Absent without leave

The difference between being absent without leave and desertion is intent: an AWOL man was gone temporarily, a deserter meant not to return. In the modern U.S. Army a soldier missing for thirty days is dropped from the rolls and listed as a deserter.

Civil War service records often note absence without leave along with the order or court-martial that dealt with it. Furlough papers warned that a soldier who failed to return on time would be considered a deserter, so overstaying a furlough could turn into a desertion charge.