We had a couple, um, "unique" (thankfully) individuals in our BCT cycle at Fort Benning several decades ago. I have no idea how often this type of stuff occurs, hopefully infrequently, but we had a guy go AWOL very shortly after reporting to Basic. It was about three days in when our platoon was formed up and told to be on the lookout for this guy, who we'll call Goldy, as he was missing.

A while later, a week or two, he was found. He'd been arrested for shoplifting in Columbus by the local police, and when they figured out who he was they called the MP's. The MP's picked him up and returned him to our unit to await whatever discipline the chain of command deemed appropriate, just guessing but probably administrative separation.

He'd only been back a very short while, maybe hours, when we had a formation and he turned up missing again. The Drill Sergeants immediately started sending out recruits in buddy teams to search for him throughout the area. I and another recruit were told to go check the platoon bay, and we ran off to do that. We walked down the rows of bunks to the back of the bay where the latrine and showers were located, and entered separate entrances. The other recruit took the entrance to the left, and I took the one on the right nearest the showers. He started checking toilet stalls, and I turned and went into the showers. There he was. Asleep in the back corner, propped up against the wall.

I stepped out of the shower and quietly called the other recruit over, told him, and asked him to run get the Drill Sergeant, which he promptly did. Very quickly the senior Drill showed up and I gestured to the shower. He stepped in, saw Goldy asleep under a shower, walked over and turned on the cold water. Goldy jumped up and made to exit, and the DS yelled at him to remain under the shower. Just a minute or two later a couple other Drill Sergeants showed up and escorted Goldy out. I never saw him again.

The senior Drill told me to wait in the platoon bay, that he would be right back. When he returned he was carrying bolt cutters. He told me he needed a witness and that we were going to open and clear Goldy's lockers. We went to his bunk and the Drill Sergeant cut the lock on the wall locker first. He opened it to an absolute mess. He loudly exclaimed something like "WTF is this?", as he reached in and held up a pair of golden slippers.

Somehow I think Goldy misunderstood the Queen of Battle thing.