I knew a deserter who was sent back home from Nam when his younger sister died. He had been in combat and when he got home he decided to not go back. He was never held accountable.
Desertion in the face of the enemy is different from some guy in the motor pool in Louisiana going AWOL to shack up with his girlfriend. When I was a military officer at a stateside base, we had the occasional guy stop coming to work; after 30 days, he was technically a deserter rather than just AWOL. If they were apprehended, punishment ranged from reduction in rank, or a fine, to discharge under less than honorable circumstances. We never got around to shooting any of them. Hell, we didn’t even waste time looking for them unless we suspected foul play.
One of my neighbors fled the Marines after getting his orders to go to Iraq.
The Marines lost a really worthless guy when they lost him.
There were a fair number of folks who went awol during that ‘conflict’. Your friend’s story is so very very different than this POS deserter. Surely that is apparent to you. This dirt bag gave information to the enemy that improved their kill rate against American soldiers. That is more than being awol. It is worse than desertion (I have a great uncle who was dishonorably discharged from the 1st Virginia due to desertion shortly after the battle in some northern town in Pennsylvania). IT IS TREASON.
Those who commit treason ought to die.