Quote:
Originally Posted by Icelander
Well, thrash and you have exactly the opposite take on this. Kind of makes it hard for me to decide.
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Well, obviously I'd say that thrash is mistaken.
I have another anecdote for you. I was in Germany at the finance office one day when an MP brought I guy in in handcuffs and class A uniform with E4 rank on the sleeves. The finance guy looked up confused and said "Are you still an E4?" At which point the MP looked surprised, scowled at the guy and proceeded to cut the rank insignia off his sleeves right there in the finance office.
So, he was
still in the Army, but had had been sentenced as I described: "reduction in rank to E4, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and sentenced to X years of confinement..." They're still in the army as E1 but get no pay, no allowances, and no time credit toward benefits like retirement and whatnot.
Also, yes, my understanding is the USDB Leavenworth is unusually orderly as American prisons go. Back in the bad old days of Vietnam, a drug-addicted Army, and the draft things were certainly different, and a lot of stereotypes about military prisons persist. But nowadays military inmates were at least orderly enough to get into the military in the first place, after all. Yes, there are gang members, ex-gang members, and future-gang members in the military, but they are far from common. So they're rather outnumbered. (And a lot of the gang members in the military are very scrupulous about keeping their noses clean, because they joined the military to get weapons experience to bring back to the gang after their stint is up.)