Can my son fight being chaptered out after drug use and DUI?

The Army is not, and should not be, a rehab facility. Too many lives depend upon everyone being able to do their jobs at 100% capability, 24/7. I know NCO's who were chaptered out due to drug or alcohol use. In the war zone, I was the cause on one of them being released. I have no regrets. Your son was given a second chance, something few soldiers get, and he chose to squander it. I hope he learns from it and becomes a pillar of society in a new career that he may be better suited for.

Nope. E-4 and below it is the commanders discretion, but E-5 and above automatic discharge. His CO may be pressured by the BN or higher to release your son, either way, he can fight it but he will lose. What he did amounts to failure to comply with a DIRECT order. And they have him dead to rights. At this point the best thing he can hope for is a non punitive discharge. They will offer him a other than honorable discharge, he can request an admin board, and pitch his case to them for a general or even an honorable discharge, the bad news is unless he comes off Active Duty with an ACTUAL Honorable he will lose his GI bill benefits, period.

Furthermore, even if they let him stay in, 99% of the time he will be given a "bar to reenlistment" which is an R (restricted) code for reenlistment, and not allowed to reenlist. I think there are two forms of this, i know that one of them is an RE-4 and that means no reenlistment ever; however, that too can be overcome by another branch. Although generally speaking since the air force, coast guard, and marine corps are so small they won't mess with any R code. You MIGHT be able to get the Navy to wave that.

The good news is after 6 months his discharge can be upgraded to honorable, if he has no other issues with civilian authority and he will have access to all of his VA benefits EXCEPT the GI bill; i can not emphasize this enough YOU MUST HAVE AN HONORABLE DISCHARGE FROM AD, not an upgrade, upgrades don't count, for the GI Bill.

So, just in the interest of full disclosure as you are going to have people tell you different shit than i did, I was Discharged from the Navy with an Honorable discharge, but i had an RE-4 discharge code. after a year of being out of the Navy, i decided i wanted to go back on AD, so i went to the army, they waved my RE-4 code, and allowed me to enlist in the army reserve, i could not go on AD because i had 4 years of AD and i was an E-3 ( i had gotten busted down, that is part of why i had the RE-4 code). However, once you are in the reserves, you can petition to go on AD, and as such that is a back door into AD time.

I had a soldier who was in my Humvee who had gotten a bar to reenlistment from the army while on Ad at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii; he was able to go into the national guard, which is another back door to ad. I had heard of this for other soldiers too.

My suggestion is simple, have your son fight for the best non punitive discharge he can; if he can avoid a court martial that is the best thing. Have him come home and go to a j.c., for a year or so, keep his nose clean, get his discharge upgraded, and then join the reserves or national guard, serve a year or two there, while still attending school, and then petition for AD again.

What is the worst thing that can happen to him? he gets two or three years of a college education, and the Army or Navy says no? Not really a bad deal.

College is easier to pay for than most people think. Just avoid trade schools like ITT, Concord, and Devry they are scams always.

With the first offense, I honestly doubt the punishment would have been minor but there are avenues depending on what drug the member used. However, many folks have been discharged for illegal drug use or drinking and driving alone. With these combined offenses, and in such close proximity of one another, he has provided enough justification that he is not fit for military service. You must remember that military members may be in situations where they have to make very important decisions. These decisions can have great impact on the lives of themselves, other soldiers, or our allies. If a member cannot make decisions that follow the laws of their home station, it is hard to trust them to make sound decisions down range. It may be unfortunate, but your son should look at this as an opportunity to start over outside the service.

Short answer...yes he can fight it. Problem is the zero tolerance environment for drug and alcohol related charges that leads to UCMJ and Chapter procedures.

HE should’ve been enrolled in ASAP after the first drug offense if it was a minor one but the moment he became a repeat offender he made his case much harder.

They never should’ve offered to transfer him to another unit nor suggest that was a possibility.

Drugs and DUI's are death sentences in the military he did both.....he had been doing really well? Or just hadn't been caught?. Soldiers are told repeatedly NOT to drink and drive it's said over and over.....and drugs can't be tolerated ever......who wants a guy on drugs on guard duty or in combat....Sorry there Dad he needs to go.....

It’s an all-volunteer force... he wasn’t drafted. One would hope military service wasn’t offered as an alternative to jail...

Follow the rules or pack your trash. We can afford to be picky.

In a word, no.

Your asking this question is indicative of why your son can not follow rules. Quit protecting him, you did it his whole life so now he assumes there will be someone there to clean up his messes.

In this case, there isn't...

Dad as a recently retired Senior NCO I will tell you this I don't know you or your son but it seems like you are part of the problem! He is a man, He made the choice to join the Army just like he made the choice to do drugs and to drink and drive. When he gets chaptered and when he comes home make him make his own choice to fix himself but be there for him no matter what happens.

Your son maybe a good kid, but unfortunately he's providing he is not a good soldier. The first mistake (illegal drug use) was his opportunity to make a change. His second mistake drinking and driving was one to many. This indicates a pattern of bad judgment the military has a low tolerance for bad judgment.