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| AWOL Soldiers in Canada Upset About Being Returned to Units Instead of Being Discharged |
| 2006-11-04 |
| Enjoy the self-absorption displayed by these lads....they seem to think that the military is some kind of democracy.... Since going to Canada to avoid Looks like they're settling for getting you by the balls, Corey. Kyle Snyder, a one-time combat engineer who joined the military in 2003, disappeared Wednesday, a day after surrendering at Fort Knox and 18 months after fleeing to Vancouver instead of redeploying to Iraq. Snyder, 23, of Colorado Springs, Colo., said a deal had been reached for a discharge, but he found out he would be returned to his unit at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. His "See, it's all the military's fault....if they just would let us out of our commitments without penalties, it would all be fine, really. They're just meanies!!" "Nobody's going to come back from Canada anymore," said James Fennerty, a Chicago-based attorney who represents Snyder and other AWOL soldiers. Oh, dear. Wouldn't that be a tragedy.... Several soldiers who went to Canada have said they don't want to return to Iraq. Sgt. Patrick Hart, who deserted the Fort Campbell, Ky.-based 101st Airborne Division in August 2005, a month before his second deployment, said he felt misled about the reasons for the war. "How can I go over there if I don't believe in the cause? I still consider myself a soldier, but I can't do that," said Hart, a Buffalo, N.Y., native who served more than nine years in the military. Gee, next time we'll be sure to consult with you first before heading out, m'kay?? "The whole story behind it, it all feels like a big lie," Glass said. "I ain't fighting for no lie." Fennerty said he reached a deal with the Army allowing Snyder, a private with the 94th Engineer Battalion, to receive an other-than-honorable discharge. It's a deal similar to one Darrell Anderson, a 24-year-old Iraq war veteran, received in October. After three days at Fort Knox, Anderson, who has denounced the war as "illegal" and "immoral," was released to his family in Lexington, then discharged. But Snyder ended up at a bus station in Louisville, with orders to go to St. Louis, then Fort Leonard Wood. Snyder, who said the brutality of what he saw happening to civilians in Iraq prompted him to desert, left with an anti-war activist instead of going back to the post. Gini Sinclair, a Fort Knox spokeswoman, declined to address Snyder's case. But she said deserters who turn themselves in are automatically returned to their units if the unit is in the United States at the time of surrender. Once reunited with the unit, the commander there decides what becomes of the soldier, Sinclair said. When a soldier surrenders at Fort Knox and is sent to his unit, he is either put on a plane or a bus, sometimes alone, she said. "In some cases, they will be escorted," Sinclair said. "I don't know what decides if that happens." That policy, and the question of whether an AWOL soldier can reach a deal that trumps it, is causing consternation among soldiers. "After what they did to him, I don't see anybody going back," said Glass, a Fairmount, Ind., native who is currently in Toronto. Bummer. And Fairmount was gonna throw you a "Welcome Home" party with clowns and balloons and everything.... Some are seeking refugee status in Canada. Hart, who was joined in Toronto by his wife and their 3-year-old son, served time in Bosnia in the early 1990s, became a reserve, then went to Iraq after returning to active duty. The idea of returning to the United States is appealing to Hart, because he would like to see family and friends. "I could see going back under some kind of amnesty program or something like that," Hart said. "But I don't trust them. My enemy isn't foreign now. It's domestic." |
| Posted by:Swamp Blondie |
| #15 You’re sent back to your original unit [if it still exists - some Vietnam/Korea era deserters would find the unit disbanded]. It is SOP. That’s where the personnel ‘paper work’ process starts. The papers have to be completed and signed off by the Courts Martial level authority, usually a Division level General Officer. The longer you screw around, the longer its going to take. They don’t want you anymore than you want to be among them, but there is no ‘Holding Company’ for the likes of you and generally another unit isn’t tagged with keeping track of you and dealing with your behavior problems till the ink in dry. Of course there is the option of being assigned to the Inmate Control Unit at Fort Leavenworth, but that usually requires a minimum tour of duty of greater than 180 days. |
| Posted by: Procopius2K 2006-11-04 21:33 |
| #14 Deseertion is a felony. the people helping the deserters should be tried and imprisoned for aiding and abetting the comission of a felony, and for conspiricy to commit a felony, the property used (safe houses, cars, etc) should be siezed under RICO. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2006-11-04 17:51 |
| #13 They will all come back. Things will be fine and after a few years they will have thought it's all forgotten. Then, one day, they will get pulled over for a traffic ticket and the police will run their info..... BAM! Turned back over to federal custody. Actually, 220 is a small number when you consider how many rotations units have been on for OIF/OEF. Let Canada keep them. |
| Posted by: Armylife 2006-11-04 13:35 |
| #12 Aw, poor babies. My heart bleeds, really it does. News flash, guys: Jimmuh the Rabbit Killer ain't the President no more, and you don't get no amnesty. Stay in Canada fo all I fuckin' care. |
| Posted by: mojo 2006-11-04 13:28 |
| #11 Why aren't they being hung? |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2006-11-04 12:52 |
| #10 Perhaps others were subjected to some kind of conditions or experiences that pushed them over the edge - could they have been saved by different 'handling.? Perhaps even some were participants in/witnesses to legitimate atrocities - obviously that would need to be addressed. The point is, there are valuable lessons to be learned from these men and we should try to learn them. (I am being purely pragmatic here, and make no moral or PC defense of the deserters.) Gee, Glenmore, if it wasn't for your disclaimer at the end I would have pegged you for a "Root Causes®" kind of guy. |
| Posted by: Mick Dundee 2006-11-04 12:35 |
| #9 Don't let the screen door hit ya, boys. Enjoy the snow. |
| Posted by: anon 2006-11-04 11:23 |
| #8 The rest ...I think we need to look hard at who is talking to them. And put them up for treason. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-11-04 10:56 |
| #7 Glenmore, you've got a point - it is pounded into the troops' heads from day 1 that desertion is the ultimate disgrace and the authorities never forget - there was an article a few months back that mentioned the FBI is still (officially) looking for deserters from WWII and Korea. But I think we're looking at it from the wrong angle. Look at the people who these clowns are talking to - I truly believe that there is a concerted effort to subvert the US military out there, and it doesnt take much to learn how to play on someone's fears and feelings. Some of these guys - a VERY small percentage - may have bailed because they didn't believe. The rest ...I think we need to look hard at who is talking to them. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2006-11-04 10:13 |
| #6 Notice that none ever desert to Mexico? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2006-11-04 10:10 |
| #5 Going back and facing your prior peers who did go to Iraq and fight must be pretty tough for these pussies. Did any guys in their unit get killed on the last deployment? |
| Posted by: Penguin 2006-11-04 10:01 |
| #4 Well, I'm not going to advocate the military employ time-honored penalty for deserters. I'm a nice guy that way... maybe too nice. Leavenworth sounds appropriate, tho. |
| Posted by: markawarka 2006-11-04 10:00 |
| #3 Abandoning your country is no casual decision. And at least some of these guys seem to have enlisted post Iraq invasion, so they knew they were heading for war. 220 is no trivial number - and that's just the ones who say they want to return. Something significant seems to have happened to them & it would make sense for the US military authorities to try to understand just what it was. Some people just aren't psychologically capable of combat, or even of deployment - can we recognize them before investing in them? Perhaps others were subjected to some kind of conditions or experiences that pushed them over the edge - could they have been saved by different 'handling.? Perhaps even some were participants in/witnesses to legitimate atrocities - obviously that would need to be addressed. The point is, there are valuable lessons to be learned from these men and we should try to learn them. (I am being purely pragmatic here, and make no moral or PC defense of the deserters.) |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-11-04 09:59 |
| #2 leave em there and revoke their citizenship. Declare them PNG and never allow them back. Ever |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-11-04 09:33 |
| #1 ...Can you say 'desertion', assclown? They never, EVER forget that one. If you're hiding out in the hope that a future administration will tell you all is forgiven, forget it. Not even Jimmah pardoned the deserters. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2006-11-04 09:31 |