Soldier receives orders to Fort Riley, goes AWOL

A US soldier is AWOL from his duty station in New York- and it might have something to do with a pending transfer to Kansas.

As if Fort Riley didn’t have enough stigma attached to it, the mother of a missing Fort Drum soldier suspects this pending transfer to the relatively-remote Army post may have played a factor in her son’s disappearance.

“I can’t even imagine where he would have gone,” said Erin Nichols, mother of missing Specialist Trevor Nichols.

Nichols, who was supposed to report to Riley on December 7, was reportedly listed as AWOL on November 15 before his status was changed to “deserter” just over a month later.

However, given his recent return from an Iraq tour last May and the fact that he and his wife (who share a child together) were estranged, there may be other factors at play.

According to WHIO, Nichols was last heard from on November 14, when he was trying to move his wife’s belongings into storage.

Enlisting in 2012, Nichols has both an Afghanistan and Iraq tour under his belt and was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division’s First Brigade Combat Team at the time of his disappearance and subsequent status change.