Sometimes a person was "absent" and then turn up a week or so later. Then do it again. In helping a friend make sense of one of her ancestors frequent "absent" notations, we got to figuring out on our fingers what really happened. He was in an Alabama unit, in Alabama. About 8 or 9 months after these "absent" notations, he was a Daddy again. I guess they didn't go far enough to keep him from slipping home. He did get to spend a few days in the brig (or whatever they were called then) after the second "absent" report.

Pam