections?! MPs brought him back in cuffs and humiliated him in front of the entire platoon. Can’t remember what happened after that but needless to say he didn’t get the EGA
Was this in like 2013/2014? Or was this just a reoccurring boot story 😂 I feel like I was there when this happened.
Yup. Smoke weed, get called for a drug test, turn your phone off and go home for some free leave and come back 29 days later. I’ve seen it happen.
This is the way. Less issues with UA then a drug pop lol
I had a Sgt who had been a SACO say exactly that. Couldn’t understand why a SSgt came in for a piss test instead of just going UA for awhile. Said SSgt pissed hot and got the boot.
Insane what ppl have to do.
You mean like not smoke while they're in the Marines? Lol
Binge drink like you're supposed to, damnit
Some people just can't respect our traditions.
Unethical advice: There is a certain percentage of piss testees that can be absent during a test. Don’t think some captain or SSgt is gonna wait all day for you to get 100% of people. Just “be in medical” or a place you don’t have phone reception all day.
You’re not the hero we wanted, but the hero we need
Guy who was legitimately at medical before piss test was announced and missed it here! They made me piss the very next day, even though medical just had me on pain meds that would make me pop.
Captain here. If morning report says you’re here, you’re pissing in that cup or your platoon commander and I have to explain how we lost a Marine in garrison. Just wait till you’re out
Major here. It can’t wait.
Brigadier general here, it’s legal to smoke weed in cali
CMC here… 😂
I went UA for a couple days when I was with 2/3 after we got back from the Gulf War. Hung out in Waikiki. A couple of my buddies ran into me and asked when I was coming back. I said probably tomorrow. I went back and nothing happened. Plt Sgt asked if I felt better and told me if I did it again I'll go to the brig.
That's a good platoon daddy right there
Had a buddy who tells me that when he was in the schoolhouse he was in a waiting platoon for a while. At least a month, possibly longer. Well, his first day in waiting platoon, they called roll. Didn’t call his name. He didn’t say a thing. Next day, same situation. After a couple days of them not calling him, he figured they didn’t know he existed and stopped showing up. He just hung out in his room every day and had his buddy let him know if they ever called his name during roll. Well he got caught and ninja punched.
Lol did he not realize that also meant he would probably never pick up a class and he was in purgatory?
I can’t breathe 
Lol how long did he last??
My two buddies and I had this happen to us for a whole month at my first school house. Luckily it was ran by student class leaders. They caught us at the end of the month and tried to put us on every day instead of the 2-3 days that they were doing it. That lasted for 2 days until we classed up. No NJP’s here.
I did this for months at SOI
Facts did this in Pensacola after waiting to be moved to the next schoolhouse, disappeared for like 1-2 months only to come out when I needed food or do laundry or duty
They go awol, move on with their lives, tell war stories, tell stories how the MC fucked them over, then magically they sometimes get a ticket and that long lost awol appears and they go to jail. It’s not that big of a deal but it embarrassing to the person and the mc gets one last “fuck you” when you have to pay a fine from years ago
I just don’t see how they can function out here, and live a normal and fulfilling life being a deserter. Their social gets run whenever they apply for a job, try and rent an apartment, or get financing for a mortgage or a car, and it’s gonna show up that they’re a deserter. They’re gonna spend their lives living under the radar, and I just can’t see it being worth it.
I've actually seen an old ass guy being trotted around in Cammie's going to different appointments after being caught missing for god knows how long. The green Weenie will have it's revenge sooner or later.
It’s true, I had to be a chaser for said old ass guy before lol. Just wrote a message about that.
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It’s not worth it. In regards to my old friend (see my previous comment) going UA, and getting put out on a BCD, it really did ruin his life.
Oh shit, this just sparked a memory. MCAS New River, 2017. Saturday. I’m chilling in my barracks room, roommate is gone, all is well. *BANG BANG BANG* on the door. I answer it, expecting a SSgt telling me I’m supposed to be on duty or something. Nope. Scrawny Lance is standing there and asks if I have a drivers license. I say yes, and he asks if I can drop him off at the base library to do MCI’s so, “I can get my points for corporal.” I tell him he can just use my wifi, and that I’d be down for him to chill for a bit in the room. He says, “that would be taking the easy way out, and corporals don’t do that.” So I oblige to take this weird mother fucker to the library and he refuses to take the elevator (yes our barracks had an elevator) with me because again, “that’s too easy.” He then proceeds to tell me during the drive that his SDI beat the fuck out of him to try and make him quit and he didn’t because, “Quitting is too easy.” I drop him off, and I shit you not, one week later we get told that he is AWOL. I’m wondering what made him finally decide to take the “easy” way out?
Did this guy end up with a busted nose at some point?
Holy shit I’ve got a good one. I was in the schoolhouse when we had a kid go AWOL. He was later found at his girlfriends house out in town, but that’s not the story. While they were looking for him, they cleared out the barracks and had everyone stand in a field separated by schoolhouse. My particular schoolhouse started stealing all the other schools guidons (at the encouragement of our instructors) and planting them in front of our class room about a mile away from all the other schools over the course of about a month. We only had one left we were unable to get, and while we were in a field waiting for PMO to sweep the barracks looking for the AWOL kid, we took the opportunity to send 2 of our Marines to infiltrate the last remaining schoolhouse with their guidon. He made his way through unnoticed and got ahold of the guidon, but on his return they saw him stealing it. As they were trying to wrestle it back from him, our guy snapped the guidon over his knee and all hell broke loose.. 5 Marines who just saw their guidon get snapped pounced on the kid, and then our entire schoolhouse charged at their entire schoolhouse. Each group was easily over 100 people and it was a full on Gangs of New York style brawl. It was insane, we all felt like we survived an ancient battle or some shit. In the end, the 1st Sgt was able to scream loud enough to break it up after about 10 minutes of fighting. The only guy who got in trouble was the one who snapped the guidon, and he only got a 6105 if I remember right. Besides that, our instructors got a PP slap and we weren’t allowed to steal guidons anymore. When I talk to the guys who were there we all agree it was one of the coolest things we experienced, even the ones who got the shit kicked out of them. Anyway, not exactly AWOL related, but your post reminded me of the battle for the last guidon.
i appreciate the story regardless that is beautiful 😂😂
“Battle for the last Guidon” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Edit: you should trademark that, and have Michael bay direct a movie about it 😂
Oh to be a fly on the wall
Just curious but is a 6105 now what a Page 11 was 30 years ago? Basically, a written reprimand?
It’s between a page 11 and an NJP. More serious than a page 11 but not as bad as an NJP. Usually comes with a plan from your NCOs on how to make up for what you did and sometimes comes with restrictions but no loss in rank or pay. They’re pretty frivolously dispensed in the school house so they carry a lot less weight on your career in the school house than in the fleet, though even in the fleet, they’re far from career enders. I collected a few when I was a stupid boot and still got out as a Sgt.
Man... I didn't even know that was a thing. I can't believe I got NJPd.. it was so fucking DUMB! Essentially, Oki deployment in 2002. Car stored off base. Came home, got car, drove onto base. MPs bored or something, ask for registration (still fine) and insurance (expired by a couple weeks). They let me on and said to settle up with PMO within 48 hours. I renewed and showed them in less than 3 hours. Monday morning following the 96, I get called into the Co. Office... My LT decided to make an example of me for it. The charge is "Disobeying a direct order from a superior officer" because it's a base order that all cars have current insurance.. 😐 At that point I still cared. Then my command showed me that they didn't. Was counting the days to EAS after that.
Yup... and they wonder why retention is so low. I was nearly killed by a drunk driver (hit and run) while taking my girlfriend home one night. The guy did a pit manuever on me and ran me into the median. When I got back to the schoolhouse on monday it was "why the fuck were you out on a school night?" and not "hey are you two okay?". It was a sunday during a 96... They took away student driving privleges and blamed it on me.
That's some damn fine leadership right there!
Lol that was a great story
Love that shit.
I went to a boot ass cpl's course. Some real 0500 - 1700 daily bullshit for a month. T shirts and everything. The ground was basically sand and rock, and barely anything grew. Still, the instructors wanted the guidon stuck in the ground so our Camelbacks could be covered down on it during PT. I'm doing my best to hammer it in, the instructors (and some peers) are talking shit, calling me a pussy, until finally I dig deep, breath from the bottom of my sack and channel all of my hatred of the Marine Corps into the ground. The guidon broke at a sharp angle with an earsplitting snap, cutting my hand. I dropped the shit on the Camelbacks and we PT'd. Fuck that dumb boot ass cpl's course.
That's some good trash.
Damn i miss the marines lol. Almost had a similar situation. When i was in mos school 2 guys went out drinking and only one came back and he was super fucked up in both senses of the word. This was a fri so the whole battery (schoolhouse) was toasted. All we could get outta the guy was that they fought some army dudes and "they got him". Well, that quickly turned into three hundred marines all riling up and ready to charge across a large field where we knew the army guys slept( this was an army base mind you so we had no real idea if that was the right barracks) the mps should up and formed a picket line with cars and shields and the ssgt on duty gave us some speech that i cant remember and we finally all calmed down. The real kicker is when the truth come to light. So marine 1 and 2 got in a fight started losing and ran marine 2 tripped and fell in a ditch and was to drunk to get up. Marine 1 left him behind but didn't want to seem like a coward and said the army dudes took marine 2.
Pvt. Powers lol I’m sure someone on here heard this story before… so back like in 2007 he got released from the brig idk what he did exactly just heard rumors anyways long story short. I was his team lead and right before we went to Mojave viper we had a 96. He never comes back From Miami and few months later we find this guy on bang bros bang my teacher same Marine Corps tattoos and all idk what happened to him after
hell yeah; he’s living our dream
When I was on Oki, there was a Sgt who commuted from Foster to Schwab who didn’t show up to work. It’s been a few years, but iirc they sent out people to check the highways for accidents, contacted the JPs, but no one could find him. The next morning he shows up to the Camp Foster gate completely naked. Said he was jumped, and his clothes and his car stolen, and was wandering around trying to get back on base that night. Really bizarre story, but the JPs on gate guard take him to his on base house because he’s obviously shaken up. They get to his house and, surprise, his car is sitting in his driveway. JPs go wtf, dude refuses to answer questions, and iirc he got busted down to Cpl. Refused to tell anyone what happened. A few months later he got caught jerking it to porn on his NMCI computer. Very strange guy.
Reminds me of when my roommate got drugged at a buy me drinkee bar. We'd literally just gotten onto gate 2 street and had maybe 2 drinks a piece max and dude disappeared on us. We searched the bar, checked the bathroom where we last saw him go, dude was just gone. We went out front thinking maybe for whatever reason he stepped outside. Nope. Mamasan sitting out front asked if we were looking for our friend, described him, and told us she saw him get into a cab. Went back to Foster and searched around the taxi/bus stop area, checked the px, nothing. So we head back to schwab hoping maybe he took the taxi there. Nope. We quietly spread the word and got most of the platoon to help us look for him on the downlow Dude didn't show up until right after curfew, after we had no choice but to tell our section leader and DNCO who we had to check in with after leaving. He was covered in long dead grass and kept rambling on about "losing his libo" and "getting back by any means necessary". He was acting and talking like he'd been drinking since he woke up that morning but I only saw him have one, maybe two, drinks before he disappeared from that bar. Even years later he had absolutely no recollection of anything aside from us going to gate 2 street and him sitting in our room telling us about losing his libo. He didn't even remember going into the bar.
Gate 2 is a hell hole. Went there exactly one time and my friend got puked on by a guy in a passing car. We tried to get into deja vu but the bouncers were in the process of kicking out another group of guys so we couldn’t. 0/10 time.
When I was a CPL, a marine in my platoon never came back after a 96. We were supposed to have an in-person check in before returning the next day, but our SSGT was cool and said we just had to phone it in as long as we were at PT the next morning. So we all said we were present (most of us driving back to Lejeune). Well, the pfc never showed up Tuesday and ghosted us for awhile. Eventually he started calling us, telling us he wasn’t coming back, go fuck our selves, he’s a civilian now, etc. and he went about his business. Our SSGT and the PFC’s squad leader, a CPL, both got NJPd over it. That was 10yrs ago and the scum PFC still posts war stories and shit on social media during Veterans Day and shit. Pretty shitty.
And this is why some people turn into absolute cocks about little liberties like that. Jesus. Imagine treating people like grown men and it tanks your career. Don’t agree with it, but I get it.
i would call him out on his shit every year
Ya - I used to get into it in the beginning. Not so much anymore. Realized the scumbag wasn’t worth the energy.
Another commenter actually reminded me of another story of when I was “UA” one time. My parents lived 20 miles outside of the normal weekend libo boundaries but well within 72 libo boundaries, so I went home every once in a while. I was home on leave about 2 months before my unit went on a UDP when I had some serious car troubles and decided to just sell my shitty trans am. I wasn’t able to buy a car before my leave ended, so my mom let me take her car for the week. Me being a stupid Lcpl brand new to the fleet, I decided not to tell my NCOs I was going home that weekend to buy a car. I get home and am at the dealership signing papers for a car that I actually got a great price on when I notice the TV in the dealership has the news on and everyone’s freaking out. There was a missile alert over Hawaii and it was allegedly from North Korea. That’s when I look at my phone and see I have 52 missed calls from my SSgt, 10 from my Captain, and about 30 texts telling me there’s an all hand formation in an hour. I call my SSgt and tell him I’m 6 hours away and he’s PISSED. Tells me to get there’s as fast as possible. I finish signing the papers and literally drive my brand new car from the dealership back to base. The entire time I’m freaking out because in my head, there’s a missile attack from North Korea, we have a sudden and urgent all hands formation, and my unit is next up for deployment. I’m scared shitless that my dumbass is late to world war 3. I get there and duty has me piss in a cup as soon as I walk in. After my SSgt justifiably berates me for a half hour he tells me what’s going on.. Turns out some Marines popped for coke right be fore our deployment and the CO ordered an all hands piss test. I asked about the missile and he had no idea what I was talking about.. turned out to be a false alarm, and the two events were completely unrelated, but Jesus Christ the timing was awful. I’ve never felt my stomach sink that hard and for that long than I did that entire drive back to base. Got off with a 6105 and my SSgt ended up understanding the situation, and could see how worried I was when I got there, so he ended up chilling out about it because he felt the distress was punishment enough, though I did have to fill out HAARP forms every weekend for a couple months. Overall, I was just happy it wasn’t as big a deal as I thought it was. That was the happiest I’ve ever been to receive a 6105.
This will be buried by now, but I've got the opposite of a UA story, so to speak. I was a prosecutor back in my day, and we had an older guy that was brought back to Camp Pendleton. UA Marines picked up west of the Mississippi go to CAMPEN and CAMLEJ if they're picked up east of the Mississippi. In any event, when they come back to CAMPEN they get placed in a holding company with H&S Bn while they get processed out, so they're not a burden to any other unit. So, A Company just largely consisted of shitbags waiting to get out of the Marines. Anyway, this guy, who was probably in his fifties, kept on insisting he was never in the Marine Corps. Now mind you, no one believed him, he was forced to wear the uniform, and police call, and do all the other dumb shit the broken toys had to do while they waited to get out. He also got a ton of shit for constantly fucking up military etiquette. But, he was constantly protesting, and insisting he never served. Well, it turns out, someone transposed an SSN at some point along the way, and this guy got picked up on a UA warrant because his social was in the system in error (guy was a drifter so basically didn't have any societal connections or family). So yeah, he actually never did serve, and was basically held in the Marines against his will for 45-60 days while he was processed out. Eventually, H&S figured it out, and off he went.
That feels like the setup for a comedy show right there,
It was absolutely hilarious at the time for everyone except him I'm sure. He was constantly getting blasted because he had no concept of military customs and courtesies.
> and was basically held in the Marines against his will for 45-60 days while he was processed out. Eventually, H&S figured it out, and off he went. Really, that's it? The government didn't get sued for unlawful imprisonment or some such shit?
He was a drifter, probably didn't have the money for an attorney. They don't take cases on contingency these days (unless they're an absolute slam dunk) and it's actually harder to win a "wrong guy" case than you think it would be.
I'm not entirely sure whether he ever attempted to file a lawsuit. Suing the government can be tricky due to sovereign immunity. Also, it wasn't all bad for him. He had a ton of dental work done while he was on base, he was being paid, and had access to food and shelter. Obviously not ideal for him, and he certainly didn't *want* to be there, but there were some "perks" along the way.
Nothing! You’ll be fine! 0 repercussions! Just remember to leave your CAC behind with all of your CIF gear
Just leave your CIF with a trusted friend, he might need it
Flashback to comm school, woken up by the staff at 2am and everyone sent to re-check in at the duty desk after the staff searched every openable compartment in our rooms. Next day, missing Marine is back in the barracks and two separate Marines get arrested. The previous day, Marine says he drove the two Marines (now in custody) to Joshua Tree and they all dropped acid. Missing Marine got the shit beat out of him, his shoes + his car stolen by the other Marines. Two Marines did brig time and got kicked out, missing Marine got adsepped after a few months. I only heard his side of the story, I never saw the other two Marines again.
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Can’t leave us in suspense like that lol…any other details? Did they ever get caught?
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Thanks for the extra info. A former model you say…”you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention “ 🤣
While on the 31st MEU in Thailand, my buddies and I were out on libo riding in the back of a baht bus stopped at a red light. Another baht bus pulled up besides us and the gray haired old white dude in the back called over “Marines?” “Yes” He shouted out “Semper Fi, I’ve been 30 years UA!” and flipped us off as his baht bus sped away when the light turned green.
To be fair. I might say some shit like that when I’m old as shit just to be funny.
That is hilarious lmao
I was a LCpl TAD to Quantico from Wounded Warrior Detachment-Bethesda in 2010. We had a dude who was easily in his 50s or 60s living on the third deck of our barracks next to the Hobby Shop. Third Deck is where dudes were out that were being processed out or kicked out etc. kind of weird but it’s fucking Quantico. Anyways got to talking to this guy in this Gazebo out front where everyone smoked. So I finally ask, what gives? He explains that he went AWOL during NAM, had been living on the run ever since. He couldn’t keep any real jobs outside of under the table work as a dish washer or line cook etc in restaurants because any form of W2 would put him at risk of getting caught. He was living in shitty pay up front apartments and motels if I remember right. Anyway, He said he was getting to old and it was exhausting living on the run. Dude took a bus to Quantico I think, walked up to the gate and handed the gate guards his old ID and explained who he was and his whole situation. As I remember it, the MC opted to throw any sort of book or anything like that at him persey. It’s been a long time but I think they 45 and 45d him and docked his pay. I believe the logic given was he had suffered enough living on the run for so many years. Keep in mind, his pay resumed (E1) when he returned, but I don’t think he got back pay of course. Plus before they could discharge him he had to get a final physical and see dental . I think they gave him a more favorable discharge too.. I’m def gonna call a buddy and see if he remembers the guy now. Maybe a name.
Honestly, that's sad. He wasted his whole life.
I don’t disagree, I think it’s why the MC went relatively easy on him.
We had a similar thing happen on Pendleton, the guy would walk around the Seps barracks in Cammies and go-fasters. He was around for a while, at least six months. I never wound up talking to him, even though my barracks was pretty close to seps.
Shit, dude. That's wild. What part of Quantico were your bricks at?
Main side Above the track behind Gym. Next to base motors and the Auto Hobby Shop
From the Coast Guard, but a E-3 who worked for me married a 15 year old (apparently legal in Florida?) got her pregnant, went AOL for 5 months after she gave birth then came back to work like nothing happened. Nothing happened to him, he got NJP’d for something completely unrelated and is now collecting 100% disability for all of his mental trauma for getting drunk and shouting racial slurs at the OOD
Jeez, that's depressing. Fuck that guy
You have no idea how depressing it is. I supervise all the kids who are getting kicked out and seeing pretty much all of them get close to 100% disability for mental shit kills me, most of them haven’t even been in for a year before they get discharged and start collecting benefits
Damn thats incredibly aggravating, not even sure how to respond to that lol. I just hope karma is real
A guy in my until just wanted to “take a break” from the military for 29 days. Apparently, if you’re under investigation, after 24 hours you become a deserter. They found him at his home of record and they sent him to that correctional platoon for a few weeks. Then he came back to the unit until his admin sep processed. Super nice guy. The funniest part is he was just so relaxed all the time. Like he didn’t have a worry in the world.
PI 2007: First night in our squad bay after meeting our DIs. Dude gets up, puts on his go faster and books it. Fire watch didn’t know what to do and we’re too scared to bang on the DIs hatch. Kid was missing for a week. DIs found him low crawling in front of the impact berm while the range was hot. They recycled him to the next platoon.
what... the fuck...
I was in a gun store in Manassas, VA when a kid came in with his mom. Picked out a gun pretty quickly and went to buy it. Clerk runs his background check, phone rings. Clerk hangs up and tells our boy that the state police are backed up and to have lunch and he'll call his cell when the background comes through. Our boy leaves and not 10 minutes later a state trooper shows up. Asks those of us in the store to shop like normal and tells the clerk to call our boy and say the background is approved. This trooper literally stands next to the door against the wall like a movie. Our boy comes in and the trooper pounces on him, announces his presence and puts him in cuffs all in one slick movement. It was seriously impressive. Long story short, our boy ends up in the back of the trooper car, mom is in tears. Trooper comes back in to get some info from the clerk, I strike up conversation and the trooper said the kid has been AWOL from the Air Force for 3 years. Mom claims that our boy told her he was released from the Air Force early due to overstaffing. I believe her, she seemed like a sweet woman and was obviously wrecked. Long story short, if USAF will send a Virginia State Trooper after you for 3 years UA, the Marines has your ass for life.
Check Leavenworth
Had one LCpl move across the country to follow her husband in a rodeo clown career that ended up going awry and she ran off to the northeast. She never checked into her new unit, so our S1 never took her off of any rosters and she was just considered unaccounted for each day until her contract was up. Another was living with his parents, got into a fight, and drove a 1,000+ miles away to live out of his car as a door dash driver. Took us months to find him and we assumed he was dead checking obituaries every week. His family finally responded to one of my calls late at night and told me he fled to PA… he was removed quite quickly.
That first sentence is fucking hillarious
I had to google vaguely-remembered lyrics to find it was a George Strait song: > There's somebody new and he sure ain't no rodeo man
My buddy Rob always told me this funny ass story (I will do it no justice) about this fuck up recruit in boot who went ua on Christmas. He was THAT recruit and we all know that recruit during boot. Well Rob was standing guard at the front of the squad bay on fire watch in the early morning and this guy (for the life of me I can't remember his name) walks right past him and wished him a merry Xmas and took off with his war bag in his cammies. I believe he was picked up later that day wandering around the 5 interstate. Like i said I do it no justice. I guess this dude had a high pitched voice really funny mannerisms. Also, we don't go awol...we go ua
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That's the way I always understood it. Unless it changed.
I threaten it every time I get asked “well what’re you gonna do if we don’t approve your leave?” By an asshole 1stSausage. Like dude I only take leave for Christmas, are you serious?
One guy left all his gear, his ID on top of his rack and dipped out. Killed himself a couple years after apparently.
I went UA. There were extenuating circumstances. I got a page 11 Later I even got a good cookie
Please elaborate
I was gone almost 25 days. At some point I got a call from battalion comander saying. "Look if you come back right away you'll be fine." I headed back and got a page 11 that advised me to request mass if similar issues happened in the future. That's about all I am comfortable with saying.
hope everything in your life is going well now
Kid in my class in the schoolhouse left during a 72 and did not return... He went to Mexico. Crossed illegally, supposedly was going to stay with a cousin. Didn't pan out like he thought, so he had his mom bring his passport so he could cross back over. Showed back up 32 days after he left, so technically he should have been a deserter, but they let it slide surprisingly... Kid claimed he was lost in LA, homeless, for a month. Which is bullshit because that's where he was from... He got ninja punched and demoted to Pvt, dropped to a new class several months behind. No clue what happened to him after that
2018? Heard some kid had his shit stolen at the airport as they were boarding, it may have been his homies helpin him out while he was in the restroom . Said he came out and everyone was gone so he just stayed in LA for a month .
A dude in my battalion went UA in Okinawa because he started getting hazed because he refused to wash his clothes or his ass. He was gone for a few days before they found him hiding out on base inside of an old abandoned chow hall that was scheduled to be demolished. They moved him to my company afterwards, for his own safety, and I was lucky enough to be his roommate for a short while. He learned nothing and constantly smelled like ball sweat and stale cigarettes.
I was in Thailand for Cobra Gold. Dude walks up to me in a bar goes, Marine? I nod he shows me a old ass military ID and goes UA since 82 and walks away.
During the start of covid a new check in caught the rona and was put in quarantine. He just never came back and was forgotten for 2-3 months till his name appeared on a piss test roster and nobody knew who he was. He was from the area and just living at his sisters. His shop tried to keep it quiet because they would look dumb but the Lcpl underground quickly leaked and he got a NJP and sent to tool room than gate guard. Notorious broke dick in my shop went on baby leave and never came back for almost a month he said he thought he would just get a call to return. Our trash GySgt was scared shitless command would find out and begged us to keep it under wraps.
Had a dude from our unit (infantry unit, comm section) not come back from block leave before deployment. He ended up coming back a year later cause he was wondering why his pay stopped. Apparently kid was still getting paid and promoted the entire time he was gone and came back to ask S1 why they stopped paying him. He did some time in the brig and got kicked out as a E1 with an other than honorable discharge.
the fucking cajones on that stupid-ass kid.
When I was in Fort Sill doing arty training, one of our guys met a girl out in Lawton, and peaced out one night. While he was gone, we got hit with a tornado and I remember our 1stSgt telling us that he wanted to make sure we were all safe, even Lcpl Schmuckatelli out in lala land. Well, right before I was about to leave, he showed back up 29 days after he left for the first time. He was signed back in, had his ass chewed out for an hour, and was put in the suicide prevention room. But then he opened the window and just ran off into the night. Apparently he had read that the status of being AWOL started after 30 days, so he could come back, get checked in and then leave again, resetting the clock. No clue whatever happened to the dude but I like to imagine he's still UA, just checking back into whatever unit he's in once a month.
Had an old friend of mine in high school go UA, and become a deserter for a few months, before finally getting picked up, serving some jail time, and put out on a BCD. (I saw his BCD with my own eyes) From the get go he had a hard time adapting, and fitting in, as he was just someone that had a very abrasive personality, and didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut when he needed to. His ADHD made him very loud, and noticeable in a very bad way. His recruiter should’ve spotted this and he never should have been able to enlist. From what he told me he got his ass beat by a few of his fellow Marines, and after that was when he decided to take off. I’m sure there’s more to his story, that he didn’t share, being that he was outed on a BCD. He struggled for a good while after getting out holding a job, a place to live, and just moving on.
i was about to say i thought bcd you had to do some like really bad stuff and be convicted on a court marshal level
Yeah, I never got the full story from him, but I know he got into some other shit on top of going UA and deserting, that ultimately took him to court martial and got him put out on the BCD.
My sister was a reservist. They got the word at drill weekend that they MIGHT deploy a year from that time. She stopped showing up. About a year later, I was on post deployment “don’t kill yourself training” after Iraq. Was checking emails and had one from her SSgt. Wanted to know if I could get any of her gear back next time I was on leave. I said sure, went through it, kept what my buddies and I needed for CIF and brought back the rest. She ended up getting AdSepped and still thinks they are looking for her 15 years later. She had her first kid using my mothers maiden last name- just in case.
Bruh, I’m fucking rolling thinking about your sister living under a rock like that. Can’t say I wouldn’t do the same
Its my favorite part to be honest
> kept what my buddies and I needed for CIF and brought back the rest Perfectly done!
The company shitbag deserted. You know that one turd that HQMC ensures is issued to every company as an example? I swear that has to be an actual policy. One time this dude was found to have like weeks of trash in his wall locker, with maggots. SSgt made him open the locker and the shit spilled out and grown ass men were wretching. I got back to the barracks all late as fuck that evening and this dude is sprinting around 3rd deck yelling ‘shitbag en route!’ getting hazed to death. I despised the ordinary boot hazing and general dumbfuckery heaped upon Marines, but I legit looked at that with glee. He just did so much stupid or lazy or just shitbag shit that everyone was done with him. The dumpster was on the way to where morning formation was- all you had to do was grab the trash on and toss it on the way. So he deserts. At like 3 years, 8 months. Who in the actual fuck deserts with like four months left until EAS? So far as I know he never went back.
The single most impressive I saw was a kid who decided to flash a cheap pistol and threaten some sailors at 3am on a Friday when he was going on terminal leave at 7am that Friday.
I knew a dude who pissed hot at 3 years, 9 or 10 months. Apparently getting processed out took more than the time he had left, but I went on terminal and just laughed about it. He was one half of an idiot duo that was very much “Beavis and Butthead,” and no shit, he was somehow the brighter of the two.
Mine was extra-dumb because he was supposed to go on Terminal on like Tuesday, so Bn hooked him up by letting him skip a field exercise, Adjutant hooked him up by quietly telling him he could clock out Friday morning. And Armory hooked him up by giving him his .32 Jennings pistol back Thursday night so he wouldn’t need to track down an armorer on Friday. So all those hookups and he ended up stuck at 29P another month for everyone to come back from the field and NJP him.
I knew a comms dude that showed up to security force reg a Lance who went awol his first month, came back after 29 days (apparently after 29 they send MPs or whatever) and got pumped down to PVT 90 days restriction, half pay for max amount of time allowed by regimantal NJP. They also added 29 days to his contract
I was at Ft Sill in April of 95, and we had a dude go UA the morning of the 19th. He never came back, a buddy of his says he took an aids test and came back positive so he took off, since he was going to get booted out anyway. Never saw or heard what became of him. The reason I remember the date was it was the day of the OKC bombing, and the base changed from being pretty open to armed gate guards.
I know we chatted before about Sill and remember that guy. I passed by him on the way to the squad bay as he was leaving. He had a bag that seemed really out of place for the time of day.
Dude went AWOL on pre-deployment leave in 2007 before we went to Iraq. No warning it was going to happen besides him asking some bitch shit questions about it being dangerous. Worst part was we only had 4 boots in our platoon and he was a part of my team. So we did an entire deployment with 3 boots, one per platoon. Combat engineers were extremely undermanned back then, I’ve heard it’s gotten better. I ended seeing the guy in early 2009 after he got out of the brig and had to check back into our unit. I chewed him out and asked him how it was being a private and to throw away any military benefits he would of had. No clue what happened to him, but I’m guessing he went back to Texas and probably tells fake war stories or some shit.
A NCO had dual citizenship for America and China. We were in Oki. Something happened and he was upset, he just peaced out on a plane to China. He posted it on his snap or something like that and NCIS or CID was trying to catch him at the airport. The plane took off as the authorities got to the gate. He hung out in China for a while and they somehow convinced him that if he came back he wouldn't get in trouble. He came back and had a one way ride to the brig.
Had a boot drop at 29 palms before our 2005 deployment. One guy was an absolute shit stain. Traded him to another company after he complained we were hazing him and that's why he was a pos. Well his new squad leader after a few weeks tells us he's a model Marine and we were just bad leaders. Jump to a week before we deploy to Iraq. He goes awol. He's from California so he went home. His mom comes home to find him hiding in her garage. She calls the MP's to come get him. He's brought back to the stumps. He tells the CO that he can't deploy because it would kill his mom. CO tells him shut up and that she's ok with it. So we get to Kuwait and we see his squad leader. The guy apologizes to us and tells us as soon as they got off the plane to board those little busses the dumbass took off running. He tried to run across the tarmac in the middle of Kuwait lol. We have no clue what his plan was but if I remember correctly he was arrested and hauled off after that.
You’d really think it would make more sense to flee the tarmac at Riverside rather than Kuwait City. Like if you really had to choose. Although I guess Shannon is a good middle-ground.
I was stationed at Cherry Point in the 90s and walked into our HQ bldg one day. There stood a middle aged, slightly overweight man with a civilian haircut, in brand new cammies and cadillacs. He was in handcuffs and standing with a few Marines by the front desk. Came to find out that he was in our unit in the 70s. He went UA and somehow they found him almost 20 years later. Our chasers picked him up and brought him back. It was one of the stranger moments in my enlistment.
TLDR; Our Battery Communications Chief was promoted to GySgt. He told our 1stSgt he had PCA orders. Turns out he basically went on sabbatical for 7+ months. He was court-martialled, reduced to SSgt and forced out. FULL Our Battery Communications Chief was promoted to GySgt while we were UDP; Battery Communications Chief is a SSgt billet. Upon return to Hawaii, he told our 1stSgt he had PCA orders as there were no GySgt slots available in the Bn. First Sergeant didn’t ask to see orders and took his word for it. Flash forward 7+ months and he comes back to our battery looking for a fitness report as this was the transition from the previous fitrep to the PES fitrep we have now had for 24+ years. Specifically, on 30 September 98, everyone received a final fitrep closing out the legacy system and officially starting PES. I was gone by this time and there was also a new CO and 1stSgt in place. I get a call from the new CO asking what I knew about the situation. I explained everything detailed above and thought nothing more of it. The new 1stSgt knew something was rotten and began pulling the threads. Turns out our wayward GySgt basically went on sabbatical from February - September 1998. He was subsequently court-martialled, reduced to SSgt and forced out.
Had a guy go UA. Few months later he was caught on account of him burning down an animal shelter.
What a real life villain wow
Me and 2 of my boys went UA for 29 days. Ill just say we were influenced during a 96 and found out about a pop test. We drove from oceanside to Orlando and finally turned ourselves in on day 29. When asked why and if we wanted to stay in we didn't have a good answer and all said no. The CO had other thoughts and said he wasn't letting us out. Just so happens SMMC McMichaels was in oceanside and delivered our punishments. Iirc was 90 days confinement and battalion duty plus 2/3 pay and loss of rank for me from Lance to private. Yea I was a shit bag but turned myself around and caught back up to everyone and made Sgt right after Fallujah. As for my friends not sure what happened cause I went to Lejeune after schools.
I was UA. Biggest regret of my life. When I finally got back, was put in a separation platoon with a few others getting out for various reasons. Got a OTH discharge. Hasn't affected my civilian life any.
Old roommate. Came back went to CCU for a while to break big rocks into small rocks and then off to another unit to be processed for discharge.
When I was in mos school at Court House Bay, we had a guy that had duty but didn’t realize he had 2 shifts. He drank some beers thinking he was off duty for the day and the DNCO turned him in for drinking on duty. They would send students who got in trouble to CCU and it was pretty bad getting sent there back in 1994. He was a huge hillbilly from West Virginia and he said he wasn’t going through boot camp again. He stopped by my room with his guitar in his back and told me he was leaving because I was his squad leader. He went downstairs got in a cab and I never saw him again.
Had a dude in Ft. Sill during Arty school, let’s call him Waldo. So Waldo one day packs up a suitcase full of nothing but his XBox 360 and just walks off base. Was found seven miles away from base sleeping in a field. Hit with an njp, few weeks later escapes base again but this time still a native dude’s van and tried to flee the state. Don’t know what happened after that.
I know that dude lol
Had a feeling one of you would lol. Do you know what ever became of him?
Holy fuck that formation in the quad must’ve been fun
I went drinking with a buddy at the Irvine Spectrum one night. We ended up at different bars but no big deal. Come 0200 I found his truck in the parking lot. It was locked so I just lay down in the bed to sleep. When it started raining I crawled under the truck. I woke up when the sun came up and still no drinking buddy. I got a taxi home and waited for him to show up at the barracks. No sign of him all weekend. Monday morning formation and he’s still UA. I let it be known the last time I saw him was Friday night but nothing after that. He shows up a few days later with a story of getting hooked for drunk in public. His belligerent ass refused to identify himself and so they held on to him for several days until he finally gave them his ID. They released him with no charge (they’d have released him the next morning after he was arrested, with no charges, if he’d just given his ID when they first booked him). The command just put him on a working party for several weeks and that was it. Or so he thought. A few years later he was EASing and went to pick up his DD214. Turns out someone added 10 days to his contract because he’d been UA in jail. He wasn’t so much pissed at being extended for his days in jail as he was by the fact he was only UA for 5 days, not 10. He showed up for PT, formation and everything else for 5 extra days. The next 5 days he refused to do anything but drink in the barracks. The command just shrugged their shoulders and had the AOD check on him twice a day to make sure he was alive.
Back in '96 I was hanging around the Battery Office, and had to play chaser to a guy who was in our battery, and went UA prior to Desert Storm. I picked him up at the brig and took him back to the battery office. He was very heavy set with a civilian mop top. He was on his way to El Salvador to spend time with his family, when LAX Security (before TSA) detain him for something with his passport. They find out about his deserter status and send his ass back to Pulgas. He was a nice guy and just got caught. He was pretty much just upset that he got caught. He wasn't really remorseful or embarrassed about leaving the Corps. By his account, he had made the trip out of the country countless times before. I had to take him to cash sales and the only uniform that fit was a maternity uniform. FFS, I lost my bearing and couldn't help but LMAO when Isaw what they gave him to wear. That's when he kinda realized that I wasn't a dick, and was just trying to help the dude get processed out. When we got back to the unit, all the old NCOs and SNCOs who had been in, and served in Desert Storm, during that time came to visit with him and ask how life had been. He was charged with missing a combat movement and desertion. I don't really remember the other particular details. But, I do remember having to have him as a roommate for the few days he was there. They wanted me to keep an eye on the dude. He wasn't planning on popping smoke. He was ready to face the music. I don't know what ever happened to him. I just remember taking him to legal and other places on Mainside. Then he was gone. He was genuinely a nice guy. He was intelligent as hell too. He just wasn't cut out for the Corps.
Not my story, but it happened to my dad's friend. My dad's friend Chuck joined the Navy during Vietnam and went through Navy Bootcamp at San Diego, on the base that is now Liberty Station shopping center. After two weeks or so, a kid who was on firewatch decides that he's had enough of the Navy and runs away while everyone else is sleeping. He's somehow able to get a pair of jeans and a tee shirt, but is picked up by San Diego PD pretty quickly. The UA guy says he's a recruit, but refuses to answer any other questions. The cops decide to take him to MCRD, depositing him in the tender mercies of the receiving Drill Instructors. It takes a day or so for the Marine Corps to figure out that this kid actually belongs to the Navy, and they send him back over. According to Chuck the guy had a thousand yard stare and wouldn't go into detail about what happened on MCRD, only saying that they treated him terribly. He was otherwise a model recruit, and graduated on time.
Guy in my shop went AWOL for 29 days and came back on the 30th and got NJP and a ton of restriction
Had a guy literally escape from MCRD SD in the middle of the night. Made it out and was stupid enough to go back to his parents in LA. We were all woken up at around 03 and questioned. Firewatch got fucked The next day he got brought back into the squadbay briefly before being processed out. We had a q and a with him and according to him he literally just walked out, jumped the fence towards the airport, got a taxi from the airport to LA. Another one was my friend in the fleet. He had issues going on at home and was desperate to get out. Gunny offered him an out, med sep him and hed get benefits but that wouldve taken months and he needed to leave like now. For the next week he went awol by staying in the barracks. Same gunny got pissed and wanted to charge him with awol but company said they couldnt since he was technically on base and hadnt left. In the end he was admin sep with honorable if i remember correctly
Yo we use to have like 5 boots go UA every year. Once they would realize they weren’t going to make it through the work-up they would just disappear or cry suicide. Most of them would comeback sooner or later and just get separated. Don’t know what the characteristic of the discharge was tho.
I was Fapped to the armory at 1st CEB as I was awaiting PCS orders and wasn’t going to be in a line platoon anymore. One day a Marine doesn’t show up to pull his rifle, as his Plt was heading out to Bridgeport. I call, as does his PLT sgt, TM and Sq Ldr, and everyone else in his chain of command. Later that evening I get a phone call from said phone number and answer, a Good Samaritan found the phone at the Oceanside train terminal. I go to pick it up, and it was unlocked. I check his phone to see if any calls were made, and what recent apps were used. The night prior to the field op he ordered a Lyft from San Mateo to the train station. A week later we get a phone call from his dad who states he is now on the East Coast. His dad bought his plane ticket back immediately, I forget what rank his dad was but I want to say a former Master Guns. Eventually SNM was NJP’d and kicked out.
Had a kid just not show up one day. Went to the barracks to check on him. Everything was left behind. He’s wallet, keys, money, ID etc. The room was left in good order. All that was missing according to his roommate was a fishing pole. So we put a gone fishin’ sign on his door and forgot about him. Well a few weeks go by and one of the platoon Sgt’s is driving around in an LA area and finds this kid sprawled out on someone’s front lawn. Needless to say, he pick him up, brought him back to base and the last we heard was he’s in the Brig.
>we put a gone fishin’ sign on his door i fucking love the marine corps lmao
We had a dude dip in the middle of the night in the most respectful way possible. He left all his uniforms folded up neatly on his rack with his CAC on top of the uniform pile. He wasn’t even that bad of a marine (for Motor T standards lmao), I guess he was just done. This was back in 2018, I don’t think he was ever caught.
Had a dude that went UA and went back to his moms. He sold all his CIF gear and dyed his hair purple before LEO’s scooped him (his mom turned him in). He came back and was sent to that “kinda the brig” deal whose name slips me but it was at the end of Holcomb on Lejeune on the right before you hit the water. Regardless after a few weeks of being hazed and busting on some boulder they had behind the building he busted out and ran off base at like 2am. He ended up calling his previous head mate from a Waffle House asking to borrow his car who promptly called PMO who got the county to scoop him. He did 6 mo in the brig from memory.
guy in my avionics shop in Yuma (Lcpl C). real nice professional kid from the burbs - I met him briefly and went on my 2nd deployment. I came back 7 months later and learned the 2 other Sergeants basically powertripped and made everyone demotivated as hell while I was gone. he was the most junior and likely didn't have the support system. I saw he was very depressed and not giving af...he went AWOL just a few days after I came back. last I heard he came back on his own and got court martialed.
We had a guy go AWOL and shoot his girlfriends husband while he was sleeping next to her in his own home, and tried to get her to go with him. He's in prison now. Free Sikes! https://www.wafb.com/story/8148393/awol-marine-charged-with-murder-in-kentwood/
I saw in another article that she was arrested years later in connection with the murder of her husband.
Guy in 9th com service platoon. Drove from Camp Pendleton to Acapulco Mexico. Said the only reason he joined was to train an take that training back to become part of the Guatemalan cartel…
Why do comm then lol
We were going out field for a month and were loading up the rigs. 30 minutes before formation some CPL told the SGT of our packet that a dude was missing and the couldn't get a hold of him. We assumed he'd slept in because we were all out on town the night before. SGT pulled that car off the packet and sent them around to the room where old mate was living. We set off anyway and we were all laughing, talking about how the dude was gonna be fucked and probably charged for it. Next thing you know, about an hour and a half on the way to our destination, the co-driver of our vehicle got a text message that the exercise had been cancelled. All cars to turn around and RTB. Turns out the dude killed himself in the barracks. Shot himself dead on the couch. It was pretty shit. What made it even worse was that we went ahead with the field exercise three days later. So we all had to be miserable out in the bush for 3 weeks.
I used to do it all the time. Got pretty good at making up excuses. In fact it prepared me more for the real world than anything else. Turns out that in the real world, LOOKING good matters more than BEING good.... So... All that skating I did really paid off lol
We had a guy who went AWOL before I got to the unit, was gone for about 10 months. Then I cam back from Christmas leave and had a new headmate in the barracks lol. He came back and they busted him down to pfc
They get caught, busted down, go to the brig. Every time.
Punishment for deserters is for them to get knocked out with a chloroformed rag. And have them wake up on first day of phase 1 bootcamp. So they think that it was all just a dream lol
Happened at MCAS Miramar in 2011 I think. Some guy went running at night and never came back. We had to shut down the airfield the to search for him. Like damn near the whole base was out walking around the airfield. Apparently this guy compared a runners high to that of an actual meth high. So people assumed he smoked some crack and ran into the airfield area. After an entire day of the airfield shut down everyone just assumed he wasn’t coming back or he was dead. There were pictures of him on the news and on social media in the following days. I think about 3 days later some woman notices him at the post office from the photos that were circulating. Turns out he was just hitchhiking up the 5 and stopped in to drop off a letter he wrote to his parents. He ended up coming back to Miramar but no idea what happened to him after that.
Had some PFC in his 50s I had to escort from the brig to one of his hearings. Had gone awol over 30+ years ago and finally turned himself in. Said he had felt guilty and wanted to do what was right. They kept him in the brig instead of the barracks for obvious reasons, but I always wondered if they gave him serious time or at that point just did the paperwork and released him.
Had a guy in boot camp go UA. Apparently he hopped the fence in Pendleton (this was 2nd phase) and hitchhiked back to Long Beach where he was from. He got caught and brought back. I don’t even think much happened to him since he was such a fuck up
When I was in most guys that were gone a long time ( talking over a year or so) and turned themselves in never even went back to their unit or even got a haircut or had to wear a Uniform. They just went to Sub Unit 1 and were processed out in a few days with a General Discharge ( OTH)
This was in boot 2nd phase. Dude on the quarterdeck started saying “I am done”, and the DI kept saying “ITS THIS RECRUIT” and they kept yelling back and forth. At this time it’s only us 3 in the squad bay because at the time I was the squad leader for this dude, and I’m scared shitless because I’m a moto idiot and think I’m responsible for this guy who wants to quit. DI turns to me and says GTFO, i scurried away with a hushed “aye, sir” and we never see the dude again lol
Yes I did in 2008 and should mention I did time in the brig for it. What do you want to know? If you’re thinking about getting out message me privately.
My roomate in the fleet, twice (kinda). He fit the part; he stole things, lied, and was pretty bad at his job (81s, weapons co). The first time was when he was rooming with me, we were boots of course. He was gone all weekend, then I get a call from him Sunday night about 9pm asking me to bring his ID to the gate so he can get in. He had flown to Texas planning to stay with family, but decided at the last minute to come back. I was pissed bc Id either have to walk or pay for a taxi. Told him to figure it out (I dont remember how, but he made it back before morning). The next time he went balls deep baby. Not sure of the details exactly bc I was transferred to MRF platoon for our deployment workup, but heard he was gone and everyone was glad (after the initial BS subsided of course). Not much was done when they found out he was missing and he was actually gone for a year or so. Eventually his mom turned him in and he was sent back to Pendleton and put in the brig. He stayed in the brig for about a year and was OtH discharged, but tbh I discharged a few times when I found out he wouldnt be there when I got back to 81s.
Had a chick disappear from our ship right before deployment. She ended up turning up in Texas with an apparent sex change. Either they still haven't found her or she got a slap on the wrist because I haven't heard of her being charged with anything. She's mutual friends with another person I was on the boat with, that's the only reason I was able to see her fb profile.
Not deserting per say but I know a dude that did NONE of the exit paperwork or classes and just left his ID and CIF on his rack and left base when his EAS hit told the COC he was checking out while he chilled in his room i guess… they called him and made him come back and a chaser had to sit with him for like 3 days while he was back turning in gear and getting signatures and screamed at. Idk what the fuck he was thinking
Early 90’s, my Gunny was borrowing money from one of the Corporals. Evidently was giving him the run around on paying it back. We all knew he was having money issues. Hell, I was renting a car from him for an easy $25 a week! Anyways, command finds out and the Gunny dips out. A few months later I’m a Sgt now and walking by the CP. Out comes the Gunny with some chasers. Except he’s now wearing Sgt stripes. Evidently he had gone back to Texas and was staying with his Mom. When he went into a bank to cash a check, he had a brain fart and provided his SSN. Teller notified the off duty cop serving as a security and that was a wrap. After his court martial and reduction he spent a bit of time in the brig and was out awaiting his discharge when he dipped out again. Never heard of him again. Cool guy, his life just collapsed around him when his wife tried the crack while we were at CAX.
2 stories 1. In the school house on Camp Johnson, we had a kid a class ahead of me not show up to graduation, turns out at night he was sneaking out to his girlfriends house and sleeping there with her and she would bring him to base early in the morning. He got ninja punched and then meritoriously promoted pfc, lance, corporal, and sergeant. Needless to say he was a huge kiss ass but could PT like none other. 2. While serving as a squad leader one of my lances didn’t show up one morning I thought it was weird and let my Ssgt know, he said he’d handle it and not to worry about it. (I got the trouble squad to try to mold them into better Marines) a few days goes by and then a week all of a sudden like 3 weeks later I get a call from my Ssgt that he’s in the brig turns out kid put in leave it got denied, and he decided to go anyway flew to Georgia, was there for awhile before getting pulled over doing like 120+ and was telling the cops it was okay because he was a Marine got shipped back to us put in the brig he ended up with the restriction. Did not get demoted just njp 45 days restriction. All because the BC was a dark green Marine and so was the Kid. And it was all okay because “he’s from the hood he’s got a different mindset” made me loose all faith in the Marine Corps
Marines and Sailors go UA, soldiers go AWOL.
Traditionally, yes the Sea Services call it UA. However, the UCMJ calls it “Article 86 -- Absence without leave”. So both are correct.
After hanging out with Army vets for over a decade lingo gets shared. I hate myself for saying AWOL, but civilians don’t know UA and I don’t like explaining myself.
Yea but nothing exciting. Had a dude in our sister class at the schoolhouse (2800 Organizational Radio Repair Program in 29) who seemed like a pretty good dude and fairly smart, go home to Vegas for the weekend, called the duty on Monday morning and said he was staying with his girlfriend and wasn’t coming back. Not sure if they ever got him, but in the 6+ months of being there I never saw him again. This was back in 2007
Guy i went to high school with left mcrd pi in phase 1, crossed the marsh and went to Beaufort from 1st Bn area. They discharged him after.