AWOL numbers
Scribbled down on July 13th, 2006 by she
Posted in Those Who Volunteered
You know, I’m not going to pretend I know a lot about the military – despite being associated with it through my husband for more than 10 years, but I do know enough to know that being charged with AWOL can be a result of something as simple as sleeping in and not showing up for work on time.
To read the latest headling in the edmontonsun.com – Canada – AWOL Canucks have doubled you’d think that we have a large number of Candian troops permanently deserting the military or taking off to avoid duties. Despite what some people might believe, it’s not that difficult to leave the military should you decide that it’s not a career option you want to pursue. It’s also not that difficult to “dag red” and become ineligable for deployment overseas. Granted, it’ll have massive ramifications on your career, but if you’re not interested in staying with the Canadian Forces, then that won’t be an issue for you.
I’d be really interested in reviewing the AWOL numbers and the reasons for their charges. I wonder just how many of the “sharp rise in charges” are a direct result of things like sleeping in, being late for work, leaving work early… all things that could result in AWOL charges should they be pursued. Despite the article’s attempt to make it seem as if AWOL is the same a Desertion, they are in fact massively different charges.
Granted, anyone doing a few minutes of research before publishing a story such as this might have been able to figure that out on their own. I’m becoming more disillusioned at the state of our media reporting of late. To bring Anthony Boneca’s name into the article in the end is not only in bad taste but also blatently misleading. The comments referred to were received second hand and never came from Boneca directly as is implied by the article. While the comments are a quote from representative of the Polaris Institute (Steve Staples) this would have been a great time for the editor or writer to include a short disclaimer outlining the fact that Mr. Staples comments had been directly disputed by the members of the Boneca family. Instead, they chose to leave the impression that his statements were without reproach.
Then again, I should know better than to expect fair and balanced reporting. Sensationalism sells far more newspapers.
Technorati Tags: military, awol, media reporting, polaris institute
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 14th, 2006 at 4:05 am
The charge of AWOL is for being absent from work without authorization for any length of time from 1 min to 29 days the most common occurance is sleeping thru your alarm and being late for work. Desertion is anytime a member is absent for 30 days or more and has shown no intention of returning to duty. There is a drastic difference between the two offences and subsequent punishments a first offence of AWOL ie. sleeping in can be anything from a written warning to about a hundred dollar fine depending on the circumstances surrounding the offence, desertion is usually delt with a court martial, resulting in prison time and a dishonourable discharge.
As there are currently many thousands of young recruits (18-20years old) awaiting training on various bases, it is quite expected that there will be an increase in minor offences, as these students have not started their training. It would be the same if you took any post secondary school and canceled all classes and gave every student a full time pay check, what kind of problems do you think the dean would have to deal with?
July 18th, 2006 at 11:52 pm
What an excellent post. That article infuriated me b/c it is one of the clear misuse of information and assumption generating trash that unfortunately happens to often in the media; which subsequently leaves the good journalism in the dust oft times b/c the truth is simply not quite dramatic or sexy enough.
Rant done and just wanted to say what a great blog you have. 😉
September 20th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
[…] The Amazing Wonderdog dissects the study published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives titled Canada’s Fallen: Understanding Canadian Military Deaths in Afghanistan. Actually, I can’t honestly call this a study and look my ethics professor in the face ever again. It’s a prime example of making statistics match a pre-set theory and discarding or refusing to acknowledge any dissenting data. I should not be surprised though. Both of the authors are affiliated with the Polaris Institute. One of the authors is the very same Steve Staples that I’ve ranted about before. Realizing this, it’s hard to be surprised by the content and quality (or, imnsho, lack there-of) of the report. After all, if Mr. Staples can’t get something as simple as AWOL right, then it’s hard to give creedence to anything else he has to write relating to the Canadian Forces. […]