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Re: Parents of fallen soldier: Our son died looking for Bergdahl and the military lie
Heya Apache....I found this.....even has Salt and Pepper mentioned, plus about other deserters.
Boring Stuff: How the military services account for people
To understand what we encountered with our deserter analysis project, you first need to understand how the military services account for people. Because I am a retired Army guy, my terminology will be that of the Army. The other services operate the same way, but some use different terms. Every military member must be accounted for by being either present for duty; sick and not on duty; temporarily separated from his/her unit for training or some other special requirement; enroute to another unit; on leave or pass; missing in action; prisoner of war; prisoner of the US military; incarcerated in a civilian prison; or absent without leave (AWOL; the Marines call it "UA,' unauthorized absence).
When an individual leaves one unit with orders to report to another unit, there must be a date when accountability shifts from the losing unit to the gaining unit. Consider this common occurrence. An individual is stationed in the States and receives orders reassigning him to Europe. Enroute to Europe, he will take some leave, go to a school in the States for a few weeks, take more leave, then report to his new unit. On whose personnel strength report does this individual appear for the period that he is on leave or in school? What happens if he does not report to the school or to the new unit?
Reassignment orders, for both temporary and permanent reassignment, have a reporting date, the date on which you must be standing tall, duffel bag in hand, shoes shined, hair cut, brass polished, in front of your new first sergeant. If an individual does not report on his reporting date, he is carried on the rolls of the gaining unit as AWOL. After thirty days, he is DFR -- Dropped From the Rolls -- and reported as a deserter. DFR is a manpower accounting practice that does two things. First, it allows the gaining unit, which is now short one person, to request a replacement from personnel channels and, second, it allows legal action to be started against the now deserter.
What We Found
When our analysts completed work with the services, we had a list of -- and this is from my memory -- close to 4,000 individuals who had deserted from units in Vietnam. We were shocked at this number because the official list of missing men carried -- again, this is my memory at work -- either 42 or 44 in the status of deserter. Upon further examination, we found that what we were looking at was a function of the way the military services account for their people.
As we tracked individual cases, we found that practically everyone of the 4,000 or so were men who were in the States (a few were in other assignments such as Germany, Japan, etc.). They received orders to go to Vietnam, complete with a unit of assignment in Vietnam and a reporting date. They never showed up in Vietnam. But, because they were on orders to units in Vietnam, they were picked up on those rolls, carried as AWOL, then, after thirty days, DFR and reported. Because they were reported as DFR by a unit in Vietnam, they showed up as being a deserter from Vietnam.
Our analysts, working with the services, scrubbed and scrubbed and the result was that, after we culled all the cases not in Vietnam, we were down to 40-something individuals who appeared, based on the information available, to have gone over the hill while still in Vietnam.....snip~
Deserters
No.
I'll say this, the United States spends more time and money on locating and returning our service members than any other country be they alive, dead or MIA.
Just last year we recovered two more Marines from Guadalcanal who were listed MIA in 1942 or 43.
We as a nation have always tried to locate our MIA's except right after the Vietnam War.
During the Vietnam War there were numerous attempts by Army Special Forces, Marine Recon, Navy SEALS/UDT and the Air Force to rescue American POW's in North Vietnam. Many of those missions are still classified.
It was after the war beginning in 73 with the anti military movement in America when it seemed that no body gave a **** about our MIA's. It was a time when those still on active duty couldn't go off base wearing the uniform and when Vietnam vets wouldn't acknowledge that they served. That would change starting in 1981 when Ronald Reagan became President.
The first time most Vietnam vets heard their first "Welcome Home" was in 1989/90 with Desert Storm.
Remember with the build up to Desert Storm the usual liberal anti-war protesters were just about to take to the streets and back stab the American soldier again like they did during the Vietnam War ?
But not this time. It was the Vietnam War vet along with their families and other patriots who took to the streets, brought back the old tradition of the yellow ribbon. We weren't going to let these libs do it again.
Note:
There are still 73,547 American soldiers, Marines, sailors and Coast Guardsmen who are still listed as MIA from WW ll.
Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office
Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office
Heya Apache....I found this.....even has Salt and Pepper mentioned, plus about other deserters.
Boring Stuff: How the military services account for people
To understand what we encountered with our deserter analysis project, you first need to understand how the military services account for people. Because I am a retired Army guy, my terminology will be that of the Army. The other services operate the same way, but some use different terms. Every military member must be accounted for by being either present for duty; sick and not on duty; temporarily separated from his/her unit for training or some other special requirement; enroute to another unit; on leave or pass; missing in action; prisoner of war; prisoner of the US military; incarcerated in a civilian prison; or absent without leave (AWOL; the Marines call it "UA,' unauthorized absence).
When an individual leaves one unit with orders to report to another unit, there must be a date when accountability shifts from the losing unit to the gaining unit. Consider this common occurrence. An individual is stationed in the States and receives orders reassigning him to Europe. Enroute to Europe, he will take some leave, go to a school in the States for a few weeks, take more leave, then report to his new unit. On whose personnel strength report does this individual appear for the period that he is on leave or in school? What happens if he does not report to the school or to the new unit?
Reassignment orders, for both temporary and permanent reassignment, have a reporting date, the date on which you must be standing tall, duffel bag in hand, shoes shined, hair cut, brass polished, in front of your new first sergeant. If an individual does not report on his reporting date, he is carried on the rolls of the gaining unit as AWOL. After thirty days, he is DFR -- Dropped From the Rolls -- and reported as a deserter. DFR is a manpower accounting practice that does two things. First, it allows the gaining unit, which is now short one person, to request a replacement from personnel channels and, second, it allows legal action to be started against the now deserter.
What We Found
When our analysts completed work with the services, we had a list of -- and this is from my memory -- close to 4,000 individuals who had deserted from units in Vietnam. We were shocked at this number because the official list of missing men carried -- again, this is my memory at work -- either 42 or 44 in the status of deserter. Upon further examination, we found that what we were looking at was a function of the way the military services account for their people.
As we tracked individual cases, we found that practically everyone of the 4,000 or so were men who were in the States (a few were in other assignments such as Germany, Japan, etc.). They received orders to go to Vietnam, complete with a unit of assignment in Vietnam and a reporting date. They never showed up in Vietnam. But, because they were on orders to units in Vietnam, they were picked up on those rolls, carried as AWOL, then, after thirty days, DFR and reported. Because they were reported as DFR by a unit in Vietnam, they showed up as being a deserter from Vietnam.
Our analysts, working with the services, scrubbed and scrubbed and the result was that, after we culled all the cases not in Vietnam, we were down to 40-something individuals who appeared, based on the information available, to have gone over the hill while still in Vietnam.....snip~
Deserters