Should a Sailor decide to abandon their duty and obligations by deserting, they’ll soon find every movement, every purchase, and every step tracked by a team of investigators determined to bring them back.

Once a Sailor has been marked as “unaccounted for” longer than 30 days, they are designated as AWOL (Absence Without Leave) as per Article 86 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and the watchful eyes of the Navy Absentee Collection and Information Center (NACIC) take notice.

Based at Navy Personnel Command, NACIC’s unique mission is to coordinate with civilian law enforcement agencies to locate, apprehend and return deserters to Navy custody.

“Everybody knows that manpower is an issue throughout the Navy – and having deserters is a manpower drain,” said Master Chief Master-at-Arms Rob Martin, NACIC senior enlisted leader. “We have the ability at 120 days – with concurrence from the Sailor’s command – to reassign that deserter to free up that billet in that command to get a replacement.”

Once a Sailor has been designated as AWOL, their command alerts NACIC and files a Department of Defense (DD) Form 553 - the Deserter Wanted by the Armed Forces form. The DD 553 pulls identifying information from the deserter’s service record such as physical appearance, last known addresses, and names and addresses of relatives.

“The DD 553 serves as a federal warrant,” explained Investigator Maurico Bailey. “No matter where they go, any civilian law enforcement agency can apprehend the deserter and hold them until an escort team is sent to return the deserter”.

NACIC’s team of about two dozen military and civilian personnel work closely with civilian law enforcement officers by using the Law Enforcement Defense Data Exchange and the National Crime Information Center, both are a shared Department of Defense and law enforcement database to identify deserters.

“If a deserter tries to leave the country or gets pulled over by the police for example, their arrest warrant will flag both our and the police’s systems – alerting us so we can coordinate with law enforcement dispatch officers to apprehend them and get the process started to return them back to their command,” said Bailey.

Only law enforcement can visit civilian homes as NACIC has no such jurisdiction, so it relies on local law enforcement and other tools to find and bring these Sailors back, Bailey added.

In addition to working with law enforcement to physically search for deserters, NACIC will also keep an eye on the deserter’s social media pages, court summons and even checks relative’s homes.

Investigator Marceleet Griffis said sometimes Sailors choose to desert because they don’t want to finish their term, to escape punishments, or they think desertion is the only option in their situation.

“Some deserters were caught soon after they posted a selfie at home, or their friends took their photo,” said Griffis.”It’s pretty easy to figure out where they are and pick them up after that.”

Deserters also have the option to turn themselves in at any point. “If they so choose, they can go to any military installation and inform the duty guard. Security Forces will then alert NACIC of the Sailor’s desertion status and get the process started there,” said Griffis. “Or they can walk into any recruiter’s office and muster with them instead of spending time in jail as NACIC arranges for an escort team to return them to their commands. It really depends on how much freedom they want to have.”

Once a deserter is returned, NACIC’s mission is considered complete and the warrant is closed on the Sailor.

“Our mission is simply to locate and return the Sailor to their command,” Griffis said. “What happens next is entirely dependent on their chain of command, not us. They can go up for non-judicial punishment, be reduced in rank, or even dishonorably discharged from the service – it really depends on how their chain decides to handle it.”

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