Shocking News: Desertion still a crime

Army deserter will be deported from Canada back to the US.

Jeremy Hinzman deserted the Army in 2004 after learning his unit was to be deployed to Iraq.

He refused to participate in what he calls an immoral and illegal war.

Hinzman fled to Canada along with his wife and son and sought refugee status.

I am fine with conscientious objectors, although I’d question why someone who is morally opposed to war joined the armed forces; desertion on the other hand I’m not okay with.

Contrary to what the stupid hippies are saying, this guy will probably not be sent to Iraq.  Instead, he’ll come back to the states, do a little jail time for desertion, and then get a dishonorable discharge, preventing him from voting or owning firearms.  I’m fine with that.

There are ways, even within a system like the military, to express your discontent with orders or policy – however, desertion is a crime, and is generally considered not one of the ways to go about it.  And like I said, I’m not even going to touch on the fact that I think it’s stupid to join any branch of the armed forces if you’re morally opposed to war.

11 Comments

  1. He wasn’t morally opposed to war until he was told to go.

    That’s just a guess, of course, but I’d put a beer on it.

    Don’t even get me started on desertion during a time of war….

  2. I’ve got no patience for those that join up in peace time for the benefits but chicken out when it comes time to go to war – remember that dentist a few years back? – but I have an immense respect for those C.O.s that join up in wartime and serve on the front line as medics and support personnel.

    While I may not agree with them, I cannot help but admire the integrity involved in believing so strongly in pacifism that, while you won’t take up arms against another human, you are willing to put your hide in harm’s way to help your fellow soldier.

    There have been many highly decorated Conscientious Objectors in past wars, I just don’t know how many people we have of that caliber of character today.

    Even the “wussies” of the Greatest Generation were a cut above.

    Joe

  3. A dishonorable punt is about the same as a felony conviction, when you’re filling out the 4473 to buy a gun, one of the dis qualifiers is “have you ever been discharged from the military under dishonorable” blah blah.

  4. I guess that makes it perfectly clear.

    I love it when they put “blah, blah” on official forms. Always good to see that the .gov has a sense of humor. 🙂

  5. When you consider the traditional penalty for desertion was death by firing squad, banning them from voting or having guns is pretty tame by comparison.

  6. He won’t get a DD. At worst he will get a bad conduct discharge with a little time at a regional confinement facility. And that is only because he went public and embarrassed the Army. If he had just let and kept his mouth shut, he would get a other than honorable discharge, be quickly outprocessed at Fort Knox, and would keep most of his benefits.

  7. “Don’t even get me started on desertion during a time of war….”

    I’m sorry, I must have missed it–when did Congress declare war again?
    I mean, if we’re going to defend the CONSTITUTION and all…and “not just the parts we like” a la the ACLU….

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