When an Armor captain in West Germany, I was surprised to receive orders appointing me as Special Court Martial Trial Counsel (prosecutor). At that time, normally lieutenants were appointed to Special Court Martial duties. By this time in service, I had served as Defense Counsel and Trial Counsel. Ten defense cases were simple AWOLS resulting in guilty findings. My 11th defense resulted in a Not Guilty verdict in a barracks theft case. That quickly set the GI grapevine in motion (it earned me a reputation as an Olive Drab Clarence Darrow). In quick succession, I was requested to be Defense Counsel in two elimination Board hearings. I won these hands down. One reason, the rules of evidence were relaxed from Court Martials and leading questions were permissible. These victories made me very unpopular with battalion company commanders. The battalion adjutant finally got smart. Suddenly I could no longer be made available by reason of “Exigencies of the Service.” This was a legal term permitted by the Manual for Court Martial. In less than three weeks, new court martial orders were published appointing me Trial Counsel. Afterwards, I prosecuted some 21 cases successfully.

Apparently, proven legal expertise was the reason for my special appointment. BTW because of the nature of the case, I received a lot of coaching from the Division JAG Section.

Back to the unusual case. In short order, I learned I had been selected to prosecute a special case—one having political significance. It seems an individual in a sister mechanized infantry battalion had gone AWOL for nine months and this constituted Desertion. But… it was a complicated case. Formerly, he had been an NCO authorized government quarters. After several legal actions he was reduced in grade and was no longer eligible for government quarters. His unit departed for semi-annual training at Grafenwöhr but he was left behind with the Rear Detachment to clear government quarters. He left the Kaserne for the purpose of clearing quarters and moving his family onto the German economy. While doing so, he went astray and started driving up Bundestrasse (highway) 40 towards Fulda on the East German border. He and a buddy stopped every so often at German Gasthauses to drink and buy German beer. Clearly, they were inebriated.

Eventually, they ended up at the border east of Fulda and backed the Mercedes up to the plowed strip. The individual kept yelling towards the East German Border Police and took a snap cap beer bottle, placing it on a mound of dirt as a gift, of sorts. His buddy needed another beer so sat in the driver’s seat a moment. He heard yelling and looked back through the gap between the trunk lid and back deck to see five border police marching his friend into East Germany at bayonet point—like spokes of a wheel.

Nine months later, the accused was turned over to US Military Police at Check Point Charlie in Berlin. He was immediately incarcerated and debriefed in depth by Military Intelligence. Their report was highly classified. From it, it was learned that he had been imprisoned by the Russians at a location believed to be in Western Russia. Much was learned by determining the thrust of Russian interrogation. Since it was classified, I could not use the information in prosecuting the individual. It proved unnecessary.

There were a number of things making it an unusual case. First, the US did not recognize the East German Government; Second, he had initially been on an authorized absence but at some indeterminant point in time was no longer on authorized absence; Third, he was actually a deserter under the military law; Fourth, the powers-to-be (on legal advice) decided to forego Desertion for a charge of AWOL—with immediate elimination from the service; and, Fifth, the Russians had made his capture a political victory during the Cold War.

His trial quickly produced a finding of Guilty On All Charges and Specifications, the record of trial was completed in record time, he was boarded out of the Army and was escorted to a troop ship at Bremerhaven in a little over two weeks. GEW, Col, USA, (Ret).

TL/DR; I signed an affidavit, waited for it to come, sold it, and paid a lot in taxes.

In December of 2000 I bought a used Miata from a Hyundai dealership. As we were wrapping up the sale, the salesman informed me that he had entered my name in a promotional sweepstakes that Hyundai was running at the time (I believe it was called “Team Match.” It was golf themed.) I was a little bit annoyed the salesman had done this without my permission, believing I would end up on numerous mailing lists.

About 7 weeks later, I got a letter all right. It was basically the exact opposite of the old Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes that used to come in the mail: nothing garish or flashy about it. In fact, it came in a plain white #10 envelope. There was a single page informing me that if I was over 18 (or possibly 21) and neither I nor my immediate family was an employee of Hyundai of America, I was the grand prize winner of the sweepstakes into which I had been entered weeks before, and I would be receiving a 2001 Hyundai XG300L valued at $25,000 (the value was included in the letter) which was the nicest car Hyundai made at that time.

I mailed back the affidavit and went to the dealership where I selected the color (silver) and trim level (L – the higher of the two available) and was told it would take about 6 months for the car to be shipped from Korea. I believe it had to go to Long Beach, CA and then get trucked up to Eugene, OR where I was living.

That gave me plenty of time to decide what I was going to do. I already had 2 cars: a 1989 Ford Taurus SHO of which I was quite fond, and the 1996 Miata that had led to me winning the Hyundai into the first place. Keeping the Hyundai and selling the other 2 cars to pay the taxes on it crossed my mind. I’d have a paid for new car with the ridiculous 10 year warranty that was newly available then (and was basically the only reason people bought Hyundais in the early 2000s.)

But I was also a single guy in my mid 20s living in an apartment. Having the equivalent of a brand new Korean Buick seemed counter to my goals at the time.

I considered seeing if I could trade the XG300 for the newly introduced Santa Fe SUV, but I think it would have been a losing deal or more money for me. I had fun test driving barely used Miatas and well used Porsches with the idea that I could keep the Taurus for my daily driver and upgrade the “fun” car – the 5 year old Miata + the new Hyundai into a more fun second car. I brought the letter from Hyundai to the dealerships to show I was serious about buying a used 911 Porsche and not just some kid out for a joyride, and that had the desired “take all the time you need” effect and first class treatment. In typing this, I realize my situation would be incredibly easy to fake with any computer printer and a rehearsed delivery.

In the end, sensibility won out. I took delivery of my Hyundai in June, 5 months after I won it. I believe it just involved going to the dealership and signing a form. The manager wanted to take my picture with it, and I obliged. It was a far faster process than buying a car. In reading other answers to this question, it seems my experience was streamlined considerably by the fact that I won the car from Hyundai directly and not a radio station, game show, or sports team.

After the drive home, I drove it two more times: once to school to show off to my co-workers, and the other time I carefully drove it 100 miles to a Hyundai dealer in Portland who had offered to buy it for $18,000 – the best offer I got after placing a few ads and contacting several Hyundai dealers in the I-5 corridor.

Unfortunately, the IRS valued the Hyundai at the MSRP of $25,000, so about half of the $18,000 went to paying the taxes, but I used the rest to buy nice Italian leather furniture for my new house that I purchased that May. I had no regrets about my decision. I kept the Taurus another 3 years, the Miata another 19, and the couches another 22.