Major Hasan has been ordered to pre-trial confinement by his commanding officer. While recovering from his wounds, that pre-trial confinement is in the hospital under guard. Pre-Trial confinement is ordered by the commander for persons with reasonable belief that they committed an offense triable by court-martial has been committed, that the individual to be confined committed the offense and confinement is required by the circumstances.

Reasons for Pre-Trial Confinement

Pretrial confinement is authorized where the command has reason to believe the member might go absent without leave (AWOL) to avoid prosecution or the member may engage in continued serious criminal misconduct and less severe forms of restraint are inadequate. Less severe forms of restraint include restriction to base or limitations on duty and liberty, which are given to the member as a direct order. In some cases, his or her safety from others may be a consideration.

Major Hasan’s Pre-Trial Confinement

Pre-trial confinement to prevent further serious misconduct could include intimidating witnesses or obstruction of justice, serious injury to others or other offenses which pose a serious threat to the safety of the community, or to the effectiveness, morale, discipline, or readiness of the command or the national security of the United States. In the case of Major Hasan, even though he is paralyzed from the chest down, he could incite others to intimidate witnesses or find a means to continue his alleged past demonstrated and possible future intent of causing harm to others.

Rights under Pre-Trial Confinement

His pre-trial confinement does not limit his Constitutionally protected legal rights, including his ability to communicate with his attorneys and receive mail and visitations by family as per military confinement procedures. His rights and privileges are only limited as to his freedom of movement and association and reasonable restrictions on what he can receive through the mail. Upon his sufficient recovery to be released from the hospital he will be transferred to a military confinement facility (or brig) until his Article 32 hearing.

The military has personnel policies in place to deal with family emergencies from granting emergency leave, to identifying family and friends to care for dependents in your stead, to granting humanitarian permanent duty station moves. The military member’s unit commander makes these administrative decisions. Sometimes when the commander executes one of the administrative options available, it runs afoul because of lack of good communications between the command and the military member.

Family Emergency Leave

PFC Christopher Pfeiffer came home on a mid-tour rest and recuperation leave from Afghanistan for the care of his medically ill pregnant wife who was to deliver their first child. The mid-tour leave from a combat deployment is usually only 2 weeks long. PFC Pfeiffer requested additional leave for his wife’s medical emergency and at the time, his yet unborn child.

AWOL and Desertion

In the course of the long distance communication with the command, it appears the facts were blurred and misunderstandings resulted. PFC Pfeiffer returned to Kuwait and awaited military transport to rejoin his unit. His intent was exactly that, to rejoin his unit. Yet his command classified him as a deserter, and his pay was docked beginning 30 days after his official return date. He was arrested while awaiting military airlift at the theater aerial port of embarkation. He had no intention of desertion as the Army now asserts.

Rest and Recuperation Leave

Military members accrue 2.5 days of leave for every 30 days of duty with pay and allowances. Members are encouraged to take approximately 30 days of leave a year, and can carry over a maximum of 60 days of accrued leave between fiscal years. Any excess above that is time lost. Rest and Recuperation leave is designed for use when Soldiers are in a combat zone and administered by the unit commander. Only one 2-week period is authorized per 12-month deployment.

Administrative vs. Military Legal Case

Tracking individual military members in and out of the battlefield is difficult as is managing all the requests for emergency leave. Yet there are administrative means to deal with these family medical emergencies and in this case, the Army let an administrative process unnecessarily turn into a military legal issue.

Secretary Gates answered questions about Army deployment cycles in a town hall meeting at Fort Drum this week.  He had no specific answers regarding continuing and uneven shouldering of deployment lengths by brigades except to announce on July 20th an increase in Army personnel by 22,000.  The stress of continuous rotations into the battlefield can result in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

What is PTSD?

According to the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can occur after you have been through a traumatic event such as combat.  All people with PTSD have lived through a traumatic event that caused them to fear for their lives, see horrible things, and feel helpless.  They may try to avoid situations or people that trigger memories of the traumatic event. They may even avoid talking or thinking about the event.  Some people develop more severe systems that could affect their daily lives.

PTSD Impact on Military Careers

Family members can help monitor loved ones and counsel them when they begin to feel the anxiety of repeated deployments.  The military legal system gets involved when that military member chooses to not report for duty resulting in an unauthorized absence.  UA or AWOL is a serious military justice infraction.  Military members can return after being gone less than 30 days and most probably receive non-judicial punishment and can finish their military obligation or careers.   UA or AWOL for over 30 days most often results in a other than honorable discharge from the service.  This could make them ineligible for most Veterans Administration benefits.

Act Before the Military Justice System Does

If you are a family member of a military member and notice any of the symptoms of PSTD, encourage him or her to talk to the mental health professionals, chaplains and his or her immediate supervisor.  Get that person the help needed prior to having to deal with unauthorized absence or AWOL and the possible life-long results when the military justice system is involved.