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Soldier from San Angelo goes AWOL, cites morals (total and complete barf)
San Angelo Standard-Times ^ | April 17, 2004 | Rick Smith

Posted on 04/17/2004 8:52:33 PM PDT by 76834

Soldier from San Angelo goes AWOL, cites morals By Rick Smith / San Angelo Standard-Times April 17, 2004

SAN ANGELO — Brandon Hughey knows why he made his decision and the penalty he faces.

Hughey, a San Angelo native and 2003 Central High School graduate, fled his Army unit before it shipped out to Iraq in March. It was, he says, his obligation to leave.

"I feel that if a soldier is given an order that he knows to not only be illegal, but immoral as well, then it his responsibility to refuse that order," he wrote in response to e-mailed questions from the San Angelo Standard-Times. "It is also my belief that if a soldier is refusing an order he knows to be wrong, it is not right for him to face persecution for it."

While he is seeking asylum as a refugee in Canada, Hughey is not keeping a low profile. His story has appeared in a number of international newspapers, and his Web site, www.brandonhughey.org, is updated regularly.

Hughey, 18, enlisted in the Army in 2003 and, after basic training, learned to drive a tank. He was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood in Killeen.

On his Web page, Hughey has written that he believes the war against Iraq was "based solely on lies" and that the war is illegal under international law.

"If you were given an order to participate in an unlawful occupation that is resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent people with no justifiable cause, would you be able to live with yourself if you carried out that order?" he wrote in his e-mail to the Standard-Times.

He also wrote that he is surprised by the support he has received from Americans and Canadians. He said he has received letters from well-wishers and donations to help with his legal fees.

On his Web site, he wrote he is optimistic about gaining refugee status. While he could face the death penalty for desertion during wartime if he returned to the United States, he said he believes such severe punishment is unlikely.

"I would most likely go to prison for a few years," he wrote.

Search for his son

Brandon Hughey had always been the son who caused David Hughey no trouble. The youngster made good grades, stayed out of trouble and played trumpet in the Central band.

"He’s a quiet kid," his father said. "He always has been."

Brandon Hughey decided to enlist in the Army while he was in school. The summer after graduation, he left for active duty.

The young recruit excelled during basic training, boosting his confidence, David Hughey said.

"I thought he was doing great," he said.

Hughey flew to Kentucky in November for his son’s military graduation ceremony.

"I was proud of him," he said. "He had accomplished something a lot of people are afraid to attempt.

"And he was proud of himself."

After basic training, Brandon Hughey trained as an M1 tank driver. His father thought "everything was coming together for him."

Then, in early March, the Army contacted David Hughey to tell him his son was absent without leave. He had left the base just before his unit deployed to Iraq.

"They said he was gone," Hughey said. "And I didn’t know where the heck he was."

David Hughey learned his son had deserted his unit after receiving a mysterious phone call from a car salesman in Indianapolis.

The salesman had sold Brandon Hughey a Mustang last summer. He told David Hughey that "some guy in Indianapolis had found Brandon’s car, without Brandon," David Hughey said. The salesman told David Hughey he didn’t know what happened to his son, but gave him the name and number of the Indianapolis contact.

"I thought maybe the kid was dead," David Hughey said. "I was incredibly worried that this kid was wandering around and would meet some people that aren’t any good."

David Hughey called the man in Indianapolis. Yes, the man told him, he had the car.

What about his son?

Come and get the car, the man told him.

David Hughey took a 6 a.m. flight to Indianapolis to meet the man, having "no idea who the hell he was. And I still didn’t know where my son was."

From a hotel near the Indianapolis airport, he called the man, who came with the car. Hughey asked about his son.

"He’s with good people," the man told him. "He’s in Canada."

David Hughey sighed, recalling the moment. "I just thought to myself, ‘Canada? Oh boy. Canada.’"

The Indianapolis man, an anti-war activist named Carl Rising-Moore, told David Hughey his son contacted him through the Internet. The soldier told him he did not want to deploy to Iraq. He asked for help reaching Canada. Rising-Moore met the soldier in Indianapolis and drove him across the Canadian border.

David Hughey said he wishes his son had not gone to Canada.

"I wanted him to honor his commitment," he said. "But he feels strongly enough about it that he took off. He didn’t want to go to Iraq. Whether he was opposed to the war, or scared, or both, he didn’t want to go."

He said he is still hopeful his son can return to the United States.

"Maybe things will still work out," he said. "That’s always a possibility, and I’m not going to give up on that.

"I worry about him. I don’t know what’s going to happen. But at least Brandon is safe."

Contact San Angelo Standard-Times staff writer Rick Smith at rsmith@sastandardtimes.com or (325) 659-8248.

(Excerpt) Read more at reporternews.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: canada; coward; texas; weiner; weinie; wot
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To: LucyJo
In my years as a young man in San Angelo, I would have loved to have known this kid.
I would have taken him to Zenter's Daughter, bought him a steak and tried to talk some sense into him.

Failing that, I would have taken him out to the spillway and kicked the living crap out of him!

61 posted on 04/18/2004 7:46:32 AM PDT by TexasCowboy (COB1)
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To: All
Their sacrifices WILL NEVER have been in vain!
62 posted on 04/18/2004 2:33:14 PM PDT by TexKat (Just because you did not see it or read it, that does not mean it did or did not happen.)
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To: TexasCowboy
That is exactly what he needed, and in that order.

I'd like to hear that the professional anti-war protestors, who are using the kid now, had been "taken to a spillway" too. They deserve worse.

63 posted on 04/18/2004 5:44:27 PM PDT by LucyJo
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To: TexKat
Thank you for this post, TexKat. Prayers going up for the loved ones.
64 posted on 04/18/2004 5:45:57 PM PDT by LucyJo
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To: TexKat
Beautiful.
65 posted on 04/18/2004 6:03:39 PM PDT by sistergoldenhair
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To: 76834
I feel that if a soldier is given an order that he knows to not only be illegal, but immoral as well, then it his responsibility to refuse that order," he wrote in response to e-mailed questions from the San Angelo Standard-Times. "It is also my belief that if a soldier is refusing an order he knows to be wrong, it is not right for him to face persecution for it."

Is running away the same as facing persecution? No. If the kid had any balls, he would have refused the order and stayed to accept the consequences.

66 posted on 04/18/2004 6:20:00 PM PDT by TankerKC (Can Muslims use HAM radios?)
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To: MeekOneGOP; Grampa Dave; SAMWolf
This little schmuck can stay in Canada and the U.S. can bill his daddy for the stolen taxpayer dollars it took to train him.

He's not "a soldier"--he's a criminal.

He's got zero morals so he can't have a moral objection.

He claims the war is "illegal"--a nonstarter.

His is a simple case of prison for years.

The network that enables him should be rounded up and presented to the hard-timers for recreational purposes.

67 posted on 04/18/2004 7:22:57 PM PDT by PhilDragoo (Hitlery: das Butch von Buchenvald)
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To: PhilDragoo; MeekOneGOP; Happy2BMe; potlatch; ntnychik; onyx; dixiechick2000

Paper-Cut Pansy


Another "be-1" Kerryitte







68 posted on 04/19/2004 1:49:21 AM PDT by devolve (................... ...........................Hello from Sunny South Florida!..........)
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To: Sci Fi Guy
Peoples always try to weasel out of their service during basic/boot training

This POS joined in 2003 well into the war in Iraq, he can't be that blind to what is going on in the world. If he really thought that the war was illegal, immoral or what ever the Army gives them the opportunity to walk away right up to the day of graduation from boot camp. Why didnt he walk then? This kid had an agenda from day 1 to get his 15 minutes of fame.
69 posted on 04/19/2004 2:08:16 AM PDT by boxerblues
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To: boxerblues
This kid had an agenda from day 1 to get his 15 minutes of fame.

I think so too. Especially after I found out he was seventeen when he enlisted and had to get his parents' permission to sign up. So he had to portray himself as very gung-ho at one point, yes?

I don't think anyone can be brainwashed that quickly, so he had to have had some involvement with these peacenik clowns beforehand. Maybe a teacher at his high school. I think he enlisted for the sole purpose of deserting later as a political statement.

70 posted on 04/19/2004 2:18:30 AM PDT by hellinahandcart
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To: 76834
When I enlisted 20 years ago, my father made it very clear to me that if I ever felt a strong urge to run to Canada - I needn't return. He also said that if he found out where I was, he'd come up and bring me back - strapped to the hood. Times change I guess.
71 posted on 04/19/2004 2:47:36 AM PDT by Sapper26 (I like W because he shoots first and asks questions later, you get fewer questions that way.)
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To: hellinahandcart
Sounds like his web site needs a good freeping lol. This kid is pathetic
72 posted on 04/19/2004 3:26:49 AM PDT by boxerblues
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To: BlkConserv
Instead of acting like used car salesmen, recruiters need to blunt and sober on what kids should expect when they join up, and give them some time to talk it over with their folks.

This kid HAD to talk it over with his folks first, because he was a minor when he signed up.

So at what point do you think we can blame the kid for his own actions, rather than everyone else?

73 posted on 04/19/2004 3:32:45 AM PDT by hellinahandcart
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To: 76834
"It is also my belief that if a soldier is refusing an order he knows to be wrong, it is not right for him to face persecution for it."

You won't, you little turd! You face prosecution, big difference.

74 posted on 04/19/2004 3:38:02 AM PDT by bullseye1911 (Not as good as I once was, but as good once as I ever was!)
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To: BlkConserv
Blame the recruiters, who sell a cheerful vision of the military to high-schoolers who haven't made up their minds on what they really want to do with their lives when they graduate and rarely discuss the issue of enlistment with their parents or relatives

Don't blame the recruiters, both of my sons recruiters were more than willing to spend as much time with us as we wanted. They were very blunt and to the point when it came to my youngest son who joined up as we were already at war in Afghanistan. There was no sugar coating of the truth for him. He signed on as a tank crew member with a 99.9% chance of being deployed right out AIT. This kid and possibly his parents had an agenda from the very beginning. He had the option of walking without consequences before bootcamp was over.
75 posted on 04/19/2004 3:39:26 AM PDT by boxerblues
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To: boxerblues
Heck when I was in Nam, we used to laugh about ways to get to Canada, but we always had to wait to get done with our Tour of Duty. I don't personally of anyone that ran. However upon my return to the States I used to go with Marines to pick up Cowards. As a Corpsman I was there to put Band aids on them in case they fell down. I would fall asleep and wake up and they would have bruises on there yellow bodies, never could figure that out.
76 posted on 04/19/2004 3:45:47 AM PDT by DocJ69
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To: alancarp
I had the exact same feeling on the timeline of the yellow stripe forming down his back...

Æ
77 posted on 04/19/2004 1:24:36 PM PDT by AgentEcho (If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers)
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To: All
Oh this is just total and complete BARF. From his website:

Michael Moore made Jeremy Hinzman's site his link of the week. How rad is that?

Moore's support of Jeremy has followed a deluge of interest in the story, and the phone has been ringing off the hook with media inquiries. That, plus lots of finicky paperwork, has kept Brandon very busy of late. Perhaps slightly less important (but only very slightly so), there's the playoffs and planning for his 19th birthday. Brandon has become a fanatical Leafs devotee ... For those of you in the rest of Canada, please don't hold it against him.

Æ
78 posted on 04/19/2004 1:33:08 PM PDT by AgentEcho (If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers)
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To: 76834
Soldiers have been going AWOL since day one. The difference today is that deserters are now given a microphone and unlimited column inches in the press.
79 posted on 04/19/2004 1:36:24 PM PDT by GSWarrior
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To: DocJ69
My mother of all people unknowingly helped a friend of my brother on his way to Canada. They both came on a weekend pass, this kid told my Mom that he was being shipped to another base and would she fix him some sandwichs and other goodies for the long bus ride. Come Sunday night they took my brother & his friend to the station and saw them off, it want until years later my Mom found out this kid hop on the first bus to Canada
80 posted on 04/19/2004 4:18:40 PM PDT by boxerblues
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