No choice. Until he’s convicted, he’s a soldier entitled to pay. Regardless of what we believe about his soldierly qualities.
I’ve never heard of a deserter getting back pay.
It was the same with Major Nidal Hasan. No question the crime was committed, no dispute about the degree of guilt, yet somehow, the military authorities could not effectuate the proper sentence, because of “political correctness”.
PC is a curse which has damaged the territory once known as “the United States of America” almost to the point of obliteration.
The longer the conviction is delayed and the RIGHT sentence is not carried out, the less effectual the system seems to be.
As a former Air Force squadron commander 40 years ago, that doesn't sound entirely correct to me. There were several guys in my squadron who got their stripes pulled under Article 31 punishments and lost their pay for a time as well. But they didn't desert the squadron.
So if he is convicted of being a deserter and/or a traitor, do the taxpayers get their $300,000 in his back pay returned to the Treasury, for the time he supposedly was "entitled" to that pay while he was playing kissy-huggy with the Taliban enemy for five years?
If convicted, he's got to forfeit that back pay. If not, then that provides a strong incentive to go AWOL and desert and not have to carry out your assigned duties, in exchange for getting a big windfall when you return.
The problem is, he should have been charged immediately, in order to stop promotions and limit or stop backpay.