What is the craziest loophole you've seen in the Military?

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 06:43:43 -0400

I was discussing with my JAG today that when a Soldier is confined in military or civilian jail it is considered Lost Time, the Soldier gets flagged and those days get added to their ETS. But if they take leave and go to jail to serve a short sentence, there is no negative impact.

What are some of the crazier loopholes you've seen?

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Jul 15 at 2021 8:43 AM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 08:43:12 -0400

I learned that if you want to have all the benefits of service in the military, but don't want to actually serve, there's actually a pretty shady way to do it.
You can actually go talk to an Air Force recruiter, sign up with them, and for some reason you get credit for joining the military without serving a single day in an actual branch...

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 15 at 2021 9:02 AM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 09:02:48 -0400

Maybe not the craziest, just the only one I've seen in person:
To qualify for OCS or SF, one needs a 110 GT score.
ROTC does not require any minimum ASVAB line scores, and if a prior service or SMP with a GT of 91 maintains the minimum GPA, they can commission through ROTC, and even go to SFAS and SFQC, and become an 18A with a GT score of 91.

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Jul 15 at 2021 9:43 AM

LTC Jason Mackay — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 09:43:12 -0400

Sanctuary program. Ended up with a Reserve Component “25N” that was never MOSQ as a 25N on a deployment. Don’t think he was a day over 100 years old, doing 18 months AD so he could retire. https://www.hrc.army.mil/content/Enlisted%20Sanctuary%20Program

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Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 15 at 2021 10:34 AM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 10:34:07 -0400

I have never heard that. We have used pre-confinement jail for soldiers before. Also we have given soldiers indefinitely before they are discharged. I didn't realize leave before a soldier is kicked out his free technically pending the outcome of the trial.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Jul 15 at 2021 10:44 AM

CAPT Kevin B. — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 10:44:58 -0400

A special loophole was created during the 'Nam era. The result was McNamara's Morons. Got a lot of people killed.

Response by SSgt Christophe Murphy made Jul 15 at 2021 12:13 PM

SSgt Christophe Murphy — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 12:13:26 -0400

While I was with 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing 2009-2012 I noticed how weird folks were treated when it came to the body composition program and height/weight standards in general. Every 6 months we would weigh and anyone over would get taped. Anyone who taped over would get 30 days to come back and try again. If they taped out on the re-do they were clear. The issue is that I was there almost 4 years and most of the same folks were tagged every time. No assistance was offered to try and be proactive. If they taped out on the re-do they were off the hook for another 5 months when we did this all over again. And they would get another 30 days to come back and over and over. They weren't offered assistance to help them out because they didn't want to "harass" them. But then they treated them like garbage if they eventually failed the re-do which was inevitable for many of them because nothing was being done to improve their situation due to how certain people interpreted the system.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 15 at 2021 1:32 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 13:32:36 -0400

The UCMJ process.

In the span of a month I had two soldiers get into vehicle accidents and both while on orders.
1) Hit in run (backed into) with a HUMVEE on a parked civilian vehicle. Someone saw it happen, can called the post MP's. This happened on post out during AT. The Provost Marshall dumped the entire UCMJ process on me, and washed their hands of it. So if they weren't willing to go after this SPC that criminally did a hit and run that might have got him handcuffed by civilian police if this happened off post then I'm not going to bend over backwards either. So what I did was reduce him in rank (from E4 to E3) and revoke his military drivers licenses. He had to start the whole process over again from scratch.

2) A month later one of my soldiers side swiped a civilian car (Prius) with a PLS (Pallet Loading System) while on the freeway in the Southern California area. Highway Patrol got involved. It boiled down to "shit happens". And I partially blame the aggressive So-Cal drivers thinking they can drive anyway they want around big rigs. However, Brigade was all up in my business about this incident and constantly bugging my full time staff for the Highway Patrol report. We'll get it when we get it folks. We are talking about the CHP here, so you just need to chill like everyone chills for you asking for action on an administrative function. I did not reduce the solider in rank, and I simply made him take the online driver safety course again. I have to keep the corrective action in line with what I just threw at the other guy for a criminal hit and run.

Anyway, my point is because of the semantics of Reserve soldier on temporary orders across the country the solider got off scott free in the grander scheme of things. Active Duty didn't want to deal with it, and dumped the whole thing on my shoulders. Had that soldier did the same thing off post, and was caught by a civilian cop he would have been totally screwed.

Then, my soldier that got into a "shit happens" scenario and Brigade was flipping out. I bet they didn't even find out my other soldier did a criminal hit and run while on orders while on post.

Semantics..................

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 15 at 2021 1:51 PM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 13:51:17 -0400

Not really crazy but vaping in a vehicle. The reg specifically covered tobacco use, not smoking, tobacco use. So the units 1SG was pissed, and their commander came up with a command policy forbidding vaping all together at that AO but it wasn't against the rules at the time so he got off with a don't do it going forward.

Funny thing is none of the other units in the area cared about vaping so long as they did it in the authorized areas. Some Soldiers and even some Marines made it a point to vape near that unit when possible. It even had some NCO's running, "Hey, you can't do that, who's your SL/PSG?!". Didn't go well for some NCO's when more senior NCO's from other units were nearby and saw their boots getting chewed out for something that wasn't an infraction in their unit.

I believe the words "Stay in your *excessive expletives* lane" was used along with some other choice verbiage. The things you see sipping your morning coffee.

Response by SFC Casey O'Mally made Jul 15 at 2021 3:41 PM

SFC Casey O'Mally — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 15:41:28 -0400

First, let me say that pretty much every aspect of this "loophole" is false. But...

As a young infantryman I was taught that the .50 Cal cannot be used against troops, only equipment. LOOPHOLE (also taught to me): kevlars, body armor, and even canteens are all equipment.

Response by Cpl Vic Burk made Jul 15 at 2021 6:39 PM

Cpl Vic Burk — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 18:39:30 -0400

SFC Private RallyPoint Member First time I ever heard that one! My brother had to do seven and a half weekends in jail for possession of marijuana. Since it was the weekend it didn't count as bad time but when he had duty he had to pay someone else to stand it for him, and that costs him dearly because they knew they had him over the barrel. He deserved it in my opinion.

Response by CPL Douglas Chrysler made Jul 15 at 2021 8:05 PM

CPL Douglas Chrysler — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 20:05:38 -0400

I guess they kept us pretty busy; no one I knew ever thought about doing illegal stuff.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 16 at 2021 12:00 AM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 00:00:20 -0400

You can Reclass and still select your duty station without HRC forcing you somewhere. All you need to do is go to BH and do Outpatient Program and IOP. Automatic deletion of orders & can’t deploy for 6 months at a minimum, from mental health profile.

The more you know.

Response by SGT Robert Wager made Jul 16 at 2021 6:57 AM

SGT Robert Wager — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 06:57:23 -0400

What happens in Hohenfels stays in Hohenfels