Expert: John L - 7/26/2009

Question
My son in law left last Monday for National Guard Basic Training. After spending the night in a hotel, he woke up the next morning (Tuesday) at 0445 am to leave for MEPS. He said he experienced a panic attack on the shuttle on the way to MEPS. He told us they put him in a room for several hours which led to "other things", which led to him asking a friend to come get him and drive him home. He said he did not see a doctor. He said he did not go through MEPS. He was back home by that night. He told us he got a general discharge. When we asked if he received any paperwork. He said, he didn't. My husband is ex Army and he received paperwork/ Honorable Discharge Certificate and it took 3 days to get it all completed. Just for the record, SIL has no history of panic attacks. He has been attending weekend sessions with the NG for a year prior to this.

Now his family and ours are wondering did he just get released or did he actually get a general discharge? How was he able to come home so quickly? Doesn't it take a bit longer to go through the proper channels these days? Wouldn't he know whether he had any paperwork? Wouldn't he be required to see a doctor? Things don't seem quite right. It was just so quick and we are left with a lot more questions then we have answers. Could he have went AWOL?

Answer
He is not discharged, it does not happen that quick, he is stll under contract and more or less just refused to ship. He will get discharged eventually, but he needs to talk with hsi RSP NCO, (that's where he has been going these weekends).  

But they will try to work with him first, but he will be required to go back to MEPs if he decides he wants to stay in.  Its up to him.  Discharges take months to do in these situations.