What happens if you leave your army platoon during combat and run away?

What happens if you leave your army platoon during combat and run away?


We had a guy in our unit who did that. I met him in his position during a firefight and he told me: “Man, I’m so scared!” Then he was gone.

The funny thing is that nobody noticed his absence. We had been fighting from the early morning hours, our unit got mixed up with other units, and people constantly got lost.

During WWII, approximately 50,000 US soldiers deserted from the battlefields. (Photo: NPR).

I only found out that he had disappeared because he told me about it. In the evening, he confessed to me. He said that he suddenly got scared from all the artillery shelling and the bullets zipping over his head and had run away.

After several kilometers, he had calmed down and realized what he had done. As it was late, he hadn’t tried to rejoin the fighting but had gone straight to our guerrilla base where I met him.

What can you do with such a guy?

First of all, I don't blame him too much. Soldiers are losing their nerves all the time, especially in a tough battle. We had complete squads who were suddenly “disappearing” from the frontline. A single guy going on leave during a battle is much less serious.

Still, you can't trust the guy anymore. What if he’s doing the same thing again? Therefore, in our case, we decided that he could stay with our unit, but not in a combat squad anymore.

We had two support squads that were working at our base and that is where we put him. He stayed there until the end of the war.

We were a guerrilla unit and made our own rules. A regular army unit will be much less lenient towards these kinds of people.

However, a regular army platoon probably wouldn't try to keep the frontline against several enemy tanks that are supported by infantry and artillery. What we did on that day required some extra nerves.

Even regular combat units have several options when they deal with soldiers who disappear from the frontline.

If the unit is still “cool” with the guy (for example, when he returns after a short time), there’s no need to file a report about the incident. On the other hand, if someone's gone for good, he won't avoid being court-martialed.

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