---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 12684"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "12684"
heading: "Reserves: separation for absence without authority or sentence to imprisonment"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/12684"
units:
  - "Subtitle E — Reserve Components"
  - "Part II — Personnel Generally"
  - "Chapter 1221 — Separation"
---

# §12684. Reserves: separation for absence without authority or sentence to imprisonment


The President or the [Secretary concerned](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-9) may drop from the rolls of the armed force concerned any [Reserve](/usc/10/101.md?p=c-6)—

- (1) who has been absent without authority for at least three months;
- (2) who may be separated under [section 12687 of this title](/usc/10/12687.md) by reason of a sentence to confinement adjudged by a court-martial; or
- (3) who is sentenced to confinement in a Federal or [State](/usc/10/18232.md?p=1) penitentiary or correctional institution after having been found guilty of an offense by a court other than a court-martial or other military court, and whose sentence has become final.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 103–337, div. A, title XVI, § 1662(i)(1), Oct. 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 2998; amended Pub. L. 104–106, div. A, title V, § 563(b)(2), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 325.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Prior Provisions

Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in section 1163(b) of this title, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 103–337, § 1662(i)(2).

### Amendments

1996—Pub. L. 104–106 struck out “or” at end of par. (1), added par. (2), and redesignated former par. (2) as (3).

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Section effective Dec. 1, 1994, except as otherwise provided, see section 1691 of Pub. L. 103–337, set out as a note under section 10001 of this title.