• Home
  • Military Discounts
    • Military & Veteran Discount List
    • Local Military and Veterans Discounts
    • Apple Military Discount
    • Amazon Prime Discounts
    • Veteran & Military Cell Phone Discounts
    • Gym and Health Club Discounts
  • Benefits
    • 10 Veterans Benefits You May Not Know About
    • Five Top Military Spouse Benefits
    • Medal of Honor: Benefits, History and Facts
    • Purple Heart Benefits
    • Veterans Health A to Z
  • Housing & Home Ownership
    • VA Loan Calculator
    • VA Loan Limits by County
    • VA Home Loan Guide
    • 5 Benefits of a VA Loan
    • 2022 BAH Rates
    • BAH Calculator
  • Money & Finance
    • 2022 Military Pay Charts
    • 2022 Defense Budget
    • 2022 Military Pay
    • COLA Watch 2022-2023
    • Military Pay Calculator
    • Military Pay Dates
    • VA Disability Rates
  • Jobs
    • Veteran Friendly Employers
    • Military Spouse Employment Preference
    • Veterans Employment and Training Service (VETS)
    • Security Clearance Jobs After the Military
  • Education
    • Veteran Friendly Colleges
    • Online Colleges with Military Discounts
    • Veteran Friendly Colleges Guide
    • Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts (MyCAA)
    • Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) for the GI Bill
    • Forever GI Bill
  • Resources
    • How to Get a Veterans ID Card
    • Veterans ID on Driver’s License or ID Card by State
    • Military ID Cards
    • Military Calendar
    • State Veteran’s Benefits
Zero Down Home Loan Eligibility

Home » Army Missing Soldier Policy

Army Missing Soldier Policy

What is the Army missing soldier policy? On Dec. 8, 2020, the Secretary of the Army announced a new Army-wide policy addressing issues raised by an independent review committee ordered to investigate conditions at Fort Hood following a series of incidents there.

How bad were things at Fort Hood? Poor enough to warrant a headline from Stars And Stripes from August 2020, Why is Fort Hood the Army’s Most Crime-ridden Post?

Army Missing Soldier PolicyThe opening paragraph of that article alone lists a string of incidents. Those incidents include five soldiers who were the victims of suspected murders, plus two soldiers accused of committing murder.

According to Stars and Stripes, Fort Hood has “averaged 129 violent felonies committed by soldiers per year.” Comparing those numbers with Fort Bragg (an average of 90) and Joint Base Lewis-McChord (an average of 109.)

These incidents and others like them prompted a three month independent review of Fort Hood, which in turn resulted in new Army-wide policies.

» MORE: Veterans Can Buy a Home with $0 Down

“The challenges at Fort Hood forced us to take a critical look at our systems, our policies, and ourselves.” That’s according to Army Secretary Ryan D. McCarthy, who was quoted in an Army press release, adding, “This report, without a doubt, will cause the Army to change our culture”.

The Army Missing Soldier Policy

The Army Missing Soldier policy is detailed in Army Directive 2020-16 (Determination and Reporting of Missing, Absent-Unknown, Absent Without Leave, and Duty Status-Whereabouts Unknown Soldiers).

This policy adds a new status for soldiers who formerly may have simply been declared Absent Without Leave or AWOL.

Army Directive 2020-16 creates an additional status code called “Absent-Unknown” or “AUN” which is described as a “transitory duty status for up to 48 hours for unit officials and local law enforcement to locate the missing soldier.

The AUN status must be declared when the soldier is deemed to be “absent from the place of duty”. Within three hours of discovery the soldier must have status changed to AUN, and that status is only permitted for 48 hours.

The rules require notification of local law enforcement. “Unit commanders will report the Soldier’s status to local Army law enforcement officials (Directorate of Emergency Services, or DES) within 3 hours of discovering the Soldier is absent.” Eight hours later, unit leadership is required to notify next-of-kin but that notification may not necessarily include a status update.

The following actions may also be required:

  • Submission of a Law Enforcement Report
  • Submission of a “BOLO” or Be-on-the-Lookout within the Army Law Enforcement Reporting and Tracking System
  • Entering “all relevant information” into the Missing Persons File of the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database

In cases where a missing soldier is not located within the 48 hour AUN time limit, commanders are required to attempt a determination as to whether the absence is voluntary or not.

» MORE: Check your VA home loan eligibility with today's top lenders

In cases where the commander determines the absence is voluntary, the Army Missing Soldier policy is quite clear–that soldier is reported as AWOL. There is no requirement to wait out the 48 hours to make this decision.

But Army policy is clear–in cases where there is “credible evidence to determine the absence is involuntary” or in cases where insufficient evidence prevents a determination to conclude a voluntary absence, the soldier is reported in “Missing” status.

Furthermore, “A determination that the Soldier is missing can occur at any time once the Soldier is discovered absent from the place of duty”.

There are other factors that may result in someone being declared missing. “Commanders will report as missing any Soldier who indicates the potential for self-harm and is not located during the initial 48 hours”.

In Cases Of Desertion…

The Army Missing Soldier Policy spells out a procedure for circumstances where the missing soldier is suspected of desertion. If at any time during the search for the missing soldier there is evidence suggesting desertion, “…commanders will submit to their local DES a DD Form 553,” which is the form used to report desertion and as notification that a soldier is Wanted.

DUSTWUN Casualties

DUSTWUN is an Army acronym for “Duty Status-Whereabouts Unknown” which is the status given to those who are absent from duty when such absence is thought to be involuntary.

Those reported as such are declared “DUSTWUN casualties.” According to Army directives, casualty operations are required for DUSTWUN soldiers. What does this mean?

If the chain of command has credible evidence that a soldier is involuntarily missing, “commanders will submit to the servicing Casualty Assistance Center (CAC) a DA Form 1156 (Casualty Feeder Card) signed by the commander with Special Court Martial Convening Authority, requesting the Soldier be declared as DUSTWUN.”

Within 24 hours after DUSTWUN status is approved, commanders must change the duty status to “Missing”, Soldiers remain in DUSTWUN status for 10 days. Only the Secretary of the Army or an approved designee may extend this status longer than 10 days.

What Motivates The Army Missing Soldier Policy

At the start of this article, we discussed some of the general reasons why Army policies and procedures went under the magnifying glass, so to speak, for review.

An Army Memorandum related to an investigation into Fort Hood command involvement and response to the death of a soldier at Fort Hood, SPC Vanessa Guillén and “other specific topic areas” states one important reason for the need to redress Army policies–the lack of an appropriate classification for duty status of those missing, but not AWOL.

Under old Army policy, soldiers who do not report during “accountability formations” are declared AWOL after 24 hours assuming there is no evidence to suggest an involuntary absence. In the case of the murder of SPC Vanessa Guillén, the Army Memorandum states the following:

“…Command changed SPC Guillén’s duty status from “Present for Duty” to “AWOL” on 24 April, because they did not have specific, sufficient evidence to prove that her absence was involuntary.” But the chain of command “decided to deviate from additional actions for AWOL Soldiers required by regulations,” including declaring her a deserter.

This was done, the Memorandum says, “…to keep faith with her family, and because they accurately assessed that she was not a voluntary absentee.”

The Memorandum concluded that Army policy “requiring an AWOL duty status” created an “…inaccurate perception that she had voluntarily abandoned her unit.”

In the wake of the Memorandum, other changes have also been implemented including a restructuring of U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Command (sometimes known as CID) to “create an organization with enhanced capabilities and capacity, organized with and led by civilian and military agents, military officers and enlisted Soldiers,” to include a division of responsibilities between civilian and military leadership within CID.


About The AuthorJoe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter for Air Force Television News


Related Articles
AWOL & Desertion Military Law
Preparing for Basic Training Living on Military Bases
Natural Disasters at Military Bases Food Delivery On Military Bases

Military + Veteran Discounts

Want 30+ Mil/Vet discounts to use today? Enter your email for updates and we'll send it!
Name(Required)

VA Home Loans

Popular Articles

2022 VA Disability Rates

2022 Military Pay

Military Pay Calculator

VA Loan Calculator

2022 BAH Rates

Search Veteran.com

Military Benefits Logo

Company

  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Add a Discount
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Disclosure
  • Unsubscribe

Quick Links

  • Home
  • Military Discounts
  • Benefits
  • Housing & Ownership
  • Money & Finance
  • Employment
  • Education
  • Resources

Connect With Us

  • facebook
  • instagram
  • pinterest
  • twitter
  • youtube
Copyright © 2022 Three Creeks Media, LLC

Veteran.com is a property of Three Creeks Media. Neither Veteran.com nor Three Creeks Media are associated with or endorsed by the U.S. Departments of Defense or Veterans Affairs. The content on Veteran.com is produced by Three Creeks Media, its partners, affiliates and contractors, any opinions or statements on Veteran.com should not be attributed to the Dept. of Veterans Affairs , the Dept. of Defense or any governmental entity. If you have questions about Veteran programs offered through or by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, please visit their website at va.gov. The content offered on Veteran.com is for general informational purposes only and may not be relevant to any consumer’s specific situation, this content should not be construed as legal or financial advice. If you have questions of a specific nature consider consulting a financial professional, accountant or attorney to discuss. References to third-party products, rates and offers may change without notice.

Advertising Notice: Veteran.com and Three Creeks Media, its parent and affiliate companies, may receive compensation through advertising placements on Veteran.com; For any rankings or lists on this site, Veteran.com may receive compensation from the companies being ranked and this compensation may affect how, where and in what order products and companies appear in the rankings and lists. If a ranking or list has a company noted to be a “partner” the indicated company is a corporate affiliate of Veteran.com. No tables, rankings or lists are fully comprehensive and do not include all companies or available products.

Editorial Disclosure: Editorial content on Veteran.com may include opinions. Any opinions are those of the author alone, and not those of an advertiser to the site nor of Veteran.com.