State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > West-virginia > 15 > 15-1b-9§15-1B-9. Enlisted personnel -- Discharge.
a. Enlisted men may be honorably discharged, discharged, or discharged dishonorably; but in no case may an enlisted man be dishonorably discharged unless by sentence of a general court- martial, except as hereinafter provided. No enlisted man shall be honorably discharged from service unless he produces the certificate of his immediate commanding officer that he has turned over or satisfactorily accounted for all property issued to him.
b. Whenever any enlisted man of the national guard shall have performed service therein for the term of his enlistment or reenlistment, and has turned in to the proper officer all state or military property for which he is responsible, his commanding officer shall grant him a full and honorable discharge, except in time of insurrection or invasion or other emergency declared by the governor, when his enlistment shall be automatically extended for the period he shall be in the active service of the state, and until released therefrom by proper order. Discharge for physical disability shall be granted pursuant to applicable rules and regulations. The governor may authorize for sufficient reason, and in his discretion, the discharge of enlisted men, with or without their consent, at any time, upon the recommendation of the commanding officer of the unit of organization to which they belong. An enlisted man who cannot, after due diligence, be found, or who shall remove his residence from the state, or to such distance from the armory of his organization, as to render it impracticable for him to perform properly military duties, or who shall be convicted of a felony, may be discharged by order of the governor.
c. A dishonorable discharge from the service in the national guard shall operate as a complete expulsion from the guard, a forfeiture of all exemptions and privileges acquired through membership therein, and disqualification for any military office under the state. The names of all persons dishonorably discharged shall be published in orders by the adjutant general at the time of such discharge, and as a Class I legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for such publication shall be the county in which such dishonorably discharged person resides. No person so discharged shall be admitted to any armory or other meeting place of the national guard or to the immediate vicinity of any encampment, drill or parade of troops. All commanding officers are hereby required to enforce these prohibitions.
