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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.

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.

(My 10 cents)

1. Someone like that only feels pity for himself. So no, he probably never did go to the wall (My guess).

2. I was not in Vietnam but I too know people who died in combat that were close to me. I was part of OIF 1. I can say that my experience is that I would rather have one less person then carry a shit-bag with. In the end “human trash” such as this is a burden on the organization. He ends up not only being unproductive but COUNTER productive.

3. If you punish someone like this severely, the anti war, the peace nick hippies and all the other riffraff in society quickly rallies around the issue. Example: Abu Gahrib. It has nothing to do with reality anymore, but this story is a rallying point for the self proclaimed experts. Discredit and humiliate him. What can he do about that? Nothing. Expose him for what he is. Show his mug on TV in the papers and magazines. Everyone everywhere knows who he is and what he did. He will live until his death in “shame”. There are people who look at character to this day. If I were to identify him, I’d insure he’d not be employed where I work. You can be against the war, but he broke an oath to his country. His word, his integrity is meaningless.

I believe that there is no added deterrent affect through incarceration. I think that it will not change a flawed character. I see an ugly media issue developing if he’s locked up. So humiliate him, push the scum to the side line, and keep moving forward.