Found Alive TX - Fort Cavazos Spc. Craig Chamberlain, 23, Killeen, declared AWOL in March, last seen by wife after argument, 15 May 2023 *wife dies a week later*

[evilwise]

Agree, this military base has been shrouded in secrecy and the number of incidents seems too high- but it is larger than most cities.

I question a lot here…
- Why does someone sign up to be active military and not be ready to be deployed? That is part of the deal and an expectation. Military service is voluntary- he chose it.
- What part of this is due to a military system? Spouses are separated due to deployment regularly- and deployment to Korea is not a war zone.
- What part of this is a young couple who had issues?
- What part of this is mental illness?
- What part is addiction?
- What part is lack of adulting? Immaturity on her part? Why marry a soldier if you don’t like the idea of them being deployed?

Of all the soldiers that sign on and are deployed, deployed to war zones, deployed repeatedly to war zones… away from spouse and children…

And we hear about this one who ran. I’m glad he is ok, I’m sorry she lost her life And hope her death is fully investigated.
Understand the consequences of him going AWOL to avoid deployment are huge.

This is Memorial Day weekend, let that sit a bit. For those of us who have family who were drafted, served in a foreign land, and lost their lives…
This guy who volunteered to serve and went AWOL to avoid deployment doesn’t sit well.

JMO

You're hitting on another aspect of my current "Fort Hood" thinking which is that there are a huge number of enlisted men, perhaps especially at this installation, who enlisted without a realistic understanding of what it means to be a soldier.

Yes this is still a failing of the military but at a much earlier point than what is often suggested or even considered.

 

[starlightstarbright]

@starlightstarbright, this really caught my attention. Could you clarify or let me know which page to go to that references this or which church they were part of? What kind of stigma? And why would there not be support for this relationship by family? Thanks.

I don’t know if it’s appropriate to speculate here, but if you watch the video of Cameron’s interview, you’ll probably understand what I’m saying. They weren’t a traditional relationship in the way that I would expect a conservative church going Texas family would approve of. I expect that they probably didn’t get a lot of family support, based on what parents have said in the interview, and I don’t know much about the military but I can’t imagine there was loads of support there either.

 

[baorin]

I hope Craig is cooperative and explains what happened, because I am very confused by the timeline IMO

 

[imstilla.grandma]

His parents, Gorden and Virginia Chamberlain, say they found Craig with a few bruises on his body. They say from what they could tell though, he did not have any major injuries.

”He was alert and knew where he was,” Virginia said. “Physically he was good.”

On Friday evening Virginia was printing out missing person flyers when she received a call she had been waiting for.

”I told my husband to drop what he was doing, we’ll come back and get the papers,” Virginia said.

The call said that a reliable tip had come in about her son’s whereabouts. Sure enough, their son was at the undisclosed location in the Killeen area.

”There’s no way to describe how I felt when we found him,” Gordon said.

Parents of missing Fort Cavazos soldier say tip led them to their son

His parents, Gorden and Virginia Chamberlain, say they found Craig with a few bruises on his body but no major injuries.

www.kwtx.com

 

[Gut_feeling]

A few bruises? This situation is so topsy turvey

 

[Stunned]

Odd, so very, very odd. IMO

 

[Tealgrove]

I must be really obtuse because I can’t for the life of me figure out what happened here.

I get the non traditional relationship talk but what really went on here?

I fear we may never know.

 

[Leilei]

I'm sitting on my hands, because I have a theory as to why he went AWOL/voluntarily missing so close to home in the first place. It's based on what I've read on SM so I don't want to break any rules here. Waiting for the wife's official COD, among other things.

 

[Teche]

How does the military usually handle an AWOL soldier who's been apprehended? Charged?

 

[Gut_feeling]

The parents mentioning Craig had a few bruises just strikes me as odd. It seems...I can't find the right words, but it strikes me as information provided to paint a certain picture. Or to paint a different picture than the accurate one. What kind of bruises are we talking about here? And what do they have to do with him going missing? Why mention them at all?

 

[Rosydecember]

The parents mentioning Craig had a few bruises just strikes me as odd. It seems...I can't find the right words, but it strikes me as information provided to paint a certain picture. Or to paint a different picture than the accurate one. What kind of bruises are we talking about here? And what do they have to do with him going missing? Why mention them at all?

I agree 100 percent…. It struck me as odd and out of place

 

[Leilei]

How does the military usually handle an AWOL soldier who's been apprehended? Charged?

Charged, for sure. But in this situation they're calling it "voluntarily missing" instead of AWOL for some reason. That's a new term to me!

 

[GoneGoldfishin']

Charged, for sure. But in this situation they're calling it "voluntarily missing" instead of AWOL for some reason. That's a new term to me!

@imstilla.grandma posted this link earlier:

Army Leaders more empowered to locate missing Soldiers

WASHINGTON — Since the publication of Army Directive 2020-16, Determination and Reporting of Missing, Absent-Unknown, Absent Without Leave, and Duty Sta...

www.army.mil

"...In conversations with senior leaders [we decided] to get away from this AWOL term because we don’t know enough about the Soldier.”

Now, the directive lays out that when a Soldier goes missing and until a Soldier’s status is confirmed, they have the absent-unknown status attached to them. Once there is evidence about their absence, they will transition to another duty status. For example, if it is found that a Soldier went missing involuntarily, the Soldier’s duty status becomes duty status-whereabouts unknown, or DUSTWUN..."

"...Sometimes Soldiers have bad days and leave even though they know it is wrong, but they might need some mental health help, and it is important to get to know their needs, Miller said.

“Soldiers are more at risk when he or she is out there alone thinking they’re in a lot of trouble, when in fact they’re not. We really just want to get you back to see what we can do to help you and understand why you made the decision you made,” Miller said..."

 

[Doghairrules]

I must be really obtuse because I can’t for the life of me figure out what happened here.

I get the non traditional relationship talk but what really went on here?

I fear we may never know.

I'm wondering, pending confirmation of several pieces of this puzzle, if having their non traditional relationship on display in Korea may have been the problem?

 

[Herat]

I'm wondering, pending confirmation of several pieces of this puzzle, if having their non traditional relationship on display in Korea may have been the problem?

His going AWOL / Voluntary missing would "solve" that problem for the short term.

But at some point the couple would have to deal with his military status and their future.

I'm assuming he was hiding with the cooperation and support of Cameron. Probably staying in contact very discretely. Would Cameron be receiving his paychecks?

 

[asmi106082]

His going AWOL / Voluntary missing would "solve" that problem for the short term.

But at some point the couple would have to deal with his military status and their future.

I'm assuming he was hiding with the cooperation and support of Cameron. Probably staying in contact very discretely. Would Cameron be receiving his paychecks?

Only if they had a joint account that the checks were deposited into.

 

[altojack]

What the heck! Such a strange case indeed. I just spotted this case when it was on page 3 and thought it may be interesting, but I didn't expect this outcome.

Ive never heard of a girl with the name Cameron before, most unusual to me, but I'm a Brit in the UK.

Edit: ha, Cameron Diaz, of course, so scratch that comment.

 

[Lusitana]

What the heck! Such a strange case indeed. I just spotted this case when it was on page 3 and thought it may be interesting, but I didn't expect this outcome.

Ive never heard of a girl with the name Cameron before, most unusual to me, but I'm a Brit in the UK.

Edit: ha, Cameron Diaz, of course, so scratch that comment.

In another case there was a girl Dylan, that was new to me too lol.

 

[altojack]

In another case there was a girl Dylan, that was new to me too lol.

haha, well that's another I'd say male. I've only known of two Dylan's. One was a dog I used to have years ago and Bob Dylan lol.

 

[evilwise]

I've dated girls before who would threaten self-harm as a way to pressure me to do or not do things, i.e. "If you go to Korea I'll kill myself"