Posted on Jul 15, 2021
SFC Retention Operations Nco
8.94K
77
35
15
15
0
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?
Posted in these groups: Ar Army Regulations
Avatar feed
Responses: 13
SFC Michael Hasbun
17
17
0
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...
(17)
Comment
(0)
SSG Robert Perrotto
SSG Robert Perrotto
>1 y
SHOT FIRED!!
(1)
Reply
(0)
1SG First Sergeant
(1)
Reply
(0)
MSgt Jeff Bailey
MSgt Jeff Bailey
>1 y
It all counts towards 20...!
(0)
Reply
(0)
SFC Michael Hasbun
SFC Michael Hasbun
>1 y
A1C Doug Towsley - It's true! Believe it or not, as an Airman, you received credit for military service! Isn't that trippy?!
(0)
Reply
(0)
Avatar small
SGM Jeff Mccloud
9
9
0
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.
(9)
Comment
(0)
CPT Staff Officer
CPT (Join to see)
>1 y
As a 1LT company commander, apparently, I was the waiver authority for an OCS application in the USAR to accept a 105 GT score. I don't know if the applicant got selected, a board would have looked at the totality of it, but he was able to submit with my waiver.
(1)
Reply
(0)
Avatar small
Cpl Vic Burk
6
6
0
SFC (Join to see) 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.
(6)
Comment
(0)
Avatar small
Avatar feed
What is the craziest loophole you've seen in the Military?
LTC Jason Mackay
5
5
0
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
(5)
Comment
(0)
SFC Retention Operations Nco
SFC (Join to see)
>1 y
A day over 100 lol

On my first deployment when I was with the Guard we had a MSG who I am pretty sure came out of retirement. About 50% of the day he spent sitting in an office chair, head leaned back, snoring all day long lol
(0)
Reply
(0)
Avatar small
CPT Staff Officer
4
4
0
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..................
(4)
Comment
(0)
SPC Member
SPC (Join to see)
>1 y
Article 15 and rediction and a retrain is not a bad way to go for those incidents, it's not like the Soldier was DUI or stealing a vehicle. Way worse things going on, at least in my opinion.
(1)
Reply
(0)
SSgt Tom Canning
SSgt Tom Canning
>1 y
No big loss in Southern Cal. I mean it was only a Prius anyway!
(0)
Reply
(0)
Avatar small
SSgt Christophe Murphy
4
4
0
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.
(4)
Comment
(0)
Cpl Vic Burk
Cpl Vic Burk
>1 y
SSgt Christophe Murphy The wing had a reputation for being "soft." How much is true, you could answer that better that I.
(0)
Reply
(0)
SSgt Christophe Murphy
SSgt Christophe Murphy
>1 y
Cpl Vic Burk - I wouldn't say soft but they are different Marines with a different mission. The work tempo in the Wing can be pretty intense and burns folks out
(0)
Reply
(0)
GySgt Kenneth Pepper
GySgt Kenneth Pepper
>1 y
SSgt Christophe Murphy - I was in and out of 3MAW several times over my career and I can definitely say "Amen". Readiness was counted by aircraft and assets ready for mission, not Marines ready for combat. Squadron and Group Commanders had very little interest anything else. "Green side training" came in second every time. I saw Marines who were overweight and unhealthy retained or simply left alone because they were subject matter experts in their field.
If you did get assigned to remedial PT is was considered punishment, not for improvement. No real efforts to help the Marine who was deficient. It was more to embarrass them into getting in good enough shape to make standard so they can get back to work.
(0)
Reply
(0)
Avatar small
CAPT Kevin B.
3
3
0
A special loophole was created during the 'Nam era. The result was McNamara's Morons. Got a lot of people killed.
(3)
Comment
(0)
CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025
CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025
>1 y
A USAF Colonel, retired said he was a McNamera PHD. Jack also spoke of reading the manual on an aircraft, getting ‘checked out on it’, and borrowing the airplane to do his doctoral research elsewhere on weekends.
(0)
Reply
(0)
CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025
CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025
>1 y
A USAF Colonel, retired, said he was a McNamera PHD. Jack also spoke of reading the manual on an aircraft, getting ‘checked out on it’, and borrowing the airplane to do his doctoral research elsewhere on weekends. CAPT Kevin B.
(0)
Reply
(0)
Avatar small
SFC Casey O'Mally
2
2
0
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.
(2)
Comment
(0)
SFC Retention Operations Nco
SFC (Join to see)
>1 y
I remember one of my RI's telling me that people were told that because during Vietnam the enemy would pop up and draw fire from the 50 then drop back into the bush at a distance and keep doing that until the 50 ran out of ammo then rush the gun
(0)
Reply
(0)
Avatar small
CPL Douglas Chrysler
1
1
0
I guess they kept us pretty busy; no one I knew ever thought about doing illegal stuff.
(1)
Comment
(0)
Avatar small
SPC Member
1
1
0
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.
(1)
Comment
(0)
Avatar small

Join nearly 2 million former and current members of the US military, just like you.

close