I am writing about a character who is a Walter Mitty type who joins the army (in the late '80s or '90s) and almost immediately is thrown out because he can’t hack it. Is or was it possible to do without a dishonorable discharge? What problems might someone have had that would cause them to be cut loose? Similarly, this character will be rejected from the FBI, CIA, etc. Would his military experience be enough to cut him loose?
Thanks for your help,
Rob
Pick one - Hernia, ulcers, loss of motion of limb, heart disease…it’s a pretty long list.
I’m not sure what kind of discharge this results in, but people can be cut loose from the military before their term is up for ‘failure to adjust to military life’ or something like that. I know at least one person who was booted from the Army for that reason.
When there was a recruiter talking to us the question came up, he said you could ask for a discharge (or be given one) based on “failure to adapt.” From what I understood its not dishonerable, but you (obviously) lose any benefits and financial aid and such the military gave you.
The character in question is a loser who gets kicked out a few days into basic training. I was trying to avoid a medical discharge. Weren’t things a little different before 9/11? I was under the impression that they wanted you to want to be there and fuck-ups could get a general discharge without too much trouble.
Thanks again,
Rob
I think there’s an “incompatible with military service” type discharge you can get very early on in your enlistment.
There was a guy in my basic training unit who had already tried to go through Navy & Marines basic training and failed both times. He failed Army basic too. We called him “puke” because he’d bend over and start pretending he was puking every time things got a little hard.
He basically failed the military, didn’t get dishonorably discharged from it.
There are several levels of discharge between “honorable” and “dishonorable”, with a variety of reasons for each level. Essentially getting booted out for disciplinary reasons won’t even necessarily be “dishonorable”. For instance, Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead got bounced with a “general” discharge after a bunch of AWOLs. Some sources claim he was lucky he didn’t draw an “other than honorable”.
FWIW, the wiki article on US military discharges:
Repeatedly fail Physical Training Test or any other of the various tests will get you kicked out. Hell even saying you want to go home will get you kicked out. My understanding when I was in the Army, years ago, is that you are not discharged if you get kicked out prior to completing basic training you are simply terminated as a failure to train.
Isnt there alot to deal with after that. Dont they have to prove you didnt fail on purpose?
Similarly, if someone exhibits sleepwalking in bootcamp, ISTR that would be an automatic medical discharge from the Navy (and Coasties, too), at least. For obvious reasons.
You could always have him get caught blowing his bunkmate.
Why would *they * have to prove anything? You fail you’re out. Despite the current situation we still have an all volunteer military. I recall guys in basic deciding the Army was not for them they went home. After Basic it was a different story. If you quit or wanted out of Ranger School you still had to serve out your enlistment but the guys that quit in Basic just went home.
You might consider Entry-Level Separation as the reason. Oh, and you could also watch Baby Blue Marine.
A couple of real life stories if I may. Fort Gordon, Georgia, April 2000: A Soldier undergoing his initial training (he was training for his job in the field of communications) took off for 30 days. When I say took off, I mean to say he just did not attend training. He did not report for PT, did not report for school, and did not report for duty. He did eat at the dining facility, shop at the Exchange, and ballsy as this may seem, most of the time slept in his bunk until the time to wake up and climb out the window. Command didn’t really care. When 30 days elapsed, he turned himself into his commander and was given an entry level separation.
Your second option is to give the character a personality disorder. Try Borderline Personality Disorder. Or for fun you could do Narcissistic Personality disorder. I have seen people with years of service be medically discharged for a personality disorder.
SSG Schwartz
The character in question is a security guard (unarmed) and I want him to have been in some trouble and to have gotten kicked out of the army in basic, but nothing that would keep him from getting a security job. Is entry-level separation something that would come up in a criminal background check?
Thanks,
Rob
When I was in USN bootcamp-- mid 70’s, yes, I know I’m dating myself-- declaring yourself a homosexual would automatically get you processed for discharge. Never learning to swim, another good one. I suppose you could also pretend you couldn’t hack it (really, at the time, all they COULD do was yell at you), or (pretend to) be too stupid. USN was selective about recruits at the time.
My “TF”-grade eyesight did not get me booted, thankfully. (After miserably failing to read every chart sans glasses, the exasperated optometrist held up a cople of fingers and asked me how many I saw. “TF”-- two fingers-- was duly noted. I was unable to qualify for sub duty, but could be assigned to “targets”).
In 1990, I saw someone declare himself to be a homosexual at quarters one day, trying to get booted - the LCPO invited him to suck his cock, and when the guy turned him down, with horror, the LCPO told him to get back into ranks, and stop making up stupid shit.
So, getting out for homosexuality, even before Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell wasn’t always something that was automatic.
That may not be the kind of discharge he’s looking for. I suppose he’d be getting off on a nocturnal discharge.