Posted on 12/06/2007 7:48:10 AM PST by reaganaut1
Since the beginning of the war, hundreds of deserters have fled to Canada, fearful of being jailed or forced to return to duty. It’s starting to look like they need not have bothered: Despite troop shortages and problems hitting recruitment targets, Pentagon officials say it would be a poor use of time to go after deserters. “We don’t actively look for a deserter or have bounty hunters who go out knocking on doors,” Army spokesman Major Nathan Banks says. “It doesn’t serve our purpose to lose manpower or focus in the global war on terror to find them, because the system is set up [so] that they’ll be caught.” The military enters deserters’ names into a national criminal database at the FBI, which is alerted when an absconder is stopped for a routine traffic violation or does anything to trigger a background check. The official military line remains that desertion is grave misconduct. “The Army has always taken the offense of desertion very seriously and taken legal action accordingly,” the Army’s official Desertion Fact Sheet reads. “During periods when our Nation is at war, addressing desertion becomes even more critical as any case of desertion represents an erosion of readiness, impacting our mission to defend the Nation.”
But Lawrence A. Hildes, a Bellingham, Washington, attorney who has represented about two dozen military deserters since the war began, says that the time it would take to track each deserter influences the military’s approach. “The military doesn’t have the personnel to fight the war—they certainly don’t have the personnel to run around chasing people down,” he says. The wisdom appears to be that as long as they don’t attract the attention of law enforcement, deserters are in little danger of getting caught.
(Excerpt) Read more at men.style.com ...
IIRC, some of these freaks are gone a year and the military only goes after them for AWOL, when they fit the bill for desertion.
Why always Canada? Does Canada provide some sort of special sanctuary to deserters?
Neither of which exist. LOVE the way the Junk Media simply makes facts up sell their hyped up, valueless product
No we don’t, but American liberals seem to think we do. Even during the Vietnam war, deserters were extradited on request.
To cite one notable celebrity hypocrite...”Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time”.
There wasn’t a day in the 4 years I was in the military service that I didn’t regret my enlistment, and counted the days off on a calendar. It takes self discipline to honor a contract. Years later, I am a professional making great money, and I owe it all to the G.I. Bill getting me through an M.S. degree in college, and the self discipline to ride out the storms that hit me periodically throughout my life.
Cuz it beats the hell out of Mexico ;)
They did during Vietnam for draft avoiders. But they can, and usually have, returned deserters.
Canada my foot. I know one working in a local restaurant. The military doesn’t even seem to care.
Used to be 30 days +.
Because they think that Canada is liberal and won’t throw them out, and because it’s close by, easy to enter, and has a similar culture and language.
Turn him in to the military police. I'll be they'll have him arrested.
I know this idea may be met with derision and distaste, but if the military isn’t willing to go after deserters...
...what if someone else does?
Do you think the military would be pleased if they got a phone call as to where to find a deserter, bound hand and foot, waiting nearby a military base for the MP’s to come and escort his sorry butt to the stockade?
A no-lose situation: Save the military the trouble of using the manpower to find these miscreants, and a dirty traitor get the justice they so richly deserve.
What say you?
It’s from Details magazine... they’re sort of the college drop-out hipster version of GQ. I expect nothing less than a wide range of half-truths, outright lies, and general fantasyland idiocy from a magazine that ranks news about Kanye West’s hair products right up there with what is happening in the WOT.
A no-lose situation: Save the military the trouble of using the manpower to find these miscreants, and a dirty traitor get the justice they so richly deserve.
What say you?
I say if you get caught doing it youi better be prepared to face kidnapping charges.
You don't have to do it yourself. Call the MPs and let them pick him up.
Think years from now. Guy applies for a mortgage, any kind of job requiring a background/employment check - he’s toast. And there’s no statute of limitations, either.
BINGO!
BTTT...
Come on, think a bit. Which country would you run to if you were trying to renig on a promise(I.E.: enlistment), Mexico or Canada?
Deserters’ discharges are all the retribution needed. Try finding a job in the U.S. with a DD or BCD.
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