View Full Version : Awol
This happened so long ago but just came to my mind because of the Indian guy in the news?
I was in ITR at Lejuene in 68, and got a staph infection and was hospitalized, while there I snuck a "Swoop " home which was definitely more than the allowed mileage for liberty! So my question? had I been caught would I have received office hours for being AWOL ?
The statutes of limitations is definitely up....so no sweat :)
advanced
01-23-19, 03:38 PM
I was an MP at Lejuene in 67, yes, you would have been charged.
USMC 2571
01-24-19, 07:33 AM
Oct 1964 to Oct 1965 I was at Comm Co, Hq Bn, Camp Lejeune, and I remember the Swoop Circle, at a big parking lot near the rotary, where the MPs would try to keep order as there were cars and drivers on one side, and would-be passengers on the other, and the driver would holler out, need 2 for DC and 20 people would come running across the parking lot----some of us had regular rides, every weekend for 16 straight weekends I made the long trip to Boston, a 15 hour ride one way, in a station wagon whose driver was going on to New Hampshire...we had less than a full day visiting, then back on the road. But I recall the Swoop Circle like it was yesterday.
On the office wall, units had a liberty circle map, showing how far one was allowed to go on a 48, 72, 96 hour pass, etc, and Boston and New York City etc were far outside that circle. But we felt that what our unit did not know, would not hurt them, nor us.
Yeah Dave, It was a long haul from Lejuene to Cleveland Ohio, On that swoop I had to take a bus back which turned into an 18 hour ride via every sign post town from home to N.C.
Russ, Good thing I wasn't in the Marines in 67 1 :) You would have caught me for sure? lol
funny thing is that by going outside the standard approved travel distance while on liberty is that if you get hurt, it is considered "willful misconduct", not in the line of duty, and therefore not subject to compensation by the VA... not to mention the likelihood of office hours, at the very least, and getting on your command's $hit list... when all you really need to do is ask your 1st Sgt for an "out of bounds pass" and you're covered all the way around.... oh yeah, the "travel distance" is measured on the map "as the crow flies" or in a straight line, and usually has no correlation to the number of miles you will travel by road...
USMC 2571
01-25-19, 07:03 AM
Without a car, Lejeune was and is a boring place. With a car, Wilmington, Myrtle Beach, D.C. etc but without a vehicle try just hanging around the base on a weekend.
Same as Pendleton, i did have a car there and it made things more tolerable for sure !
advanced
01-25-19, 09:04 AM
I used to swoop myself going to Memphis, Atlanta, Charleston, NY, etc. On one of those trips to Atlanta the guy I was supposed to ride back to Lejuene with left without me. What a miserable night that was hitchhiking, walking for miles, but I finally stumbled in an hour before my duty.
If l'd been late I knew they would have written me up. But, like William said, staying on base all weekend was horrible. It used to take me all week to get rested up from those trips, and then I'd do it again and again. It wasn't easy being a Marine without a car back then.
ain't that the truth.... at Pendleton, most guys went to Oceanside, the pimple on the world's backside... I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity while in ITR to be selected as one of 19 escorts for a group of girls graduating from Laguna High School... we made some really great friends that weekend, and from then on, our destination was the then little known, not frequently visited by Marines, town of Laguna Beach.... without a car, it was a 2 hour bus ride from the rear gate of Pendleton by Trailways, but the weekends were sure worth it..... of course, that was before California became Kommiefornia... back then, the locals would stop and offer you a ride to whatever your destination if you were in uniform, they were all very supportive and friendly toward the Marines, unlike Oceanside where they considered young Marines as prey.....
I use to drive to Anaheim / Huntington beach, drove once to Tijuana over the border! oy ! never did that again !the local kids climbed on my hood and spit on my windshield and proceeded to clean my windshield and wanted me to pay for the cleaning ? gave um a buck NOT do it again lol