army regulations.. my husband was restricted to the barracks??!?

Question

my husband was in the hospital yesterday and did not call his superiors but the hospital did.. he is now restricted to the barracks for an undetermined amount of time. Can they do this? They tried before with no memorandum but because of my heart condition he was allowed to come back home. What can I do?! Thank you!

Answer 1

Talk to his commander if you have health problems. If you are trying to use bogus problems just to get him home, he will stay in barracks and may get in even more trouble.

Answer 2

The DOD Housing Manual (DOD 4165.63M) Army Regulation (AR 420-1), Army Facilities Management Are the directives and regulations covering barracks Also note: only installation commanders can authorize changes to AR-420-1, based on local conditions. Company, Battalion or Brigade commanders do NOT have that authority.

Answer 3

You can do nothing. You husband needs to start following the rules.

It's very simple. You tell your boss where your at and you don't get in trouble. You don't tell, you get in trouble. This is called "AWOL" (Absent With Out Leave). The definition of AWOL is not being at your appointed place, at the appointed time. In other words, he wasn't at work, and his supervisor wasn't notified. It doesn't matter whether he was at the hospital for himself (you could have called), if it was Sick Call, he had to call his supervisor and let him/her know, or he took you/your children. The first rule is "Tell your boss".

Do they have the authority to restrict him to the barracks? Yes. He knows what he needs to do, he just refuses to do it. Be glad they aren't smacking him with an Art 15.

Answer 4

You can't do much. It sounds like they might have tried saying he was AWOL since he didn't call, not enough info on that. They can restrict him to the barracks for a certain amount of time depending on the charge (field grade or company grade). I spent 45 days on restriction to the barracks while I was in, it sucks but it won't last forever.

Answer 5

Did he take himself to the hospital or did you take him or did someone else? Was he incapacitated where he couldn't call (was knocked unconscious, passed out, sedated)? If he took himself, then it is on him to report to his immediate supervisor that he was going to the hospital or call them once he got there to tell him where he was. If he was out of it and the hospital called, you need to find out the name and position of the person from the hospital who called and find out from them whom at the company they spoke to and exactly what they told that person at the company. There could have simply been a lack of relaying that information to your husband's superior.
If they've tried to restict him before, sounds like he has some issues that he needs to deal with. If he's bucking procedures and missing duty, he's digging a bigger hole than he may realize. If he has a chronic health problem, physical or mental, he needs to get some doctors on the ball to get his situation on the record and then go to higher levels of the chain of command (battalion, brigade, etc) and if he has to the IG (Inspector General) to file a complaint if the unit is not allowing him time to go to appointments and get treatment for health problems.
But there are rules for everything that you must follow and procedures that must be gone through. If you try to end run them, you may only make it worse. If nothing else, you can ask JAG questions as far as your husband's standing and what recourse you can take.

Answer 6

Not much...is CO has pretty much plenary control over his soldiers under his command. The rights of soldiers are not the same as regular citizens...and there must have been some reason the officers believed that this punishment was justified and they don't have a duty to report that punishment to you and they have no duty to submit it to him in writting. The best thing to do is for him to have a talk with his PL or Co and discuss the suspected behavior and try to correct it or get on their good side.

Answer 7

I think you are leaving some info out, they only put guys int he barracks for spousal abuse, it sounds like he was already there in the first place. I have never heard of this before. I have always heard that a soldier will be seperated from his wife and put in the barracks because of spousal abuse, barracks space is limited and you just can't be moving marriade soldiers in and out because they did not call, it is usually a serious offense like abuse that brings a married man into a barracks room.

Answer 8

Of course they can do this. It's isn't just the army that can do this, either. Every military and paramilitary (think emergency services) can and will do this. Every one on them operates on discipline and on personal responsibility. Your husband is grounded for displaying neither.

Unless your husband was unconscious or had lost his voice, it was up to him to make the call. This is true of any job, though. Unless you're unconscious, or you've completely lost your voice, you make the call. Even if you've lost your voice, you can ASK someone to make that call on your behalf. He did neither.

If this is because of your health problems, get something in writing about your problems from your doctors, and go through the Red Cross about the possibility of compassionate leave. But it's still up to every individual to be responsible for themselves, and that's what the army is saying to your husband.

Answer 9

he bypassed his chain of command and failed to keep them informed of issues that affected him. Yes, they can restrict him to Barracks. Even if he was in the Hopsital because of you, he was obligated to call his superiors and let them know.

Answer 10

How many times does this have to happen before he realizes he needs to call????

Sorry.. no sympathy from this quarter. It's the military, not Burger King!