# Got caught smoking weed in the airforce on purpose what now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2016, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731 "2016-03-21T05:39:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AbandonedTeddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@AbandonedTeddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbandonedTeddy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/1 "2016-03-21T05:39:51Z")
I’ve been at my first base for 3 months and I’ve been trying to get out since techschool. The airforce life in general isn’t for me and other things came into my head. This is besides the point of this question though. I did the stupid route of getting out and purposely smoked weed in my dorm and got caught. I should have went to chain of command like they told me but I ignored that offer because I thought they would have said no seeing as though I signed a contract and were kind of undermanned here. Anyways what will probably happen to me as in discharge form? I confessed when the cops came and gave them all my weed( didn’t flush it down the toilet.) I’ve been cooperating with them and all but I want to know what will happen from here probably now. I hear confinement is possible and dishonorable could happen. My plan was to get anything other than get a dishoborable, since I don’t deserve those benefits. ---
**Author:** ![AbandonedTeddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@AbandonedTeddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbandonedTeddy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/2 "2016-03-21T06:36:09Z")
I’ve found my answer thanks tho ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/3 "2016-03-21T12:22:18Z")
And the answer was…? Want to share the answer with us, now that you’ve raised the question a few of us are actually curious. Will you be charged with a crime? Dishonourably discharged? Any other repercussions? ---
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/4 "2016-03-21T12:24:42Z")
Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/5 "2016-03-21T12:33:33Z")
Whatever it was it seems it no longer includes internet as he seemed to get carried away mid-sentence. ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/6 "2016-03-21T12:39:27Z")
Who cares what happened to that loser? I hope he got discharged dishonorably and carry that badge the rest of his pathetic life. ---
**Author:** ![core](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@core](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/core)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/7 "2016-03-21T13:15:20Z")
You will win an all-expenses-paid vacation. I hear Kansas is very nice this time of year. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/8 "2016-03-21T13:27:44Z")
> [@SigMan](#): > > Who cares what happened to that loser? I hope he got discharged dishonorably and carry that badge the rest of his pathetic life. Yes, there is no one worse than a young person who changes their mind, then smokes pot. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/9 "2016-03-21T13:55:45Z")
IME for low-grade drug offenses early in their first enlistment we just gave them a general discharge. That was 30 years ago. The idea of wasting taxpayer resources on imprisoning somebody like that is stupid. Talk about waste and abuse. As is the idea of branding them for life as a big criminal. Society in general is slowly coming around to the idea that if you take a mostly decent person and sentence them to unemployability from an early age, you’ve just manufactured a career criminal. Which is expensive both in terms of the societal costs they will create by their inevitable bad acts and in terms of the taxpayer money to deal with the results of those bad acts. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/10 "2016-03-21T13:58:40Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > IME for low-grade drug offenses early in their first enlistment we just gave them a general discharge. That was 30 years ago. Times have changed. This is going to be an article 15 and an other-than-honorable discharge, I would think. I’d be very surprised if there was a court martial given the circumstances, so no dishonorable discharge or jail time is likely. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/11 "2016-03-21T14:13:58Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Yes, there is no one worse than a young person who changes their mind, then smokes pot. This is a young person who made a commitment, then refused to fulfill it. There are ways to get out of the military before your ETS date without taking the path this fellow did. He didn’t have a case of “oops, I smoked pot on leave on a whim,” he specifically decided to make it his method of leaving the service. He almost certainly won’t serve prison time for it, even though it’s a possibility. He deserves a dishonorable discharge, and the headaches that it will cause him in later life perhaps will teach him that a lack of character isn’t without costs. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/12 "2016-03-21T14:23:47Z")
Reported for forum change. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/13 "2016-03-21T14:26:27Z")
Article 15 ([WikiArticle here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-judicial_punishment)) … lose a stripe, lose half your pay for 6 months and General Discharge … no criminal conviction. It’s too late now, but usually the recommendation is to deny everything, no matter how obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/14 "2016-03-21T14:48:06Z")
> [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](#): > > He deserves a dishonorable discharge, and the headaches that it will cause him in later life perhaps will teach him that a lack of character isn’t without costs. He deserves to be treated according military law and precedent, which, according to informed comments, is not the draconian consequences you would prefer. I doubt it will cause him any headaches, perhaps just a mild buzz once in a while. ---
**Author:** ![core](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@core](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/core)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/15 "2016-03-21T14:54:31Z")
This is a different matter from peeing hot once or smoking up on leave. Aren’t we forgetting that he had the pot on his person on the base? A civilian gets caught with pot on the base (federal crime) and he will be in deep trouble. But if you’re enlisted you simply get discharged? Is that what you’re saying? ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/16 "2016-03-21T15:12:37Z")
> [@core](#): > > This is a different matter from peeing hot once or smoking up on leave. Aren’t we forgetting that he had the pot on his person on the base? A civilian gets caught with pot on the base (federal crime) and he will be in deep trouble. But if you’re enlisted you simply get discharged? Is that what you’re saying? Nobody’s saying it’s “simply a discharge.” An article 15 will usually entail loss of rank and/or pay. Even a general discharge can be pretty bad for future federal/state employment prospects. I can’t imagine a civilian getting jail time for a first-offense possession charge. It’s a misdemeanor, I’d expect a hefty fine and that’s about it. If you consider that “deep trouble,” then our airmen here is already looking at “deep trouble” even without the prospect of an expensive court martial. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/17 "2016-03-21T15:22:57Z")
> [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](#): > > He deserves a dishonorable discharge, and the headaches that it will cause him in later life perhaps will teach him that a lack of character isn’t without costs. How will it teach him a lesson? I mean, what’s the exact lesson you expect him to learn? Because I doubt sentencing him to lifelong unemployment is going to teach him anything. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/18 "2016-03-21T15:25:42Z")
> [@SigMan](#): > > Who cares what happened to that loser? I hope he got discharged dishonorably and carry that badge the rest of his pathetic life. **Moderator Warning** **SigMan** , insults are not permitted outside the BBQ Pit. This is an official warning. Do not do this again. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/19 "2016-03-21T15:27:25Z")
> [@core](#): > > This is a different matter from peeing hot once or smoking up on leave. Aren’t we forgetting that he had the pot on his person on the base? A civilian gets caught with pot on the base (federal crime) and he will be in deep trouble. But if you’re enlisted you simply get discharged? Is that what you’re saying? If that is what military law and precedent prescribes, then yes. If you have information that indicates military law and precedent prescribes more severe prosecution and punishment, I am open to having my ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-caught-smoking-weed-in-the-airforce-on-purpose-what-now/749731/20 "2016-03-21T15:29:52Z")
> [@AbandonedTeddy](#): > > I’ve found my answer thanks tho While this thread would be best suited to IMHO, if the OP already has the advice he needs there would seem to be little point in moving it. I’m closing this. Should the OP want additional advice he may open a new thread in IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator