WASHINGTON -- Six U.S. soldiers who left their military intelligence post in West Germany and told friends they were going to rendezvous with Jesus Christ and UFOs have been discharged from the Army.
'They have been released from their military obligation and they are civilians again,' an Army spokesman, Maj. Joseph Allred, said Friday.
The six soldiers -- five men and a woman -- left their post at the 701st Military Intelligence Brigade in Augsburg, West Germany, on July 9 and were arrested in Gulf Breeze, Fla., near Pensacola, four days later.
The six, all cryptographers trained to break enemy codes, were automatically charged with desertion because of their high security clearances and were jailed at Fort Knox, Ky.
An Army counterintelligence investigation did not turn up any evidence that the soldiers were involved in espionage.
As a result, they were offered the opportunity to accept an 'Article 15,' a non-judicial punishment process handled by a base commander.
The six accepted and the counts of desertion were dropped in favor of the lesser charge of being absent without leave, or AWOL. They were also charged with possession of forged leave papers.
Allred said the six received a general discharge from the Army, which falls between an honorable discharge and a dishonorable one.
During the course of their arrest and detention, friends said the six told them they left their militarypost to go to the Pensacola area for religious reasons.
According to their friends, the six believed the end of the world was near and that Jesus Christ was going to arrive on a Pensacola beach on a UFO to take believers up to heaven.
They also said they were out to destroy the 'anti-Christ' who planned to sneak aboard.
