US deserters aren’t happy in Canada either
The Associated Press reports that some of the fellows who deserted to Canada rather than honor their pledge to serve their country are still hiding out there and they’re not happy with their current situation since the Canadians aren’t as hospitable as the deserters had hoped;
There are an estimated two dozen U.S. military members still waiting out their fate in Canada, and the resisters’ movement is seen as nearing a crossroads. With a national election three months away, supporters are hopeful for a Liberal Party victory and more sympathetic stance toward American military exiles, but bracing for the possibility Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper wins re-election.
[…]
“Military deserters from the United States are not genuine refugees under the internationally accepted meaning of the term,” Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokeswoman Nancy Caron said in an emailed statement. “These unfounded claims clog up our system for genuine refugees who are actually fleeing persecution.”
TSO wrote about on of those deserters back in 2008, Corey Glass, who wasn’t even really a deserter no matter how much he wanted to be. Say waht you want about the Obama Administration, but they’ve been sending these deserters to prison when they return from the frozen North;
Besides Hart, at least three other soldiers who were deported or left Canada have been sent to prison: Pfc. Kim Rivera, a mother of five, was sentenced in 2013 to 10 months; Spc. Clifford Cornell of Mountain Home, Arkansas, received a one-year term in 2009, and Pfc. Robin Long of Boise, Idaho, was sentenced in 2008 to 15 months.
Of course, most of them have been represented by James Branum, Esq., quite possibly the worst criminal defense lawyer in history. So, we have that going for us. I support the Canadian liberals in this instance, though. The Canadians should keep them, we don’t need them back. These paragraphs about deserter Patrick Hart kills me, though;
Hart left his Fort Campbell, Kentucky, base in 2005, a month before he was to be sent to Iraq and after serving nearly a year in Kuwait in 2003. He now lives in Florida and is pursuing a nursing degree, helped by the G.I. Bill. He is seeking to have his bad conduct discharge — a step up from dishonorable — upgraded to other than honorable.
“Up until the second part of the Iraq War, I was pretty much a model soldier,” said the sergeant, who had hoped his more than 10-year record would work in his favor upon his return, “but they didn’t see it that way.”
Yeah, funny how a soldier refusing to go to war can screw up his career, huh? Oh, yeah, AP, he’s not a sergeant. The Army doesn’t send sergeants to prison.
Category: Shitbags
“…James Branum, Esq., quite possibly the worst criminal defense lawyer in history.”
Worse than B…oh that’s right, he’s a civil ambulance chaser…but not for long I’ve read.
Last deserter executed was PVT.Sovaic? Misspelled..this guy said he would keep running away from the frontline. I remember when they drafted for Nam, and yes people who we knew split to Canada…wonder what happened to them? Wait, I don’t care..
DESERTERS and TRAITORS…………..
Where is BERGDAHL?
Yes, what happened to him? Is it true he joined the losers and they exchanged six assholes?
You would think the Canadians would have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with them since many of their own military fought and died as well. They’ll all start claiming PTSD to get their BCD’s upgraded because they “feared for their lives” if they were deployed. All they have to do is get the right C&P examiner or keep filing appeals until they do.
Sir as a Canadian I share your viewpoint because to me a deserter is about as bad as a murderer no matter which country he or she comes from as well I have read and heard that our military is against the idea of foreign deserters on our soil
How does a BCD get VA education benefits?
“He now lives in Florida and is pursuing a nursing degree, helped by the G.I. Bill.”
Living in Mom’s basement, no doubt. Good luck on the nursing job app, where you can put your BCD and prison time down. Actions have consequences.
Medical facilities are usually very thorough in doing background checks when hiring, that prison time is gonna hurt him in his job search!!
Yup it will. My caregiver who I trusted with my dads care and mine, sold my meds at a college. So stupid, he wears a Fentenyl patch into jail. Busted bringing a controlled substance into jail.Getting a nurses license was put on hold for until he finished serving prison time. Got out and busted again for writing out prescriptions on stolen forms, using a stolen driver license and checkbook. Bye bye birdie…
You can’t get a nursing license in Florida with a felony conviction, and shouldn’t be getting GI Bill. So, he is wasting his time in school.
How the fuck does someone with a Big Chicken Dinner get GI Bill benefits? Deserting sonavabich should get a kick in the ass. 10 years in means fuck-all when you decide to go over the hill.
Ditto.
How the fuck does someone with a Big Chicken Dinner get GI Bill benefits?
Because he completed at least one prior term of service with an honorable discharge. A BCD will kill the GI bill for your current term of service. (In fact, any discharge for desertion is a statutory bar to VA benefits in general.) But if you completed a prior enlistment honorably you can get benefits based on the prior term.
There are a few exceptions — if you’re convicted of things like espionage, releasing classified information, treason, aiding the enemy, etc., your discharge can “reach back” and kill your benefits from the earlier terms of service. Otherwise, no.
Maybe its a good idea to add desertion to the list.
In general I really hate deserters, but I think that would be too harsh. “Desertion” can includes a person who comes back two days late from R&R, or a person who runs away from his stateside post with the intent to remain away permanently, then changes his mind and comes back the next day. (He was guilty of desertion the moment he left with the requisite intent, and turning himself in doesn’t negate the guilt…though it sure makes him look better.)
Yes, they’ve both committed crimes and ought to be punished…but reaching back to prior terms of enlistment to take away earned benefits is too harsh in those lower-end cases.
In general a “characterization of service” is supposed to be just that…a characterization of service for that particular term of service, not a “characterization of your whole life, before and after that service.”
P.S. – That should be, “A person who comes back to a combat zone two days late from R&R.” (i.e., desertion with intent to shirk hazardous duty or important service).
Canada doesn’t want them! Canada has their own Veterans they are very proud of, they don’t want a bunch of chicken shyt cowards!! Send them to the middle east!
2 days late is not desertion, it is AWOL absent without leave…..BIG difference!
Returning from R&R 2 days late is unauthorized absence. Desertion starts on the 31st day of a UA period.
The “30 day” thing is a popular myth, but it is in fact a myth.
The difference between AWOL and Desertion is the intent, not the length of absence. Thus, in United States v. Thun (1993), a man was properly convicted of desertion with intent to remain away permanently even though he was gone only three hours. In United States v. Williams (1953), a man was guilty only of AWOL even though he was gone for several months (if I remember, he went to work the family farm but he always intended to return).
The statute is Article 85 of the UCMJ; you can read it yourself here. “30 days” is no part of the definition. (“Important service” includes any kind of combat zone service; it can even include training up for a deployment, so “intent to shirk important service” is very easy to prove.)
The reason for the myth is that for administrative purposes, a person is dropped from the rolls and a deserter warrant may be issued after 30 days…but that is not the same as being guilty of the crime of desertion. The moment you leave (or fail to return) with the requisite intent, you are guilty of the crime.
Alberich is correct. While I think it’s BULLSHIT, here’s what the Montgomery GI Bill info pamphlet says:
You must meet the following requirements-
“Receive a fully honorable discharge.
To use MGIB after you’re separated from
active duty, your discharge must be fully
honorable. Discharges “under honorable
conditions” and “general” discharges don’t establish eligibility for MGIB.
However, if you have more than one
period of service, and receive an other
than honorable discharge from one period,
you may be able to qualify if you receive
an honorable discharge from another
period of service. (A period from which
you were discharged in order to reenlist
may meet the eligibility requirements).”
While it rankles in this clown’s case, overall I think it is a good policy. It takes away a strong disincentive to reenlist.
I mean, anyone who sticks around and becomes an NCO has to watch out for the day he gets hit with a false accusation of some kind by a disgruntled Soldier….if the GI bill from his lower-enlisted days is on the line every time that happens, his natural incentive is to get the hell out. Then where would we get our long-term NCO corps?
I’ve seen a unit get “chapter fever” after a deployment, deciding they’re so awesome that first mistakes become last mistakes. And I’ve seen good performers lose their edge and become something less. And heaven knows I’ve seen my share of false or dubious accusations. In the end the command has to be able to deal with its troops as it sees fit…but I like putting some limits on how far they can reach.
Jonn, I’ve been a long time lurker but felt compelled to comment. I’m a proud Canadian and as such I don’t want these worthless scum sucking pond filth in my beautiful country. PM Harper has done a lot to restore Canadian pride.
If the liberals or heaven forbid the NDP get in then yes these assholes will have the red carpet rolled out for them. please keep locking them up. It’s the only way ssholes learn they can’t dodge their responsibilities without repercussions.
These deserter pukes are living breathing insults to those Canadian soldiers who died in action in Afghanistan, and especially to those Canadian KIAs’ surviving families and kin…
I knew someone who ran off to Canada when he got his draft notice in 1965. He was a doctor, specializing in pathology. I hope he’s still rotting up there.
Did he know how to diagnose a chronic case of THS?
[i.e., Tiny Heart Syndrome]
I thought that was Timid Heart Syndrome?
We should ask your physician acquaintance, him being the SME and all.
(Subject Matter Expert? Or Scuzzy Military Escapee? No matter, he’s both.)
New one to remember
I’m glad to read that there are Canadians who dislike our trash as much as we do.
Oh, yeah, AP, he’s not a sergeant. The Army doesn’t send sergeants to prison.
Technically a person with the rank of sergeant can go to prison. If his sentence is short enough and it doesn’t include a BCD (the way this guy’s does), then there is no automatic reduction in rank.
That doesn’t affect what Jonn said in this case because this boyo got the automatic reduction to E-1 even if he didn’t get it as part of his sentence (as I assume he did; it’s typically part of any sentence that includes a BCD or serious time). Furthermore, I’ve never actually seen a sergeant get jail time without a reduction to a lower enlisted rank. But it could happen.
Clint Eastwood did a movie that describes my feeling about these ass holes. “Hang ‘Em High”!
These northbound traitors and deserters MIGHT, just maybe MIGHT, find a warmer and more hospitable welcome from our northern brethren IF they actually had any useful job skills and real work ethic. But considering all things with these douche heads, ummm. . . . I’m thinking not so much on the part of the footloose wandering crybabies.
Aren’t they all trying to get Canadian welfare?
DING!DING!DING! (touches nose)
Exactly, these turds tried to leech off the US military until it was time to man up.
They are the type to suck any social assistance program dry.
Word.
“Yeah, I had a sterling career till I murdered all those people…. so I should get an honorable covering the first 9 years before that”. Uh, no. Doesn’t work for that, doesn’t work for this.
Aren’t there some uninhabited islands in that big impact crater that makes up Hudson’s Bay? They could stay there.
I dunno about that Ex-PH2, I Googled that, and it looks like somewhere there would be a fair share of rich liberals and other folks boating in the summer, but releasing them there in mid-winter…
Running away from Kuwait, YES! That’s the toughest deployment of your life. Run! Jesus Christ…what a dumbass.
Can’t feel sorry for deserters, ever.
Ditto that, C2. One of my ME tours was Kuwait, and our only real enemies there were scorpions, snakes, UXO, and boredom.
Yeah, pure boredom, deployed there and worked at OKBK (International Airport)…..what a fluffy vacation.
I was at Camp Buehring in the middle of nowhere, but at least we didn’t have to put up with the politics, BS, and Shaft (*OOPS*, Senior Staff) Officers’ bright ideas like those in AJ did!
To the Canadians among us: I am no more pleased with the thought of having a deserter in my neighborhood than are you. Will let you know if I ever discover one from Canada, and you may do what you will with him.
Deserting a military unit you voluntarily joined is about the most disgusting thing any human being could do. Glad to see that the sentiment is one shared with our cousins to the north.
And they still can’t get rid of Jeremy Hinzman.
Claims for VA Benefits and Character of Discharge
http://www.benefits.va.gov/BENEFITS/docs/COD_Factsheet.pdf
Lets give them all discharge upgrades.
That is the PC thing to do these days.
As Vets, are we not all equal?
Got to love the great NW.
I don’t blame the Canadians ONE BIT for wanting to deport our Deserters back to the US to face the consequences of their actions, hell, I fully support that! US Military Deserters need to spend some time in the Graybar Hilton as the “Property” of Bubba & Thor, THEN they can see how rough life can be!
Henry V
That he which hath no stomach to this fight…let him depart.
His passport shall be made and crowns for convoy put into his purse.
We would not die in that man’s company
that fears his fellowship to die with us.
“His passport shall be made and crowns for convoy put into his purse.”
Yes, slit open their sacks and insert some crowns(I get it, coins), but hopefully the other type, ones made of briars. Still. No. Excuse.
“…Mission first.”
“Say waht you want about the Obama Administration, but they’ve been sending these deserters to prison when they return from the frozen North….” Okay, I’ll bite. oBaMa is a prick, a liar, and the worst president in American history. There is no close second. He is a narcissist who is never, ever wrong, in his view. He has succeeded in transforming America and he is not done. Did I say he’s a prick and a liar. As for his administration putting deserters in prison, I want to see the numbers and how he has influenced commanders to do so.
We should cut foreign aid and use the funds to offering citizens that hate the country to leave. Give them a lump sum payment and help them on their way. They have to renounce US citizenship and never to return.
We have too many people wanting in to keep the trash that hates it here in.
The main difference is there has not been a draft since Vietnam. These dick heads joined the Military of their own free will. Suffer the consequences.
That’s my take on it. Well, I have made my take on it all too clearly in past threads, so I won’t go into it, again, because I don’t want to waste the time and, frankly, they aren’t worth the sweat on a dogs nutsack.
Tell the deserters we’ll let them come back for 30 days to settle their affairs, under the following two conditions:
1) Legal name change to “Phillip Nolan” (or Phyllis, if female).
2) Renounce their citizenship and never come back.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Without_a_Country
Find a planet they can colonize. Dump them there with a year’s worth of food, tools of some kind, and tell them you won’t be back.