Hasan told family members that he wanted to be discharged from the Army. How hard is it to get discharged? Very hard.

Except that officers can resign their commission. The only thing that might prevent that is if they have incurred a service commitment for, say, the government paying for med school. Then the gov wants to earn it's money back (your tax dollars). It may be Hasan had a service commitment.

Now an enlisted person getting discharged before their contract is up is a bit harder.

Hasan could have avoided deployment by shooting himself in the foot... but he'd probably be discharged and have to pay back for med school.

No, you're wrong. Resignations have to be accepted. And right now the Army is not accepting few resignations from officers who haven't done a rotation in a war zone, whether their commitment is up or not.

jj64:

No, you're wrong. Resignations have to be accepted. And right now the Army is not accepting few resignations from officers who haven't done a rotation in a war zone, whether their commitment is up or not.

You cannot resign if you have incurred a duty commitment. Major Hasan had incurred a substantial duty commitment in return for his entire medical education.

jj64:

No, you're wrong. Resignations have to be accepted. And right now the Army is not accepting few resignations from officers who haven't done a rotation in a war zone, whether their commitment is up or not.

That's true. I've read about psych officers specifically who got tired of multiple deployments having their resignations refused because they're needed so badly.

Probably why this undisciplined, alchoholic, disloyal jackass was still able to make Major; the Army just needed bodies.

Ok. I missed that condition. However, he probably did have a substantial duty commitment anyway.