What happens if you refuse to go to boot camp after you sign an Army Contract?

benbobbins

They shoot you in the face with a bazooka.

No, really, I believe it is a federal offense. You'd better go.

Mark W

It depends on if you have done your second swear in. If you went to MEPS a second time, you will be AWOL, then a deserter. If not, your training seat will be cancelled and you will be placed into a pool of able bodied men and women waiting to be called up in the event of a need for soldiers. You will not be drafted, because you will be in the Inactive Reserves and are subject to call up without a draft. Also, later in life when you are called or you change your mind again and want to join back up, the Army will not be as accomodating as they were when you signed up.

Honestly, even if you hate what you signed up for, look at what you would have in a few years: Veteran status, marketable skill, and education, respect, stronger proven values. These are what you will have to help you succeeed. Nowhere else will you get all of these so fast. Figure out what is causing you to change your mind. Is it fear of teh unknown, the dangers, family or friends talking to you, making you doubt your decision making abiility??? Do they really have your best interest at heart, or do they have their own agenda. If you don't ship out, how will you achieve those dreams and goals that pushed you to want to enlist in the first place?

Crys H.

You can be charged with desertion and taken to military court. You would get a dishonorable discharge at best, possibly fines and jailtime.

klund_pa

Is this a serious question?

If you sign a contract, you are legally bound by the stipulation in the contract. It is only negotiable BEFORE you sign it.

There is a statement on it that dictates you have not lied or been inaccurate in the information you provided and if you try later to say you lied, then you can legally be brought to trial and face a fine (currently $250,000 US dollars), and/or prison for 10 years.

Beyond that, you have a criminal record that you will be forced to admit for the rest of your life. You can be denied financial aid, the right to vote, and you will have a personal stigma that can't be erased by the course of time or any amount of money.

If you have second thoughts, DON"T sign up. It is an 8 year obligation in total. If you sign and didn't read it first, shame on you. Life is built on experience, always know what you sign before hand, afterwards it will be too late.

Honeybee

You can get out of it, under "failure to adapt to military life".

I think you have a yr to do it.

benninb

If you have signed an Army Contract and you dont go to boot camp, YOU WILL GO TO JAIL FOR DESERTION!!

Jerry H

Your Awall. They find you and put you in the Brig.

mfdjrfirefighter330

after you sign the paper saying you will go though bootcamp i believe you have 1-3 days to change your mind

Joe K

You are put on the AWOL list, the MP's come get you and then you get court marshalled. You will get a dishonorable discharge and then serve 5 to 7 years prison time.

johnman142

just go to boot camp and fail to qualify, fail the tests, they will send you home or make you a general either way is not bad. BUT if you dont show they will hunt you down forever there are cases of people being caught from the Viet Nam era so 30 years means nothing to them. flunk the tests and they will send you home or tell them you are gay, under the dont ask dont tell they will discharge you

frankie59

At that point probably discharged as not worth the trouble to the army, could do more but probably wont. Will not be an honorable discharge though.

mizzzzthang

You are considered AWOL and will be court marshalled......Go and take care.......

djack

First of all, why did you sign the paperwork if you didn't really want to go? If you have issues yourself or with family, you've gone too far not to let your recruiter work with you on those concerns.

That said, you're not actually in the Army till you get to MEPS on ship day. However, talk to your recruiter ASAP. You're screwing him/her over & if you wait too long you may have serious problems. They'll let you out if you're on a DEP contract (which you probably are). You need to fix this pronto though.

DOOM

nothing. absolutely nothing. I promise. And if you're too weak to make it to basic, I don't want you in the army.

You won't go to jail and you won't be brought up on any charges. Before you can even ship, there's another piece of paper you have to sign, and then swear in again. If you do both of those, you'll be on a bus in no time, and unable to change your mind until you get to reception.

If you don't want to be in the army, then I don't want you in the army, and neither does anyone else.

Stuart

You can be charged with dereliction of duty under the UCMJ (Unified Code of Military Justice).

You can be sentenced to prison, and after prison, can be sent on to boot camp, anyway.

Just go.

erudite

They will kick you out.

Vlad the Impaler

You're AWOL and open for a court martial.

lisa p

i am not sure but you might be sent to military prison....my ex was in the military and you can not go against what they tell you to do without MAJOR consequences

WiseWon

Nothing really happens. The Army is so tolerant and forgiving that if you change your mind they really support you and helping you determine what is in your best interest. They often look the other way on things like this. There are many people today who've decided to leave the Army unannounced, and they're still running today.

ryan m

go to jail

Bill S

Just go. Here is a little known fact for your. You can actually resign while in boot camp. The government has not put that much money into you so you can do it.

jake

seeing if someone can help me out here guys. I am in the DEP program for the NAVY and am going in for SEALs. Lately though i have come to realize im just to old and no longer have the Motivation for it... So since I haven not signed the Full Contract yet is there a way to get out? any advice or info would be great thank you.

Dan

Nothing happens and trust me, I speak from experience. I had signed up for the Army, swore in, went to the meps center, passed my physical, swore in a second time and was waiting for the plane to arrive to take me to basic. It was at this point that I had a change of heart. In informed the person at the desk that I had changed my mind and that I was leaving. They threatened me with everything from a dishonorable discharge to having to sit in a military jail. When that didn't work, they tried to talk me into just flying down to basic and then they said I could say that I didn't wanna be there and I would be sent back. They claimed they wanted me to fly down because of having something to do with getting the same amount of funding from the government next year. Needless to say, I got tired of arguing with them and just walked out. After that, I got one call from my recruiter asking what had happened. I told him and that was the last I ever heard from the Army. In conclusion, if you have changed your mind and you don't wanna go, then don't. Nothing will happen to you.

Betty Szampruch

HELP - Quick! Son has changed his mind about going into the airforce. He hasn't done the final swearing in (where he ships out the next morning to Texas-scheduled for April 26, 2011) but did sign many papers. After reading all of the comments here, I'm am still confused and want to make sure he doesn't get in major legal trouble. Does anyone have an official site with specific instruction on where I can confirm that he can or cannot back out? My husband was in the Navy and he's is under the impression that at this point he can't back out.

Randy

I don't know about some of these answers on here, for the Navy if you haven't had the second signing you will make everyone mad and they will tell you all kinds of lies then if you stick to your guns and refuse to sign they will tell you to go home. If you are in boot camp and you refuse to take orders or just can't do what they tell you to do. You will be assigned unfit for military duty and in most cases be given a general discharge for the benefit of the Navy and released from active duty. My younger brother and two of my sisters sons went thru this and this is what they recieved. I spent 14 yrs in the Navy and have had young sailors sent home when I was leading petty officer I took them to the medical doctor because they were straight out of boot camp and could not handle Navy life and was a danger to themselves and others and it was under the same rule listed above that they were discharged although they recieved all their benefits.

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