When every member of your unit says you deserted, then it will be hard for the administration to show that he did not desert.
If I deserted, what would I come up with as a story after I was caught?
“I was leaving to ____________” (fill in the blank)
Any defense after the fact has to begin something like that.
I suppose a real nutcase would say, “I was asleep in my bag and a team of special ops Taliban seized me and took me to _______________________”
And it sounds like a lot of them live in Hailey!