Military Desserters in Japan BEWARE!

New policy keeps heat on deserters in Japan

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The U.S. military in Japan has been more aggressive in charging and tracking deserters since a fugitive sailor stabbed a taxi driver to death last year, military legal staff and investigators said.
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Commands have pushed to issue desertion charges earlier — within hours or days compared to the month of absence that can trigger a desertion charge under military law. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which in the past worked such cases by request only, has launched investigations of all U.S. Navy desertions on the mainland.

“These days, when somebody goes missing for any significant period of time in Japan, they are very quickly declared a deserter,” said Lt. Jonathan Flynn, the staff judge advocate general for Yokosuka Naval Base. “Within a couple of days at the most — very often it is within hours — we turn around the various [desertion charge] forms.”

You military guys better show up for work. The article goes on to say that once a person is labeled a 'deserters' they will look for this person 24/7. I wonder how much manpower and tax dollars it takes to bring somebody to 'justice' when they just don't want to be in the military any more. I guess they could have always done something to get thrown out. At least they don't just shoot them on site, but if you are in the military and you don't show up for work for a while, you're going to be a deserter and they will find you and they will put you in jail for a long time.

If you don't like it in there, you should probably just do some stupid thing to get thrown out.

You don't go to just any country to desert, and if you are in japan trying to desert, that is just stupid. It is better to desert somewhere like in Europe. There are also other countries that don't make contracts with america that are good to desert too.

I probably shouldn't be mentioning this as a military member. The whole basis of it is basically, if you run, HAVE A PLAN AND A BRAIN!

reply to post by furzball


I guess what I don't understand is why run? Why not just get discharged? Can you shed any light on that for us?

I had a buddy that went UA during RIMPAC 2000 in Australia , He met some chick in Brisbane during leave and they hit it off. He told me that he was in love and was never going back to the states , I called BS....I was wrong...lol Turns out her father owned a couple of hotels & resorts on the Gold Coast so he basically stepped in S***. I usually talk to him around the Marine Corps Birthday in November. The plus is that my next trip down under I don't have to pay for lodging.

reply to post by KSPigpen


Monitarily speaking, as soon as you sign the dotted line, you owe the military whatever is left over when you quit. For example, my job has a sign up bonus of $10000. If I quit, I would have to pay back that $10000. So...quit, get looked upon by society as a quitter and lose the cash. Or run away to disappear with the money, only way of coming back to the US is with very good fake ID. I'd think keeping the money would be the ticket. Again you have to have a plan. Otherwise you'll get caught and thrown in jail. There are a ton of ebooks on the subject of disappearing.

reply to post by KSPigpen


Actually the punishment for desertion is not that harsh anymore.
For all branches, except the USAF, you get about two months in the brig no matter if you left for 2 months or two years. They add another month if you come up dirty on the 'P' test. Of course you get the big chicken dinner (bad conduct discharge).
The USAF gives longer sentences for some reason.

If you run away, you will be charge with desertion and sent to military prison (which is no cake walk). If you try to get discharged, you will most likely do something that will give you a dishonorable discharge and that will not look good on your resume.

Just serve your time and don't ask for an extension, I say. You get a lot better benefits from manning up and serving your 2-6 years in the military.

And why would you want to desert in Japan? It's not like you are at risk 24/7 of being shot in the back. I mean, it a possibility everywhere, but it is not like in the Middle East today.

If you don't want to be int he military, don't. You can become a cashier at your local McDonalds and they will pay you just the same.

You have a better chance at getting shot in McDonalds than in Japan.

Originally posted by Bushido Kanji
If you run away, you will be charge with desertion and sent to military prison (which is no cake walk).

I would disagree, the joint military brig in San Diego is not harsh at all, the worst thing is the boredom cause you get locked in your cells alone allot. Work is just a regular 8 hr day, in the kitchens etc. There's no overcrowding like civi prisons so no sharing cells. The food is just like regular military food, not like the swill you get in civi prisons.

People seem to assume military prison would be hard but it's not. It used to be a few years ago, my brother worked the brig for awhile in the 70's when it was rough, but these days they can't do anything to you. They don't even yell at you. They have civi counselors to take care of your needs.

And the best thing you get paid your regular rate of pay while you are in the brig. You don't get discharged until you're released, which can be over a month after you get out of the brig (you go to temporary hold unit until your discharge is official), and then you go pick up your check at dispersing.