Vietnam war deserter regrets flight to Canada

Star Tribune ^ | March 21, 2006 | Associated Press

[therut]

Remember that show "Branded". Stand him up and rip off his rank badges and strip him of his firearms. Or let him serve his time now in the Marines.

[PzLdr]

Just the draft dodgers.

[Bean Counter]

I would have paid big money to have been present when they cut his hair, and got him into Uniform...

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

I agree. My father was in the Army National Guard. He did not get sent, but he could have been. My grandfather was a WWII Navy Vet.

I do not think kindly of the draft dodgers or the protesters who spit on our heroes when they came home from Viet Nam.

[PzLdr]

Not all that much time either, if he booked on a weekend pass in basic.

[newnhdad]

Too late traitor.
You fled your country, you need to pay the price. Maybe you should pay some sort of penance to the families of dead marines in your old unit. I say give him a toothbrush and force him to clean all the stones in the closest national cemetery.

My cousin (chopper pilot) and a neighbor died in Vietnam. No sympathy here.

[is_is]

"We didn't draft 17 year old kids so his "younger" brother could not have been drafted."

since our calender has 12 months and not less than 9, i beleive 2 brothers can be born at different times and be 18 at the same time...for up to 3 months if my math is correct.

[Bear_Slayer]

What's interesting to me is that a few Nam Vets settled into the Yaak of Montana, my good friend's father went there after he got home.

While the deserters went to Yahk, B.C. CA.

[OldSmaj]

you weren't by any chance with the 1st Cav at Fort Hood, TX '70-71.

Geez, I ain't that old!

I was a young stud (E-5) know-it-all at Fort Rucker, then.

Was the Cav at Hood in 70-71?

I thought the colors came back in '72.

I worked for an E9 there who could be your dispositional twin...

E-9's are required to take secret classes, given at a secret location, to ensure that we all are equally curmudgeonly, patriotic to a fault, meaner than hell, can curse in at least six languages, know how to kill with a Snickers Bar and a paper clip and have rapier tongues with which we rip young soldiers under the grade of E-7 apart with.

The curriculum hasn't changed in 40 years.

If you're that E9, all I can say is that I know now that I was an idiot then.

As I said, hindsight is always 20-20.

It's what you did with yourself in between your blind spell and the here and now that matters.

[El Gran Salseron]

Buzz off, sarcastic one.

[El Gran Salseron]

And your point would be?

[Bear_Slayer]

I was a corpsman that worked ITS (area 52) at Camp Pendelton. Occasionally we did jail physicals on apprehended deserters.

They were pathetic old men that looked out-of-place, in their new crisp uniforms.

All of them lacked that distinctly devil dog confidence and hardness that even the most boot marine acquires upon graduating boot camp. In its place was a ghostly, "oh shit!" expression.

Jail might be fitting, but a return to active duty. Their heart would never be in it and no one would ever trust them.

[headsonpikes]

I drove through Yahk two weeks ago en route to Calgary on #3.

There ain't much there - even for a hick settlement in B.C. mountain country.

No offence meant to any lurking Yahkites.

[PzLdr]

Excuse me. Somebody had to replace this dipsh*t when he deserted. We don't know what happened to THAT guy. Maybe he didn't get orders to 'Nam. Quite likely he did, 'cause the U.S military wasn't going to play one short when Mr. Abney chose to desert.

If he went, maybe he came back OK. Maybe he came back wounded, or psychologically scarred. Maybe he came home in a coffin under a flag. We don't know. So we don't know if his actions did "any evil unto others per se".

What we do know is that an individual who VOLUNTARILY ENLISTED, DESERTED in wartime. The UCMJ has quite specific provisions for that, and he should have been thrown in the brig for five years. Yeah, it's "been 38 years", but I don't favor rewarding his criminal actions because of time, and one of the reasons he's old is that he took himself out of any potential line of fire by fleeing to Canada.

I volunteered. I served. I lost friends. So, if wanting this clown punished makes me the bad guy, I can live with that . I was called a lot worse back in the day by Abney's comrades.

And here's a question. Did Abney, on any of his many vacation trips back to Vegas, or the States, ever take a side trip to the Wall in D.C, and visit his betters? I doubt it. And I doubt he thought about honor, regrets, or any of that good stuff until the moment the Immigration folks pulled him over, and he knew the jig was up.

[dljordan]

ok

[PzLdr]

I'm willing.

[SJackson]

Not all that much time either, if he booked on a weekend pass in basic.

It's likely you can attribute the weekend pass from basic at Pendleton to the typical lamestream media-idiot J-school grad reporter ditto alluded to. Other articles implied he deserted on receiving orders to VN.

[absolootezer0]

well, i also think that all illegals should be given the opportunity to earn the right to become citizens by serving in the war, and possibly some ex-cons that want to earn back their rights.
a special platoon of very basic grunts/ wall fodder/ manual laborers, with jobs that do not put them in a position where they may be privy to any secrets or orders, or a position that someone else may have to rely on them for their lives.
example.. send a group of these type of people for construction. have them over there rebuilding homes, schools, public buildings.

[SJackson]

I don't know how long you jail him for, it should be commensurate with similar cases. I'm not sure how reliable the article is, but it appears they gave him a pass on criminal charges. That's wrong, even if he serves no time, his criminal activity should be documented.

[Samwise]

The wisdom of age speaking.

OR

"Oops! I got caught so I better act contrite."

My teenager is good at that act.