Expert: Rod Powers - 11/9/2007

Question
Hello,

I joined the guard recently but during my background check an unpaid ticket came up in a different state from over 2 years ago  that I completely forgot about. Turns out the unpaid ticket has a bench warrant out. Anyways, the guard said if I manage to come up with enough money and get it paid off by Monday that I'll be fine (otherwise they will start the discharge process), but there's no way I can come up with enough in the 2 days time frame that they gave me.

Anyways, my question is this. How serious is this? If they do end up discharging me, can I still pay off the ticket, get the warrant dropped and reenlist? I wasn't even supposed to leave for basic until mid-April so I figured they'd at least give me more than 2 days to come up with the money as there is plenty of time to get everything squared away before basic.

Thanks for the help.

Answer
Hi Adam,

It's very serious. One is not eligible to join (any branch) of the U.S. Military if they have an open warrant. In other words, you were ineligible to join on the date you signed the enlistment paperwork.

You'll want to speak with your recruiter. He/she may be able to get you an exentsion. That would be a whole lot easier than being discharged, and then trying to re-join with a waiver later on.

For more information about the United States Military, feel free to visit my U.S. Military Careers information site at: http://usmilitary.about.com

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com