It took seven long years of dogged, exhausting police work, but we finally caught up with her.
Posted on 09/17/2010 1:25:39 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
SAN ANTONIO -- A young San Antonio mother who is considered a deserter by the U.S. Army says she had no idea that was her status.
Sabrina Torres, 26, was arrested earlier this week and booked at the Bexar County Jail.
Her mother, Cindi Mayen, told KENS 5 that Torres signed up for the Army in 2003 when she was 18 years old. But then she found out she was pregnant.
Mayen said the recruiting officer told them Torres would be discharged. But now, the Army says Torres never followed the proper procedures and was never discharged.
"Why are they giving you false information, telling you to sign up, swear in and go, then you don't have to go after all?" Mayen asked.
Mayen said the recruiting officer then told Torres to just show up at the airport as if she was going to basic training, then they would go pick her up and take her home.
Mayen said that's exactly what happened, and so Torres thought those were the proper procedures.
Mayen said a few months later they received a letter saying Torres was AWOL.
"I took her to Fort Sam Houston and they told us not to worry about that letter and that everything would be fine," Mayen said.
Four children and seven years later, Mayen said the situation is far from fine. Now her daughter was forced to go to jail for a couple of days, and they fear she will get a dishonorable discharge.
Mayen said Torres is now in Fort Sill in Oklahoma receiving her discharge papers.
There's been no word yet on what kind of discharge Torres will be getting.
Unless she has it in writing, it didn't happen.
She should have been administratively separated, post-haste. But, she's an idiot for not making sure that was done.
Was she getting paid?
The army does a lot more harm than good by having her arrested. Yeah she broke a contract, but better for her to break it before showing up than being a drag on the service. The last thing the Army needs is another single mother.
I doubt ‘dishonorable’. You have to work pretty hard to get one of those.
I expect a hardship chapter with OTH.
Great question. If the answer to that is "NO" then I'd give her the benefit of the doubt and cut her some slack.
I’m just glad that the Army’s crack security staff are hunting down cases like this, instead of scanning Army emails for Arabic conversations, mentions of mosques, and addresses of Imams.
Oh, great. At least nobody's pretending she's doing anything useful for the DoD.
I agree
The Army doesn’t need any more that are that stupid and irresponsible.
She is not getting paid by the Army but she has 4 kids so she is still bilking the Gov’t. ( Us)
Just discharge her quick before she wants back pay
I suspect she's actually being truthful here. It's very believable that the story happened EXACTLY as she described. Hopefully, she has some documentation about her 2nd visit to Ft. Sam Houston, but even if she doesn't, she's not going to be dishonorably discharged. But, it doesn't make her any less stupid than she probably is.
She's going to get what is called an entry level separation. These separations - only given to people who have less than 180-days of service - have no characterization of service - honorable, OTH or dishonorable.
With out a DD-214, you’re still in.
No. It's complicated, but because she never actually spent even a moment at basic, and therefor didn't complete the basic induction paperwork, DFAS would not have had the necessary paperwork to initiate pay.
I'm guessing that the only reason she's where she is, is because her name showed up on some IG audit, where an enlistment contract was signed and filed, but nothing else was captured. So, the see the enlistment contract and issue the warrant for unauthorized absence.
Recruiters lie..............
Did not know that. That must be why they withhold bonus payments until you actually arrive at your duty station.
But, yes, the story is totally believable. I have seen recruiters do some really crazy sh*t, especially toward the end of the month.
Yea, I can see it happening. Then the recruiter rotates out and forgets all about it.
You must be talking about the Preperation H treatment?
All the predicted problems of women in the military are coming true. Gay issues are next.
It took seven long years of dogged, exhausting police work, but we finally caught up with her.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.