Expert: Cynthia Bedell - 1/21/2010

Question
Hello Ma'am. I joined the Navy Reserves in 2003 and I drilled for almost a year without ever going to bootcamp. My drilling base was almost 3 hours from my home and was in a different state. After being in for about 11 months I decided to move to another state to marry my fiance and live in her hometown. This would now make it about a 6 hour one way drive to go to my drilling base. After making this decision to move I started calling and leaving messages for my superiors to ask them how I go about being stationed at a base closer to where I was moving. This went on for months will no one calling me back. I could not make it to drill due to the fact I was going on interviews in the new state almost every Friday of the month to look for employment( I was still living in the old state at this time) Finally the time came to move and I did. About 6 months later I recieved a letter at my old address saying I had recieved a general under honorable conditions discharge for to many UA's. I never fought it because I was felt let down and the base ended up closing so I didnt know who to call. Now I am 30 and married with 2 children and I would love to finish what I started all those years ago. Is there any chance of being able to enlist? I have a clean civilian record and have held down a good job since leaving the reserves. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Answer
Dear Frank --

Your question indicates that you are in Canada; I do not know the Canadian rules for re-enlistment.  

If you are asking about the US Navy, you are responsible to get yourself to drill, no matter how inconvenient it is for you.  I do not blame your unit for discharging you due to your unauthorized absences.  

If you really wish to try to re-enlist, you have two options.  Your first option is applying for re-enlistment with a waiver for your general discharge.  The second is petitioning the Board for Correction of Naval Records to change your discharge characterization from general to honorable, and then re-enlisting under normal conditions.

There is no guarantee the Navy will accept your application for re-enlistment under either of the circumstance above.  Due to the current job market, all the US military services are getting many high quality recruit candidates, and are not offering many waivers of any kind.

Please write back, if you have additional questions.  Good luck to you.