Posted on Jun 30, 2022
Can my unit call me back in for a failed drug test?
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Before anyone gets on here saying “why you’re using drugs in the military” etc. I know I F’d up. So the story is I came down on orders to report to my new unit July 10th 2022 in Germany, my PCS Leave dates are from June 7th till July 10th. My company did a UA on may the 30th. So this Monday I get a call from my first sgt while I’m on my PCS leave saying that I need to come in time now and I came up hot from the UA and that my leave is now being stopped and my orders are going to be cancelled. I told him I’m in California and that I currently have no money to buy a ticket back. After I told him that he told me I have 72 hours to report back or it’s going to be worse. After ending the phone called I talked to a nco that I’m very close with he told me I F’d up and gave me the whole speech but he told me once I’ve cleared he doesn’t think they have no jurisdiction over me anymore. So basically of right now my 1st sgt , platoon sgt and commander have all called me in a total of 47 times today with all kinds of messages saying how if I’m not back by 1700 today it’s more consequences. Also my 1st sgt sent a message to me saying if I report to my new unit he’s going to call them and have them send me back. I don’t know what to do I look on my erb it’s still showing me reporting and no one has contacted me outside of my old unit, I’ve talked to my sponsor today from the unit I’m going to (friend of my that was in my previous unit and is now at the unit I’m going to) to see if anyone there has said anything and he said nothing has came up and he doesn’t even think their tracking what do I do?
Posted 3 y ago
Responses: 13
You belong to your unit until you sign in to your next unit. Your Commander can revoke your leave at any time. Whatever loophole you're thinking you may be able to escape, you'll only cost yourself even more money and trouble.
The moment you fail to return, your commander can/will report you AWOL. You will show up to your new post in an AWOL status, you'll be required to fund your own way back - or be transported in handcuffs - and you will not be paid for the time you're AWOL.
Your new unit won't be tracking anything that happens to you, and they have no authority over you until you show up. If you make the mistake of showing up, HRC will revoke your orders and will direct the post to un-arrive you. Your Brigade Commander will contact your gaining Brigade Commander, and most likely the Division Commander and the Division JAG, who will support sending you back to your unit, since you will be AWOL and that's not extra work anyone wants. Or, they arrive you in Germany and immediately process your UCMJ and kick you out from Germany immediately, which is even worse
So, you would find this easiest to just report back to your unit now.
The moment you fail to return, your commander can/will report you AWOL. You will show up to your new post in an AWOL status, you'll be required to fund your own way back - or be transported in handcuffs - and you will not be paid for the time you're AWOL.
Your new unit won't be tracking anything that happens to you, and they have no authority over you until you show up. If you make the mistake of showing up, HRC will revoke your orders and will direct the post to un-arrive you. Your Brigade Commander will contact your gaining Brigade Commander, and most likely the Division Commander and the Division JAG, who will support sending you back to your unit, since you will be AWOL and that's not extra work anyone wants. Or, they arrive you in Germany and immediately process your UCMJ and kick you out from Germany immediately, which is even worse
So, you would find this easiest to just report back to your unit now.
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Popping hot for drugs and leaving one unit for the next is not going to "save you" from anything.
So that said...... what you don't want coming is coming. The question is how many other things will they be able to stack onto it.
You're best chance is to just report as you are being ordered and fighting the fight from there. Otherwise you involve Birds and Stars and additional UCMJ violations.
There is a momentum of administrative ass covering from your outgoing chain of command. Your ass is their kindling. Popping hot and getting annotated in the system as such with a documented trail of testing, soldier signatures and independent lab verification is something not even a general can ignore and just let slip by.
There is going to be an audited accountability of what actions were taken against every single soldier that fails a UA.
I can assure you, your 1SG and Commander are not going to end their careers over you. Even if they did, your Battalion Commander wont. Even if he did your Brigade Commander wont.
Following???????????????
So that said...... what you don't want coming is coming. The question is how many other things will they be able to stack onto it.
You're best chance is to just report as you are being ordered and fighting the fight from there. Otherwise you involve Birds and Stars and additional UCMJ violations.
There is a momentum of administrative ass covering from your outgoing chain of command. Your ass is their kindling. Popping hot and getting annotated in the system as such with a documented trail of testing, soldier signatures and independent lab verification is something not even a general can ignore and just let slip by.
There is going to be an audited accountability of what actions were taken against every single soldier that fails a UA.
I can assure you, your 1SG and Commander are not going to end their careers over you. Even if they did, your Battalion Commander wont. Even if he did your Brigade Commander wont.
Following???????????????
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SGM Erik Marquez
SGT (Join to see) - You do know JAG has ZERO command authority right? They advise, recommend, make opinions and arguments, plus occasionally prosecute someone after a commander has ordered it. JAG can not order a commander to do anything..... or do nothing.
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Your leave dates are June 7th to July 10th and you are being recalled because you popped on a urine test? That's completely within your Units playbook to do. Depending on what you popped for you most likely aren't going to Germany or not in the near future at least. You need to return to your parent unit and face whatever is coming. Anything outside of that will be worse for you.
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SGT (Join to see)
Thanks for answer I’m going to go back jag stated I have to but I received good news from them.
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PO3 James Baker
Don't believe this shit. Your new station would have let you know if they were not going to receive you. Your old station has cut their umbical on you when your new orders were cut. Don't even think of going back; they would all have a great laugh at how stupid you were, and especially now as you have more dollars to spend to get back to your new duty station. Just walk away from your last duty station Best of luck
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MSgt Hal Weeden, MBA
PO3 James Baker This is some of the worst advice I have ever seen on RP. I have no idea what career field you are in PO Baker, but you absolutely belong to the losing unit until the you improcess at the gaining unit. At no time until you become a civilian again are you not under the control of a unit. Not for a second. And if you haven't seen orders cancelled without prior notice, you haven't been in the military very long. What they giveth they also taketh away.
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So you received your final out stamp from the post on a Saturday? That seems unlikely, it sounds like your dates are mixed up. Also seems strange for a unit to do a UA on a federal holiday, but not impossible.
More importantly, your leave started 7 June. You can't final out and sit around unaccounted for, for 10 straight days, you belong to someone during that time, and that someone is authorized to UA you until you go on leave.
Maybe some loophole will save you, but it doesn't look like it. I would not expect to continue on to Germany after this is over, either. As SGM Erik Marquez pointed out, JAG advises the Command and has no command authority to pursue or refuse to pursue UCMJ. Your commander can just as easily decide to pursue UCMJ in order to maintain good order and discipline because they feel that you getting away with a loophole will encourage drug use in other Soldiers. Then you'll be faced with the choice of accepting the Article 15 or hiring a lawyer to argue a court martial.
You will be flagged during the investigation. JAG cannot stop this, flags are administrative, not legal, and JAG has no command authority. You can take it to IG and they will refer you to the regulation that states commanders MUST flag for the duration of military and civilian investigations. When you are flagged, your assignment will be deleted. If branch put you on the assignment, you can contact them for a new one. If you reenlisted for the assignment, the only way to get it back is for the Company Commander to write a memo stating the flag was cleared favorably and you never should have been flagged. Otherwise, HRC considers it as you violated DAP Pam 611-21 Table 3-4 Line 5, where it says you MUST remain fully eligible for reenlistment until you arrive at your new duty station
More importantly, your leave started 7 June. You can't final out and sit around unaccounted for, for 10 straight days, you belong to someone during that time, and that someone is authorized to UA you until you go on leave.
Maybe some loophole will save you, but it doesn't look like it. I would not expect to continue on to Germany after this is over, either. As SGM Erik Marquez pointed out, JAG advises the Command and has no command authority to pursue or refuse to pursue UCMJ. Your commander can just as easily decide to pursue UCMJ in order to maintain good order and discipline because they feel that you getting away with a loophole will encourage drug use in other Soldiers. Then you'll be faced with the choice of accepting the Article 15 or hiring a lawyer to argue a court martial.
You will be flagged during the investigation. JAG cannot stop this, flags are administrative, not legal, and JAG has no command authority. You can take it to IG and they will refer you to the regulation that states commanders MUST flag for the duration of military and civilian investigations. When you are flagged, your assignment will be deleted. If branch put you on the assignment, you can contact them for a new one. If you reenlisted for the assignment, the only way to get it back is for the Company Commander to write a memo stating the flag was cleared favorably and you never should have been flagged. Otherwise, HRC considers it as you violated DAP Pam 611-21 Table 3-4 Line 5, where it says you MUST remain fully eligible for reenlistment until you arrive at your new duty station
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SFC (Join to see)
SGM Jeff Mccloud in almost every experience I've had with JAG, they advised someone incorrectly about an admin matter, treating it like it's a legal matter. I'm sure they know UCMJ and trial law inside and out, but they really should admit they don't know when Soldiers come to them about bars and QMP
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SGM Jeff Mccloud
SFC (Join to see) - I still use that line, used it today.
My scout plt in Panama used to watch that movie every Saturday. For a year.
My scout plt in Panama used to watch that movie every Saturday. For a year.
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SGM Jeff Mccloud
SGT (Join to see) - Yes, folks get chaptered every year, despite how recruiting and retention are going, or how you misbelieve they are going.
The Army may lower the standards for recruiting, they don't lower them for serving.
If you manage to skate by without a chapter, this is event is still a Character Did Not Meet Standard on an NCOER, (required for incidents like this) which would also prompt you for QMP.
And a reduction would also shorten up your RCP by a few years.
Just sayin, there are a lot of reasons to start working on Plan B now, so you're ready for it when it happens.
The Army may lower the standards for recruiting, they don't lower them for serving.
If you manage to skate by without a chapter, this is event is still a Character Did Not Meet Standard on an NCOER, (required for incidents like this) which would also prompt you for QMP.
And a reduction would also shorten up your RCP by a few years.
Just sayin, there are a lot of reasons to start working on Plan B now, so you're ready for it when it happens.
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Had a similar incident happen in the 90's at Lewis. We just forwarded the drug info to the Soldiers gaining unit (Korea) and followed up with the gaining command. Cancelling orders while someone was en-route didn't seem wise, a whole bunch of second and third order effects. We would have had issues with SATO, the troops advanced travel pay and the Soldiers household goods having already been shipped.
Our decision was based on it not mattering who handled the issue as long as it was handled.
That was the 90's though and we didn't have the luxury of reaching out and making 47 threatening texts, sending 20 e-mails and 3 messages attached to carrier pigeons.
Contact JAG and ask the experts. Commanders have many options when dealing with these issues.
Our decision was based on it not mattering who handled the issue as long as it was handled.
That was the 90's though and we didn't have the luxury of reaching out and making 47 threatening texts, sending 20 e-mails and 3 messages attached to carrier pigeons.
Contact JAG and ask the experts. Commanders have many options when dealing with these issues.
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SGT (Join to see)
Thank you for the answer I took the advice and talked to jag they told me some good news.
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Yes, your unit absolutely can recall you. There's no reason why your next unit would know anything about this until they get notified that your orders have been cancelled -- which will take a little while to be processed, but those orders WILL be cancelled well before your reporting date. Your new unit won't know or care why your orders were cancelled.
If you really are away from your unit and really don't have the money to return, you can turn yourself in at the nearest military installation and they will arrange to have you returned to your unit, just like any other AWOL soldier pending disposition of the charges against you.
If you really are away from your unit and really don't have the money to return, you can turn yourself in at the nearest military installation and they will arrange to have you returned to your unit, just like any other AWOL soldier pending disposition of the charges against you.
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After enrolling yourself make sure you sorround yourself with the right people so this does not tempt you again. Good luck
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