Is a other than honorable discharge.

My dad was caught in the blizzard of 78 trying to get back to his base in Kansas. He says he was stranded for a week in Illinois at truck stop,and notified his chain of command of this. When he was able to drive again, he finished the rest of his trip, when he got back to his base, he checked in and the one on duty accused him of being awol. My dad being one for fast action, knocked the guys teeth out and caught himself a court marshal. They ended up kicking him out on an other than honorable for disrespecting an officer. Seems the guy he knocked out a fresh transfer 2lt from the ocs process and wanted to make an example of someone.

I know, sounds life a bunch of bs to me to, but he still stands by this story. He's been driving for going on 25 years now

 

I believe it, there's some real stupid people in leadership positions in the military. I used to steal their 8x10 pictures out of the padlocked bulletin board and put them in the urinal so all the bluejackets could pee on them.

Example: Good friend of mine, a Gunners Mate-GMG1, was a target from some in leadership positions. He always had a smile on his face and real easy, laid back guy. They accused him of wearing too many medals including the Purple Heart, saying there's no way he could have so many; he had a chest full. The CO got tired of hearing it, so he sent to Washington for clarification on what the Gunners Mate should have. Washington's response was, yes he's earned every one he wears plus they sent a package with 8 more that he earned but was overlooked and not presented with. The CO of the ship thought it was hilarious, and said, "I guess they will shut up now." The funny part is when he was awarded all those medals, he was an E-3/GMGSN. Many of the GMG Gunners Mates were loaded down with medals, but most didn't wear them except during personnel inspections. They served on the PBR's, river boats.

 

Double post.

 

Ive seen that more than once at my 2 commands

 

I've dealt with a few toxic leaders during my military career...

 

I did 20 years in the US Navy and saw many sailors go "UA". Some of them worked directly for me down in the engine rooms. There are many reasons for deserting, and some of them happen to be under honorable intentions. YES............honorable! Some of you making these posts about death penalties and other punishments have no idea what you are talking about.

Example:

A young sailor who worked for me was losing his god mother to cancer. She had no one who cared enough to take care of here. The Navy would not recognize her as immediate family although she raised him after taking him in off the streets. She made sure he had a place to stay and finish high school. My division officer did his best to help the kid, but the "chain of command" basically told him "tough luck". The day the kid ran, he called me at home and to say thanks for the way I treated him while he was dealing with his situation. He told me that he would turn himself in after. I wished him the best of luck. Fast forward eight months.......... I'm the duty engineer one day and I get called to the quarterdeck over the 1MC. I make my way to the quarterdeck and see the same kid standing there at parade rest, in clean working dungarees, and a seabag on the deck next to him. He came back to the ship to turn himself in. The Navy in their infinite wisdom decided to discharge him later on with a "General.......under honorable conditions". The kid wanted to stay, and the CO also went to bat for him........but the Navy said no. It was sad to see him get kicked out because he was one of those rare kids who actually loved being down in the engine rooms.

You can take this story and repeat it thousands of times with many young sailors. There were a certain percentage that just wanted to avoid duty and deployments to hostile areas, but a good many of them had real life hardships and the military let them down in more ways than I could count. A good many of them turned themselves in afterwards and tried to finish out their commitment. Some got to stay, while others were kicked out after brig time. It was always a roll of the dice in these matters.

 

What happened is, you didn't "Screen". The screening parameters were set up by a bunch of idiots. An E-1 with 3 dependents wouldn't "screen" to enlist, no matter how high his test scores are. Before all the recruiting districts worldwide were interconnected with computers, there was a way around that. Here's how it worked, you try to join in the recruiting district in Iowa and don't "screen" due to having 3 dependents. So the recruiter calls his buddy in Recruiting District New Orleans and says, "I have this good guy here that didn't screen for dependents or whatever reason so he's coming to visit you." So the guy goes to New Orleans and joins the Navy as a single man, never been married and no children. After basic training and schools, etc. he reports to his first ship. A few months later he takes his marriage certificate and childrens birth certificates to Personnel Office and registers them as dependents; the personnelman couldn't care less and just adds them to his record. Happened thousands of times. Can't do this stuff now due to the internet.
I worked with a cook from the Philippines that failed the physical for some minor stuff. The Navy had a recruiting office in the Philippines. Some guy he knew from his village was also going to join and was ready to leave but died a few days before flying out due to something that wasn't caught during the physical;cancer or heart problem. So he gave his enlistment package to the other guy and that guy flew out under his name and ended up a cook on a ship. After 7 yrs. active duty Philippinas can become US citizens and at the same time change their name if they wish. So this cook became a US Citizen and changed his name back to what his real name was anyway. Can't do all that stuff these days! Thousands of those stories out there.

 

Friend of mine, BTC - Chief Boiler Technician, came to the ship from recruiting duty. One day a new MMFN - Machinist Mate Fireman, checked aboard. The Chief BT looked at him and said "what the ____?" He said the MMFN had tried to join the Navy through his office and didn't qualify. He asked him about it and he said he went to another recruiting district and joined and just "changed a few facts" to qualify. The MMFN turned out to be a good sailor and hard worker.
Yep, the good old days, really were the good old days.

 

It's interesting that so many on this thread assumed that a less than honorable discharge automatically meant desertion. Aren't there other ways to receive a less than honorable discharge?