At least 1,000 UK soldiers desert

BBC ^ | May 28,2006 | BBC

[rawcatslyentist]

Yeah, but just wait till the caliphate starts to bomb London again, like their forefather Adolph did!

Then they'll volunteer!

Poor little weak minded commie pawns! Thank God most of em wake up and grow up! It's unfortunate that it takes near decimation to bring understanding to the masses.

[Dog Gone]

The underlying theme of the article is that British soldiers are deserting because of the Iraq war.

Yet nowhere do we read that the numbers of deserters is really up from historical levels, nor could they find a single one who left his post in Iraq.

The article is pure spin and I think it's fair to point that out.

[mtbopfuyn]

MoD figures show 2,670 soldiers went "absent without leave" in 2001, with the figure rising to 2,970 in 2002 and falling in 2003 to 2,825. In 2004 it rose to 3,050, falling back again in 2005 to 2,725.

Figures don't correspond with headling of "1000 Desert". However, it could be that 1000 desert (that being apples) compared to nearly 3000 are AOL (being the oranges). Bottom line, the article was goofy.

[mtbopfuyn]

The London bombings are already forgotten by the British.

Far too many here have forgotten 9/11 too. Or they just don't care.

[weegee]

Lord Haw Haw wouldn't have had to go to Germany to slam the Allies if these twits had been running the BBC.

[Minus_The_Bear]

Sadly I expect our own AWOL numbers to be around the same. That said the British have no clue what they are doing in Basra.

[68skylark]

It's not a great suprise that numbers of troops deserting would rise during a time of actual war operations as opposed to during more routine peacetime operations? I think we can file this one under 'meh'...

The desertion rate in the U.S. military has dropped since 9/11. So no, war doesn't always mean an increase in the rate.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

From the article (AWOL):

MoD figures show

2001 2,670
2002 2,970
2003 2,825
2004 3,050
2005 2,725

No huge systematic increase with the start of the War in 2003.

The British may be different to (sic) the American military, but in the US, there's - in increasing order of severity - "failure to repair" (pulling your covers over your head and missing roll call), AWOL (waking up Monday morning in your Schatzie's flat) and desertion (throwing away your uniform, living in your grandma's basement and taking a job a 7/11).

Failure to repair can result in anything from "extra training" to court-martial, AWOL is generally handled by nonjudicial (Article 15) punishment, while actual desertion usually results in a court-martial and Dishonorable Discharge.

[jankp]

...a law that will forbid military personnel from refusing to participate in the occupation of a foreign country.

One presumes from such a statement the only war the British would then be inclined to participate, would be one that requires action on their own soil. Next stop!

Going crazy and dying in Euroland.

[jankp]

Scratch/Ignore the above post. I misread the quote.

[Jessarah]

I had to turn it off. Our POTUS apologized only to help our Prime Minister Blair and his weak-kneed countrymen.

What did he apologize about? I missed that story.

[DTogo]

And the British military is probably better off without them.

[Cinnamon]

exactly. no loss but gain there.

[Sam Cree]

"It comes as Parliament debates a law that will forbid military personnel from refusing to participate in the occupation of a foreign country."

The UK needs a special law requiring troops to obey their orders? Weird.

[Tommyjo]

"1. The British armed forces are integrated. Many of those are the immigrants or first borns of foreigners."

The UK Armed Forces can barely recruit ethnic minorities. Would you care to explain your reasoning behind your number 1 statement?

[eyespysomething]

[Tangaray]

That's probably an average number. In our military about 8000 get court-martialed every year. Its reality.

[FreedomCalls]

MoD figures show 2,670 soldiers went "absent without leave" in 2001, with the figure rising to 2,970 in 2002 and falling in 2003 to 2,825. In 2004 it rose to 3,050, falling back again in 2005 to 2,725.

Figures don't correspond with headling of "1000 Desert". However, it could be that 1000 desert (that being apples) compared to nearly 3000 are AOL (being the oranges). Bottom line, the article was goofy.

From the article, the first and second paragraphs:

"More than 1,000 members of the British military have deserted since the start of the Iraq war, the BBC has learned."

"Figures for those still missing are 86 from 2001, 118 from 2002, 134 from 2003, 229 from 2004, 377 from 2005, and 189 for this year so far."

The headline was about desertation rates, not AWOL rates.

[Popman]

My brother joined the Navy 15 years ago.

He had some "extra training" for "failure to repair"

He told me he had to do something like 1,000 push ups, 1,000 sit ups, 1,000 jumping jacks, etc, etc.

It took him like 18 hours to finish, but he was "cured"

Today he is an officer.

[FairOpinion]

What was the desertion rate BEFORE that? I bet it's about the same.