US soldier who abandoned unit returns from Canada

Associated Press ^ | February 10, 2009 | Russ Bynum

[Zakeet]

Sporting a dragon tattoo on his forearm and skulls on both biceps, Cliff Cornell's looks tough. But he dissolves into tears as he reflects on his return to the Army four years after he fled to Canada to avoid the war in Iraq.

"I'm nervous, scared," Cornell said, wiping puffy eyes beneath his sunglasses Monday at a Savannah hotel after a three-day bus ride from Seattle. "I'm just not a fighter. I know it sounds funny, but I have a really soft heart."

Cornell, 29, of Mountain Home, Ark., planned to turn himself in to military police Tuesday at nearby Fort Stewart, where he'll likely face criminal charges for abandoning his unit before it deployed to Iraq in January 2005.

He said he fled because he doesn't think the war has improved the lives of Iraqis, and he couldn't stomach the thought of killing.

"During my training, I was ordered that, if anyone came within so many feet of my vehicle, I was to shoot to kill," said Cornell, who enlisted in 2002 but never deployed to war. "I didn't join the military to kill innocents."

The Army artillery specialist made it to Canada in 2005 and soon started a new life working at a grocery store on Gabriola Island in British Columbia.

Cornell's exile ended last week when he crossed the U.S.-Canada border into Washington state. He left voluntarily to avoid deportation.

[Tallguy]

I don’t think “killing anybody within X feet of his vehicle” would have been part of the ROE for a 2005 deployment. He might be referring to stuff he heard in Basic or Advanced training in 2002 when the invasion was being planned.

In all reality he’s probably just providing feedback to the “Code Pink” types by telling them what they want to hear.

[Ronin]

No fine, no prison time. Dishonorable discharge and chuck him out the gate.

[Ronin]

A bullet in the head would be more than he deserves.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

The old standard test for a real c.o. was to ask them if they were willing to be reassigned to the Medical Service Corps, or the equivalent.

A real c.o. would usually be willing to be transferred from combat arms to a still “at risk” position where their life might still be endangered, but they would not be inclined to kill someone else. Carrying a stretcher in combat is not for the lily-livered.

If they refused MSC, then there was still the “out” of a psychiatric examination. This would look both for PTSD, and any pre-existing mental condition where they looked fine until put under pressure, then collapsed. Both of these are legitimate reasons for not sending them anywhere near combat, and they may no longer even be suitable for remaining in uniform.

Last, but not least, there are the rare individuals who have real problems unrelated to combat itself, and saw declaring themselves a c.o. as a way out of those problems. For example, a soldier who is being unfairly persecuted in his unit, or one who has severe family problems at home, but has been denied compassionate leave.

Then again, there are cowards. An unabashed coward is pretty worthless in combat, but still needs to be punished for the good of the morale of those who do their duty. The arrogant or stubborn coward is the kind that curses his duty and his country, aligns with the enemy and those opposed to the war effort, and is otherwise a scoundrel.

These are the ones that most need punishment, and gleeful punishment at that. They’ve earned it.

[ohioman]

“I have a soft heart, too; I break down at funerals and rejoice at births and weddings.

But when some lice-ridden 7th century lunatics murder 3000 Americans because they want their stupid-ass devil-worshiping religion to dominate the world, my soft heart turns to carborundum and I’m ready to kill.

This chicken-footed SOB gets no sympathy from me or my kind.”

Great Post! General Patton would be proud.

[Ole Okie]

The arrogant or stubborn coward is the kind that curses his duty and his country, aligns with the enemy and those opposed to the war effort

I was going to make a comment mentioning John F'n Kerry's name.

But that would be unkind to the honorable Sinator.

[Marauder]

Thanks, ohioman ... BTW, Mrs Marauder was born in Ashland. She’s not from Texas but she got here as quickly as she could. ;)

[ohioman]

Good move. Ohio is too much infested my left-wing, Union loving fools. Thank God for the military bases we have, which serve to offset (in SW Ohio at least) this leftist mentality.

[Marauder]

Think Ohio’s bad, try setting up your own display booth at any show in Chicago. My then-boss’s booth consisted of three panels held together by stove bolts and wingnuts, with velcro-attached signage and clamp-on lamps for lighting.

The union steward stopped us and said we had to get TWO carpenters to assemble the booth panels (one to hold the panels, the other to attach them), then hire a sign-painter and an electrician. The two carpenters I hired took their time walking to the site (clock started at punch-in back at the desk), and the first thing BOTH of them had to do when we arrived? They had to go take a dump! My comment as to the pain they must have been suffering while holding it for so long brought a threat to file a grievance.

After that was finally over, I kept watch for the steward while my boss placed the lettering, and he kept watch while clamped on the lamps and plugged them in. There is no way in hell I would live in a closed-shop state. I never cared for unions, but I was totally disgusted with them after that.

[RetiredArmy]

Coward. You joined. You ran. You deserted your fellow troops going off to war. I say, wall, firing squad, shoot the bastard.

[Eva]

I think that this is the same guy who was temporarily housed in the county jail in Bellingham, WA. The local leftist nuts wanted declare Bellingham a sanctuary city for draft dodgers and refuse to turn him over to the federal authorities.