thedrifter
02-07-06, 08:06 AM
Deserters Choose Flight Over Fight In Iraq
POSTED: 4:39 pm PST February 6, 2006
Bayinsider
TORONTO, Canada -- According to officials in the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines, thousands of military personnel are deserting every year, though some who go AWOL claim to be conscientious objectors. Surprisingly, with the war in Iraq about to enter its fourth year, the Pentagon says the trend in deserters is down and nowhere close to what it was during the Vietnam War.
Ryan Johnson grew up in the California Central Valley town of Visalia, but the Army deserter is currently living a long way from home in Toronto, Canada. Another American soldier on the run -- Jeremy Hinzman of South Dakota -- is also living in Toronto.
Both men have their reasons for refusing to serve in the United States' current conflict with Iraq.
"My life isn't that significant, but it is also not so worthless as to be killed or to go kill innocent people," says Hinzman.
Though both men say they believe the war in Iraq is illegal, the Army made it clear, that neither qualified as a conscientious objector. The two men faced a choice: fight in a war they say is wrong, get locked up in an army stockade, or run.
"I just put as much of my stuff as I could fit into my vehicle and I drove to Canada," says Johnson.
It's hard to say the exact number of deserters living in Canada, but it's only a tiny fraction of the 55,000 Americans who headed north during the Vietnam War.
Back then, Canada welcomed draft dodgers and deserters. But the currently climate is decidedly different. Today's deserters need to convince the Canadian Immigration Board that they would face persecution if sent back. Canada rejected Jeremy Hinzman's plea. His attorney will appeal this week.
"So if the war is illegal, then it is wrong to force people to do it and it is even more wrong to put them in jail if they won't do it," argues Hinzman's attorney Jeffry House. "That is what persecution is."
The Pentagon says deserters aren't persecuted. An Army spokesman says most deserters who turn themselves in can reintegrate with their units.
"I feel sad for deserters. Deserters are failures. People who wanted to become part of the team, who wanted to become soldiers and could not cut it," explains Army Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty.
Almost two years ago, San Francisco's Stephen Funk served a six-month sentence in a military brig for going AWOL. He enlisted in the Marines shortly after 9-11. U.S. troops were already in Afghanistan.
Funk knew going to war was a possibility, but his feelings on combat changed dramatically during his training.
"Every morning I woke up feeling sick because I knew we would have to stab human-shaped sandbags with bayonets [and] be forced to be violent to the other recruits. Punching each other in the gut; shouting 'Kill Kill Kill!' constantly," Funk recalls.
He tried to get out by claiming he was a conscientious objector but was turned down. Proving that you are a conscientious objector is not easy -- especially if you have voluntarily enlisted to be in the military.
Being against a specific war -- thinking it is wrong or illegal -- is not, enough according to the Pentagon. To qualify you have to be against all war for religious reasons.
Funk says he was young and confused when he enlisted; looking to find something to belong to. But being gay, he quickly realized the Army was one group he couldn't realistically ever feel a part of.
"My drill instructor called me ... he called me the limp-wristed recruit from San Francisco," remembers Funk.
Ryan Johnson says he enlisted to get money for college and that his recruiter lied when he told him he could get a non-combat job.
"There is someone in a nice suit representing the federal government that is telling me these things," says Johnson. "I was pretty young at the time. I was pretty naive to believe them, I would say. But I did believe them."
Last year, Johnson learned he was about to be sent to Iraq. He says he heard horror stories from returning soldiers about accidentally killing children and constant nightmares. He bolted for Canada.
"I did not want to kill people. I did not want to kill innocent civilians," explains Johnson. "I didn't want to do raids on homes. And I did not think I should go to jail for not wanting to kill people."
The Army doesn't see it that way for enlisted recruits. "They know exactly what they are getting into," says Lt. Col. Hilferty. "I just find it disingenuous for some people to say they didn't know what they were doing."
Johnson is hoping Canada grants him refugee status. Jeremy Hinzman will learn his fate soon. Now out of the brig, Stephen Funk has moved on: he's currently a student at Stanford.
POSTED: 4:39 pm PST February 6, 2006
Bayinsider
TORONTO, Canada -- According to officials in the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines, thousands of military personnel are deserting every year, though some who go AWOL claim to be conscientious objectors. Surprisingly, with the war in Iraq about to enter its fourth year, the Pentagon says the trend in deserters is down and nowhere close to what it was during the Vietnam War.
Ryan Johnson grew up in the California Central Valley town of Visalia, but the Army deserter is currently living a long way from home in Toronto, Canada. Another American soldier on the run -- Jeremy Hinzman of South Dakota -- is also living in Toronto.
Both men have their reasons for refusing to serve in the United States' current conflict with Iraq.
"My life isn't that significant, but it is also not so worthless as to be killed or to go kill innocent people," says Hinzman.
Though both men say they believe the war in Iraq is illegal, the Army made it clear, that neither qualified as a conscientious objector. The two men faced a choice: fight in a war they say is wrong, get locked up in an army stockade, or run.
"I just put as much of my stuff as I could fit into my vehicle and I drove to Canada," says Johnson.
It's hard to say the exact number of deserters living in Canada, but it's only a tiny fraction of the 55,000 Americans who headed north during the Vietnam War.
Back then, Canada welcomed draft dodgers and deserters. But the currently climate is decidedly different. Today's deserters need to convince the Canadian Immigration Board that they would face persecution if sent back. Canada rejected Jeremy Hinzman's plea. His attorney will appeal this week.
"So if the war is illegal, then it is wrong to force people to do it and it is even more wrong to put them in jail if they won't do it," argues Hinzman's attorney Jeffry House. "That is what persecution is."
The Pentagon says deserters aren't persecuted. An Army spokesman says most deserters who turn themselves in can reintegrate with their units.
"I feel sad for deserters. Deserters are failures. People who wanted to become part of the team, who wanted to become soldiers and could not cut it," explains Army Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty.
Almost two years ago, San Francisco's Stephen Funk served a six-month sentence in a military brig for going AWOL. He enlisted in the Marines shortly after 9-11. U.S. troops were already in Afghanistan.
Funk knew going to war was a possibility, but his feelings on combat changed dramatically during his training.
"Every morning I woke up feeling sick because I knew we would have to stab human-shaped sandbags with bayonets [and] be forced to be violent to the other recruits. Punching each other in the gut; shouting 'Kill Kill Kill!' constantly," Funk recalls.
He tried to get out by claiming he was a conscientious objector but was turned down. Proving that you are a conscientious objector is not easy -- especially if you have voluntarily enlisted to be in the military.
Being against a specific war -- thinking it is wrong or illegal -- is not, enough according to the Pentagon. To qualify you have to be against all war for religious reasons.
Funk says he was young and confused when he enlisted; looking to find something to belong to. But being gay, he quickly realized the Army was one group he couldn't realistically ever feel a part of.
"My drill instructor called me ... he called me the limp-wristed recruit from San Francisco," remembers Funk.
Ryan Johnson says he enlisted to get money for college and that his recruiter lied when he told him he could get a non-combat job.
"There is someone in a nice suit representing the federal government that is telling me these things," says Johnson. "I was pretty young at the time. I was pretty naive to believe them, I would say. But I did believe them."
Last year, Johnson learned he was about to be sent to Iraq. He says he heard horror stories from returning soldiers about accidentally killing children and constant nightmares. He bolted for Canada.
"I did not want to kill people. I did not want to kill innocent civilians," explains Johnson. "I didn't want to do raids on homes. And I did not think I should go to jail for not wanting to kill people."
The Army doesn't see it that way for enlisted recruits. "They know exactly what they are getting into," says Lt. Col. Hilferty. "I just find it disingenuous for some people to say they didn't know what they were doing."
Johnson is hoping Canada grants him refugee status. Jeremy Hinzman will learn his fate soon. Now out of the brig, Stephen Funk has moved on: he's currently a student at Stanford.