Posted on Aug 22, 2020
SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
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I'm working on a concept for a novel, and I think the main character may try to do this. How long could you get away with it? What would happen if you got caught before or after commissioning? Would service in the FFL be something you could hide at all?
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CPT Staff Officer
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The problem is you never know who the background investigator is going to check with. So, at best it would have to be a period of time that is outside of the investigation time line, and that just happens to never come up in all the folks he interviews. But since it is with a clearance with the Army and not one of the upper tier Agencies this is actually entirely possible.
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SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
>1 y
Would it work to say you were backpacking across Europe during that time? And what if he wanted to go to SF?
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SGM G3 Sergeant Major
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SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA - Backpacking across Europe for five years straight?
While technically partially true, (most "backpacking" after boot would be in Africa though), it would be tough to conceal from anyone who might get interviewed in your background investigation that you were in the FFL.
We have had prior FFL in SF.
They didn't lie about it on their SF 86.
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SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
>1 y
SGM (Join to see) - the character would get kicked out of the FFL within a year. Do you think he could hide that?
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SGM G3 Sergeant Major
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SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA - The part that would be hard to hide on a background is leaving the US for France with nobody really knowing why, then on the background investigation for that year of "backpacking" who on the list of names is going to corroborate that it was all backpacking? if nobody really knew anything else, might get away with it.
If the reason for getting kicked out wasn't also a crime reported to INTERPOL.

But really, the first contract is five years. In the context of the story background, if this guy told anyone before leaving the US that he was just going to backpack Europe, what was his story going to be after the first year if he didn't get kicked out? Someone among the family or friends was likely to know what was really going on.
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SGM Bill Frazer
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NO, it shows on background checks pretty quick. I had 2 former FFL's during my career. Good people- tho they served their 8 yr hitch and came home. Caught after- discharge possible UCMJ for fraudulent enlistment.
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SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
>1 y
The FFL guys I knew were high quality. How does it show on a background check when you serve under a different name?
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SGM Bill Frazer
SGM Bill Frazer
>1 y
Alias come up, DIA entries can come up
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SGT Christopher Hayden
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I am assuming that the background check would find this out, even if you lied on the application. Since there would be a period of time in which you "didn't exist" and you'd have to explain why. I could be wrong, however, as I've obviously never attempted to get into OCS.
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SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
>1 y
I figured he could say he was just backpacking across Europe. I'm not sure if that would work.
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