Posted on Oct 8, 2021
LTJG Aviator
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Friends and I were having a late night discussion in the garage over some drinks during a thunderstorm.

If you are on leave and your plane crashes in the ocean, and you get washed up on a desert island, Tom Hanks Castaway style, I assume the military would assume you perished or were at least MIA if they couldn't find you.

So if you were rescued after say a year on this island, would your beneficiaries have to pay back your SGLI if they received it? Would the military take all of your leave days away? Would you still owe that year of service back? Or would you essentially pick up where you left off?

How would these questions be treated if this happened while not on leave, but in the line of duty. Like say your military plane or ship goes down and you make it to an island somehow.

I'm assuming maybe they'd treat it similarly to being a POW somewhere if it happened while on duty. Would you receive back pay?
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SR Kenneth Beck
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Edited 3 y ago
Only if you jumped overboard.
Sir reminds me of a “sea story” that occurred in 1976 while on “West-Pac” serving onboard the USS Truxton. A sailor decided to end it all and jumped overboard. The OOD conducted a Williamson Turn, a small boat was launched. The wet sailor was fighting the boat crew attempting the rescue. The coxswain said, “leave him alone he’ll soon be tired enough to want a rescue.” Boatswain’s mates are good judges of people.
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LTC Jason Mackay
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No. Just no. If you were on official duty when you went missing, You are declared missing. DUSTWUN: duty status whereabouts unknown.

In that case:
SGLI: yes, if declared dead
Back Pay: Yes, if missing or PW status ( which means not DUSTWUN anymore)
Considered for promotion: yes
LOD injury: yes as long as you were following ROE and engaged in lawful activity.
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LtCol Robert Quinter
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Classic happy hour discussion! Congratulations on continuing a tradition. The one thing missing in your discussion is the fact that, even more than our civilian process, is that the UCMJ and even military administration always leaves an escape hatch where someone in the chain can reverse arbitrary or unrealistic actions in the favor of the individual.
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