Army desertion rate highest since 1980

[dv8grl]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071116/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/military_deserters

WASHINGTON - Soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980, with the number of Army deserters this year showing an 80 percent increase since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.

While the totals are still far lower than they were during the Vietnam war, when the draft was in effect, they show a steady increase over the past four years and a 42 percent jump since last year.

According to the Army, about nine in every 1,000 soldiers deserted in fiscal year 2007, which ended Sept. 30, compared to nearly seven per 1,000 a year earlier. Overall, 4,698 soldiers deserted this year, compared to 3,301 last year.

The increase comes as the Army continues to bear the brunt of the war demands with many soldiers serving repeated, lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military leaders — including Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey — have acknowledged that the Army has been stretched nearly to the breaking point by the combat.
And efforts are under way to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps to lessen the burden and give troops more time off between deployments. ? WHERE ARE THEY GOING TO GET THESE VOLUNTEERS?
Despite the continued increase in desertions, however, an Associated Press examination of Pentagon figures earlier this year showed that the military does little to find those who bolt, and rarely prosecutes the ones they get. Some are allowed to simply return to their units, while most are given less-than-honorable discharges

[gmyers]

With this war I'm surprised they haven't started drafting people into it yet. I really hope they don't because we have at least three that would have to go in my family. And I'd hate to see them have to go. Do ya'll think they will ever do that?

[JKATHERINE]

I'm so not surprised. Even the soldiers are getting sick of this war. There are so many demands on them and they're gone for so long....

[ilovecats]

I didn't read the article but wonder what happens to the deserters.Don't they have to go to jail?Are they in hiding?

[tigger4]

I worked at H & R Block this year on an Army base. The kids and I mean kids that were coming in there for their tax returns were heart breaking.

A lot of them were getting rapid refund loans because they were shipping out in a day or two. They needed to make sure their families were taken care of and they had to buy (yes, that's right buy) their equipment they would need in Iraq. It is not all provided for them.

These kids made anywhere between $13,000 and up. Granted they get housing allowances, food allowances, etc. But that isn't any kind of money. Hell that isn't even minimum wage in my state.

So, yes they are fed up. The vast majority of them were talking about how wrong this war was and how they did not want to go. And a lot of them had been before.

[Jolie Rouge]

U.S. Deserters Lose Bid For Canada Asylum
Canada Rejects Appeal By 2 U.S. Soldiers Who Fled To Canada In Protest Against Iraq War
OTTAWA, Nov. 15, 2007

(AP) Two U.S. Army deserters who fled to Canada and sought refugee status on grounds of their opposition to the war in Iraq have lost their bids to have the Supreme Court of Canada hear their cases.

The court refused Thursday to hear the appeals of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey, who were rejected by Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board in 2005.

The board ruled they would not be at risk of their lives if they returned to the United States, nor were they at risk of "cruel and unusual treatment or punishment."

Hinzman and Hughey deserted the U.S. Army in 2004 after learning their units were to be deployed to Iraq to fight in a war they have called immoral and illegal. The men argue that serving in Iraq would force them to commit crimes against civilians, and that they would be persecuted if forced to return to the United States.

Both the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal have refused to review their cases.

As is usual in such cases, the Supreme Court gave no reasons for its decision Thursday.

Hinzman fled from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with his wife and son in January 2004, weeks before his 82nd Airborne Division was due to go to Iraq. He had served three years in the U.S. Army, but had applied for conscientious objector status before his unit was sent to Afghanistan in 2002.

The 20-year-old Hughey was part of the 1st Cavalry in Fort Hood, Texas, and fled to Canada in March 2004.

Both would face jail time if convicted of desertion.

Hinzman and Hugley's defense lawyer Jeffry House noted earlier this year that about 20 U.S. military personnel have applied for refugee status in Canada. He estimated as many as 200 American war resisters were hiding in Canada, waiting to see how Hinzman's case is played out before coming forward.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/15/world/main3507379.shtml


I have zero tolerance for those who take the Governments money in the all volunteer Military and then cut and run for the hills when they have to pony up and take the risks their comrades are willing to face. As General Omar Bradley stated, “Courage is being able to do what is right while scared out of your wits.” These two knuckleheads are deserters and need to face the wraith of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice with the maximum penalty prescribed in the Manual for Courts Martial.

They joined the military and took the paycheck and the training and it never once dawned on them that they just might have to fight a war? Would they have gone if they’d been posted to Kosovo instead of Iraq or Afghanistan? After all, we are still fighting Bill Clinton’s war so they could always go there instead of fighting President Bush’s war.

What irks me more than anything is having to listen to someone call them “courageous war resistors”, give me a break,they are users. You meet this kind all through life, they use you for what they can get and then drop you like a hot potato when they have to step up.