November 8, 2007 -- Army faces massive AWOLs
publication date: Nov 8, 2007
WMR's Pentagon sources report that the Army is facing so many absent without leave (AWOL) cases, Army Judge Advocate General (JAG) lawyers are being forced to revise standing regulations on dealing with AWOL personnel.
The numbers of Army personnel refusing Iraq duty are staggering and unprecedented in modern times. Pentagon sources put the numbers at 5000 enlisted personnel and 600 officers. The AWOL personnel are mostly in National Guard and Army Reserve units but also include some active Army personnel.
JAG personnel and other senior Army officials are reluctant to discuss the AWOL numbers and fear that a raft of courts-martial will focus the public eye on the absentee problems in the Army. Hence, the procedures for dealing with AWOLs within the Army are being drastically altered.
Sources in Iraq have previously informed WMR that some U.S. military personnel in Iraq have gone AWOL by simply leaving the country through a virtual "underground railroad" established through countries bordering Iraq, including Turkey, Jordan, Iran, and Syria, into Europe.
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