UCMJ Article 86 AWOL vs Article 87 Missing Movement: Why Your Unit Left Without You Matters

Article 86 punishes being absent without authority from where one is required to be. Article 87 punishes missing the movement of a ship, aircraft, or unit one is required to move with, through design or neglect. A single absence can produce both charges: being gone is the absence, and being gone when the unit shipped out is the missed movement.

The two carry different maximums. A missed movement by design carries up to 2 years, more than an absence of up to 30 days.

Article 86

Any member of the armed forces who, without authority … (1) fails to go to his appointed place of duty at the time prescribed; (2) goes from that place; or (3) absents himself or remains absent from his unit, organization, or place of duty at which he is required to be at the time prescribed; shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

Source: 10 U.S.C. § 886 (Article 86).

The Manual for Courts-Martial describes Article 86 as covering “every case not elsewhere provided for” in which a member “is through the member’s own fault not at the place where the member is required to be at a prescribed time” (MCM, Part IV, ¶ 10.c(1)). Rules that govern it (¶ 10.c):

Knowledge of the appointed time and place is required for failing to go and going from a place of duty.
Specific intent is not an element of basic unauthorized absence.
Duration is a matter in aggravation that raises the maximum; the offense under 86(3) is complete the instant the absence begins. If the duration is not alleged and proved, the accused can be punished for only one day.
Computing days: a continuous absence of up to 24 hours counts as 1 day, up to 48 hours as 2 days, and so on.
Ending the absence: surrender to any military authority, whether or not of the same service, ends it, as does apprehension; an absence over 30 days that ends in apprehension carries a higher maximum.

Article 87

(a) … Any person subject to this chapter who, through neglect or design, misses the movement of a ship, aircraft, or unit with which the person is required in the course of duty to move shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

Source: 10 U.S.C. § 887(a) (Article 87).

The elements are a duty to move with the ship, aircraft, or unit, actual knowledge of the prospective movement, and missing it through design or neglect (¶ 11.b(1)). Article 87(b) separately punishes wrongfully and intentionally jumping into the water from a vessel in use by the armed forces.

What counts as a movement

The Manual’s explanation (¶ 11.c(1)(a)-(b)):

“Movement” includes “a move, transfer, or shift of a ship, aircraft, or unit involving a substantial distance and period of time,” and whether a movement is substantial is for the court-martial to decide.
Short practice marches that return to the starting point, shifting a ship between berths in the same harbor, and moving a unit between barracks on the same post are not movements.
For a unit, the mode of travel does not matter: ship, train, aircraft, truck, bus, walking, military or commercial. The unit need not be a formal organization; it includes units formed for the move.
For a crew member or passenger ordered aboard a particular ship or aircraft, military or chartered, missing that particular sailing or flight is what establishes the offense.

Design, neglect, and knowledge

Design means on purpose and “requires specific intent to miss the movement.”
Neglect is “the omission to take such measures as are appropriate under the circumstances to assure presence,” or acting without attention to the probable consequences, such as traveling so far from the departure point that returning in time becomes unlikely.
Actual knowledge of the prospective movement is required. Knowing the exact hour or date is not; knowing the approximate date is enough if the accused’s conduct caused the miss (¶ 11.c(1)(c)-(e)).

How the facts sort

	Article 86	Article 87(a)
What is punished	Absence from a unit, organization, or place of duty	Missing a movement one was required to make
Knowledge	Of the appointed time and place, for 86(1)-(2)	Actual knowledge of the prospective movement
Mental state	No specific intent for basic absence	Design (specific intent) or neglect
Movement required	No	Yes, of substantial distance and time

For example, a sailor who knows the ship sails Monday, stays ashore past the sailing on purpose, and returns Thursday faces unauthorized absence for the days away and missing movement by design. A sailor on authorized leave who books a commercial flight that would arrive with hours to spare, only to have the flight delayed overnight, raises a closer question: whether that was neglect depends on whether the sailor omitted measures that were appropriate under the circumstances (¶ 11.c(1)(d)).

Questions readers ask

Does a flight delay or a hospital stay excuse the absence?
For Article 86, the Manual says the status of someone already absent without leave “is not changed by an inability to return through sickness, lack of transportation facilities, or other disabilities,” though such facts are considered in extenuation. A person on authorized leave who, “without fault,” is unable to return when the leave expires “has not committed the offense of absence without leave” (¶ 10.c(6)). For Article 87, the question is whether the miss came from design or neglect.

Does a unit have to be a formal unit on paper?
No. The Manual says “unit” is not limited to a technical category and includes units created before the movement to keep continuity on arrival and units meant to disband on arrival (¶ 11.c(1)(b)(i)).

Maximum punishments

Offense	Maximum (MCM, Part IV, ¶ 10.d and ¶ 11.d)
Missing movement through design	Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 2 years
Missing movement through neglect	Bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 1 year
Jumping from a vessel into the water	Bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 6 months
Failing to go to, or going from, the appointed place of duty	Confinement for 1 month and forfeiture of two-thirds pay per month for 1 month
Absence of not more than 3 days	Confinement for 1 month and forfeiture of two-thirds pay per month for 1 month
Absence of more than 3 but not more than 30 days	Confinement for 6 months and forfeiture of two-thirds pay per month for 6 months
Absence of more than 30 days	Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 1 year
Absence of more than 30 days, terminated by apprehension	Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 18 months
Absence from guard or watch	Confinement for 3 months and forfeiture of two-thirds pay per month for 3 months
Absence from guard or watch with intent to abandon	Bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 6 months
Absence with intent to avoid maneuvers or field exercises	Bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 6 months

The Manual’s missing-movement maximums contain no wartime condition. An absence meant to avoid hazardous duty or shirk important service is desertion under Article 85, not an aggravated form of Article 86. Where every finding of guilty is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence in a general or special court-martial, other than in a capital case (10 U.S.C. § 853(b)(1)).

Sources

10 U.S.C. § 886, absence without leave (Article 86)
10 U.S.C. § 887, missing movement; jumping from vessel (Article 87)
10 U.S.C. § 885, desertion (Article 85)
10 U.S.C. § 853, findings and sentencing (Article 53)
Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 edition), Part IV, ¶ 10 and ¶ 11.

Articles 86 and 87 are described as the statute and the Manual set them out; nothing here evaluates a particular absence or movement. This page reflects the UCMJ as amended through Public Law 119-60 (December 18, 2025) and the Manual for Courts-Martial (2024 edition) as amended by Executive Order 14130.