WASHINGTON — When service members are unexpectedly absent, clearly their well-being may be at risk. They could just be AWOL but they could also be the victim of foul play or have been involved in an accident.
Their families can suffer, and mission readiness may be reduced.
Cases -- such as the 2020 disappearance and murder of Army Specialist Vanessa Guillén -- have provoked concerns about the Defense Department's response to troops' absences.
In a new report, the Government Accountability Office says some military services have not established procedures for responding to all types of absences, fully met staffing goals, or identified staffing needs for special agents who investigate absences.
The report notes that the Marine Corps has not established procedures to assist unit commanders in determining whether an absence is involuntary or voluntary.
The report also states that the Air Force does not have procedures for investigating all types of absences.
"Each of the services had something I think that they needed to work on," said Brenda Farrell, a director in the GAO's Defense Capabilities and Management team.
She continued: "When a service member goes missing, it can impact unit readiness. They're not there to carry out their duty. It can impact the family readiness because they could be worrying about what is happening to that service member."
Between 2017 through 2021, the GAO reports that the U.S. military branches reported 157 service members as "involuntarily absent" from duty. The Navy had the most such cases: 55, many of them related to ship collisions.