Love is blind till the money runs out

Some news from Stars and Stripes-

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — An airman who said he went absent without leave from Osan Air Base to escape a possible court-martial and jail time got both Tuesday for the same act he hoped would keep him free.

Airman Christopher R. Neal, 21, of the 51st Communications Squadron, was sentenced to 10 months in jail and loss of pay after pleading guilty to being AWOL and to breaking restriction.

But in a pretrial agreement, Neal’s jail term was set at eight months. Because he was jailed for 69 days before trial, he’ll spend less than six months more in jail, the prosecution said.

He also was sentenced to loss of $500 per month for 10 months.

The Air Force court-martialed Neal on Tuesday before Lt. Col. Eric Dillow, military judge for the Pacific Circuit out of Yokota Air Base, Japan. Neal chose to be tried by judge alone instead of a jury.

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Neal had been AWOL for 43 days when 10 OSI agents appeared suddenly at his apartment.

Neal said that while in pretrial confinement, he learned his girlfriend “had contacted them” and led them to him.

Prosecutor Capt. Felix Sutanto asked Dillow to give Neal a 10-month jail sentence, forfeiture of two-thirds of his base pay and a bad-conduct discharge.

Airman Neal is to blame for what happened to him, but as GI in Korea points out, not without the help of a juicy girl. These types of women is quite common around US overseas bases and were so when I was in the Navy. Military members are warned about them(I was when stationed at Subic Bay), but sadly some don't listen or are just naive. Which Neal was Stars and Stripes doesn't say, the airman is now paying the price.

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