Expert: Cynthia Bedell - 4/5/2009

Question
ok i will try to keep this short.my name is melvin christine I was a 15u and I was in the 160th.I completed basic and ait with no problems then I got to the 160th I got bit by a brown recluse in the last week of green platoon and was going to be reclassed when one night I caught my wife kissing a member of my platoon and I flipped out and checked myself into a hospital.when I went into the hospital my wife who was supposed to be safe guarding my gov't expense card maxed it out and faked a burglary to steal my ta50 and my big screen got a restraining order stating abuses that didnt happen during which time I was released and taken to my mothers house to stay.my court date came up for me to state my case and I was restricted to base so I was unable to appear.A member of my platoon came to me and tole me where my tv was which i was getting charged withholding from a secured creditor.my wife the got custody of the children and awared monitary sums from my pay. The sgt who was incharge ssg phillip gallon was letting her visit and stay over in our barracks while I was placed in the opposing barracks and not allowed to come to the main building.ssg gallon then came to me and took 675 dollars from me in cashiers checks that he said were for my wife.What I didnt know that she told me later what that he had been at his expense paying for her a hotel room.my wife then came to me after getting in trouble and litterally dropped the kids off with me at the barracks where I was confined to.I contacted ssg gallon and told him the situation and he said he didnt care what i did but to get my kids out of there.as I had noone to keep them I went to my moms house with them.so I got charged with being awol I stayed awol for 36 days the day I went 31 days and dor ssg held a special formation far away from the company area and stated that he did it to make sure I didnt come back and the he proclaimed how happy he was that he was getting to send me to jail.I turned myself in and I got offered a chapter 10 to get out without jail time.so I took that not being told of my reentry code or anything else.I was given a other than honorable discharge in lue of court martial I want to get back in what can I do and thank you for reading my crazy story.

Answer
Dear Melvin --

To have any chance at all of re-enlisting, you will need to petition the Military Board of Corrections to change your Other Than Honorable Discharge to Honorable.  If you get your discharge characterization changed to honorable, then you can request a waiver to your RE code to allow you to re-enlist.

You are going to have a very difficult time getting the board to change your discharge characterization.  You voluntarily went AWOL.  You allowed another person to use your government charge card (I know she was your wife, but that does not give her access to your card, and you should never have given it to her.  Besides, if you were so upset because you thought she was messing around on you that you went to a psych hospital, why would you trust her with anything?)  You can always get a military escort to take you to a court appearance.  So not showing up for one because you were restricted to post, is another voluntary failure to meet your responsibilities.

You should take a hard look at how you are living your life, and why you are trying to blame other people for your actions.  Yes, according to your story, your wife and an NCO sorely abused you, but they did not make you fail to appear in court, they did not make you go AWOL.  By your own admission you went AWOL for 36 days, so the fact that your NCO held formation where you couldn't find it to ensure you were dropped from rolls, is moot.  

If you do not take charge of your own life, and accept responsibility for yourself, you will never convince the board that you deserved an honorable discharge.  Further, you will never convince a recruiter that you should have a second chance to enlist.

Good luck to you.  You can turn your life around, but it will take hard work on your part.