court marshal instead of captains mast?

Question

I am currently facing captains mast for being late for 3 hours, i was marked as UA. I've never been late before, my section leader also agrees, i'm always the first one out to muster, never miss a muster, never complain, always go to my job etc. other people are late literally every day, i've been relieved from my watch an hour late on a duty day. mind you this day i was late was not a duty day either, it was a half day friday were all we do is PT.

Essentially what happened is we went out drinking, we stopped around 11 or 12 at night, i was offered a ride home but the guy had been drinking with us so since we were on a military base i decided against it, i couldn't call a cab because the part of the base i live in has a guard house and the cab would not be able to pass through it and i live about 5 miles beyond that point and i am not allowed to walk. I decided to spend the night at one of the guys homes, i forgot my cell phone at the first home we were at, so i coudl nto call in the morning, and had no alarm.

long story short i woke up, it was approx. 8:30, no phone was in the house, no one was in the hosue, so i walke dback to base as fast as possible, when i got about halfway there someone saw me who knew me and picked me up.

I arrived was marked as UA etc.

now the thing is, I agree i should be punished, it was a bad decision etc. however, it seems like this should have been dealt with in house, EMI, restriction to phase 1 for a period of time, extra duty days etc. instead i was written up and am being sent to mast. even the MA's who did not write me up said i shouldn't be going, the Commander jag said it's a waiste of time, but two ltjg's wrote me up and are sending me.

now i'm beign told that if i ask for a court marshall i'll probably be let off and yelled at.

the other twist is i'm currently transient switching jobs, so now i will have pretty much no choice in jobs since i've been to mast. thats the only thing i really care abotu, i accept i made a mistake and should be punished but when half of our duty section was drunk this mornign at muster and it was laughed off by our lpo, people are late and tell there section leaders to **** themselves, it seems crazy that i should be going to mast.

lastly if i do go to mast, would having letters from my section leader stating that i'm always early, never complain, do all work assigned, volunteer for extra duty, stay late etc. be good or would it not make a difference?

Answer 1

SOund like you have previously pissed off the wrong person. Have seen many people get an article 15 over some really dumb stuff when they pissed off the wrong person. Let me suggest to you that no matter which way you decide to go with this that you do not make the same excuses to your superiors that you have written here. They will just tell you that it's your responsibility to figure it out....like did the person living there have an alarm clock you could use, a cell you could have set, oh and my personnel favorite.....5 miles to far to walk for you, how bout we practice road marches then. A court marshall would probably get dropped, you are right about that...but then remember it does not stop there. They will more then likely still take some sort of administrative action. And quit getting so drunk the night before duty, even if it is a half day.

Answer 2

Let me preface this by saying that I conducted roughly 270 Captain's\ Masts (Article 15 hearings) during my tour as COMILPERS at the Coast Guard's Training Center in Petaluma, CA. Basically, I've handled a lot of these and may be able to offer a bit of perspective from the "other side of the Green Tablecloth."



First, understand that you run a very large risk of getting the snot hammered out of you if you refuse NJP and demand a trial by court-martial. There are plenty of sea lawyers out there who will tell you, "Just demand a court-martial, and they'll drop everything because they don't want the hassle." I had a couple of young sailors pull that stunt on me, expecting me to blink. From what I remember, they seemed to get to know their lawyers very, very well. . .



Second, when you do go for NJP, man up. Don't try to place blame elsewhere. Don't make excuses. Don't whine about the unfairness of it all. Just cop to the fact that you were UA, and acknowledge your wrongdoing. When offered the chance to make a statement, if you choose to do so, it's usually a good idea to tell the presiding officer what you plan to do to ensure you don't wind up UA again.

Answer 3

Any support for your collaboration as to your duty and responsibilities from other persons in authority would be a great asset in your claim that this is your first mistake.

I would NOT go in there claiming everybody else gets away with it, and with the "why me" routine. Get constructive support from your superiors and let them make the claim that they have never know of this to ever happen before and that your always punctual or early and are a valuable asset to the unit your assigned to. Let them make your case and go in and be up front as to your concerns. Its possible that your being made an example of if others are doing what you said about others being late and backtalk to those that stand accountable for personnel.

Go to your senior NCO and seek his counsel too and ask for a written statement verifying your claim of your normal punctuality and being a willing asset to the unit.

Good Luck

Answer 4

don't go in there and plead your case. you have already been busted. don't bring up the past, the capt. won't care. - just fess up, tell him you ARE sorry and that this WILL NOT ever happen again. let him know that you are willing to accept the responsiblity of any punishment he is willing dish out. - you'll get a lashing, but that's it. you'll survive it just fine. capt probably did the same thing when he was youngster....

Answer 5

this week my husband was late 2 days in a row and one day he didnt get there til about 830 too and the 2nd day he called aocc and talked to his 1st class and his 1st class just told him to come into his office, we thought he was going to get sent to mast but he didnt



it would go and talk to your 1st class about it... what rank are you right now