http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/awol/ en-us Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:57:30 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2088034/posts A U.S. Army soldier who fled to Canada after learning his unit was being deployed to Iraq won a last-minute stay of deportation Monday. Federal Court Judge Richard Mosley ruled Jeremy Hinzman can stay in Canada while the court decides whether he can appeal his deportation order. "We're elated," Hinzman said moments after the decision was released. "(But) we're not out of the woods at all. We just have a stay of removal." ... In his three-page ruling, Mosley wrote, "Based on the evidence and submissions before me, I am satisfied that the applicants would suffer irreparable harm if a... AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2088034/posts#comment Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:57:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2064814/posts "SAN FRANCISCO (August 6, 2008) – About 50 anti-war activists targeted the video game maker Ubisoft today to “help stop the Army’s child recruitment program” in the form of the free “America’s Army” game. Organizers noted that the game “targets children as young as 13” while South Park game companies Ubisoft, Gameloft, and Secret Level were profiting from the illegal recruitment program.“America’s Army”—available since 2002 as a free download—is a game developed by the U.S. military to instruct players in “Army values,” portray the army in a positive light, and increase potential recruits. The “game” is the property and brainchild... IndyBay.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2064814/posts#comment Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:01:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2056810/posts Swiss gourmand Pascal Henry, aged 46, was completing his life's dream: having the best dinners in all restaurants on the globe that carry Michelin's coveted three star-accolade (68 in all). The guy was at his 40th spot, restaurant 'El Bulli' in Roses, Catalunya, Spain. A journalist from a local paper, sitting next to him, asked him for his personal card, as a memento. He rose, said: 'I'll be right back', and went... missing. He had told his acquaintances that his mission would set him back for about the price of a nice new quality car with all extras included. What... NRC Handelsblad (Holland) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2056810/posts#comment Tue, 5 Aug 2008 14:40:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047209/posts An Oregon soldier whose case has caused a stir in anti-war groups nationwide has been sentenced to six months in jail, a loss of pay, a reduction of rank and a bad-conduct discharge for being absent without leave. Pfc. James Burmeister, who was born in Portland and raised in the Eugene area, received the sentence Wednesday from a military judge at a court martial held at Fort Knox, Ky. Burmeister agreed to plead guilty to the charge in exchange for an agreement by military prosecutors not to seek more serious charges. Anti-war activists from filmmaker Michael Moore to groups such... Oregonlive http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047209/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:08:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2033618/posts I haven't posted a thread in some time, but my sister is freaking out. Her son, 20, was supposed to get on a plane for Germany on Monday (then on to Afghanistan), but he never boarded. He later sent her a text msg and apparently this is all over a woman. I need to know what consequences he faces if he doesn't report soon. Personally, I am shocked. I keep thinking its a joke. UNBELIEVABLE. Any advice is very much appreciated. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2033618/posts#comment Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:20:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2031600/posts A month after US army reservist Matthis Chiroux publicly refused to deploy to Iraq, the former sergeant on Sunday set himself up for possible prosecution by failing to report for active duty with his unit in South Carolina. "Tonight at midnight, I may face further action from the army for refusing to reactivate to participate in the Iraq occupation," Chiroux told reporters in Washington. "I stand here today in defense of those who have been stripped of their voices in this occupation, the warriors of this nation...", Chiroux read from a statement as his father Rob, who had travelled to... AFP via Breitbart http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2031600/posts#comment Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:19:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1955491/posts Dozens of friends and family gathered in Manhattan Wednesday to honor New York National Guard soldiers being deployed to Afghanistan - but not one politician showed up. The soldiers of the legendary Manhattan-based Fighting 69th rushed to Ground Zero on 9/11 to help secure the area and search for survivors. They guarded one of the most dangerous roads in Iraq in 2004. Now about 350 soldiers will head to Afghanistan for a year to help train local police. While not every politician was invited to the Hunter College ceremony - one of nine across the state - the lack of... DAILY NEWS http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1955491/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:30:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1935624/posts Since the beginning of the war, hundreds of deserters have fled to Canada, fearful of being jailed or forced to return to duty. It’s starting to look like they need not have bothered: Despite troop shortages and problems hitting recruitment targets, Pentagon officials say it would be a poor use of time to go after deserters. “We don’t actively look for a deserter or have bounty hunters who go out knocking on doors,” Army spokesman Major Nathan Banks says. “It doesn’t serve our purpose to lose manpower or focus in the global war on terror to find them, because the... Details http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1935624/posts#comment Thu, 6 Dec 2007 15:48:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926295/posts The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday refused to hear an appeal by two U.S. military deserters who sought refuge in the country to avoid deployment to Iraq, a conflict they argued is “immoral and illegal.” The announcement ends a bid by American soldiers Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey, the plaintiffs in the case, to win refugee status and opens the way for them to be deported to the United States, where they could face court martial for going AWOL and missing troop movements. It also could lead to deportation of dozens of other American soldiers who have filed formal... MSNBC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926295/posts#comment Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:48:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926297/posts Canada's top court will not hear the case of two Americans who sought refugee status here after deserting the U.S. army in 2004 to avoid being deployed to Iraq. In a decision released Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected a bid by Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey to stay in Canada as refugees. The court's ruling backs previous ones by the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Immigration and Refugee Board. Before Thursday's ruling, the Federal Court of Appeal last rejected the claims by Hinzman and Hughey, who crossed the border rather than face possible court... CanWest News Service via Canada.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926297/posts#comment Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:50:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1899241/posts (AP) ABERDEEN, Md. Military officials say a man shot by Aberdeen police is a soldier who had been away from Aberdeen Proving Ground without permission since last month. Army officials say 22-year-old Private Evan Parker, of Pittsford, N.Y., had been AWOL since late August. Aberdeen police say officers called to a disturbance at a motel Sunday night encountered Parker and when they learned his military status, they took him to the base. When officers returned to the motel around 11 a.m. Monday for a suspicious person call, Parker had returned. Police say he displayed a gun and waved it threateningly... WJZ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1899241/posts#comment Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:15:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1898667/posts A U.S. serviceman from the Bronx will spend a year in jail after he admitted in court that he arranged to have himself shot in the knee to avoid having to return to Iraq for a second tour of duty, Bronx prosecutors said Tuesday. Jonathan Aponte, 20, pleaded guilty to third-degree falsely reporting an incident, a misdemeanor. In exchange for his guilty plea, State Supreme Court Justice John Byrne agreed to sentence Aponte to a year in jail on Oct. 17. Aponte's Legal Aid attorney could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Aponte originally claimed he had been shot in... Newsday http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1898667/posts#comment Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:47:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1871367/posts An Oneonta man who helped produce a 9/11 conspiracy documentary that became an Internet hit was arrested Monday for allegedly deserting the Army. Korey Rowe, 24, a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq, was picked up by deputies at about 10:45 p.m. Monday, Otsego County Sheriff Richard Devlin Jr. said… Rowe was arrested on a “military warrant” that Devlin said was brought to the attention of deputies by the Oneonta Police Department, who received information from a source outside of that department… After deputies received the information from Oneonta police, they reached out to the Army, and officials from Fort Knox... Daily Star http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1871367/posts#comment Wed, 25 Jul 2007 15:37:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1862340/posts An Iraq war veteran will not be court-martialed for leaving his post without permission for 15 months to undergo treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, the Army said. Instead of facing a bad conduct discharge _ a felony punishable by up to a year in military prison _ Spc. Eugene Cherry admitted he was absent without leave and was granted a general discharge, rather than an honorable discharge, the Army said Friday. "It really wasn't about proving I went AWOL _ that's a given," Cherry, who was to be tried by court-martial Monday, said in a telephone interview from Fort Drum... KLBJ 590 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1862340/posts#comment Sat, 7 Jul 2007 21:13:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1831404/posts TORONTO -- There is an untold story of the war in Iraq -- a story about soldiers who have gone to Canada to avoid going back to Iraq. Many people think about the Vietnam War draft dodgers when they hear about people heading to Canada to avoid military service, but the soldiers in the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War are part of an all-volunteer force. "I signed up before the invasion of Iraq," Corey Glass said in his Toronto apartment. "I joined the National Guard thinking it was a humanitarian organization." Glass is an Army National Guardsman from... WISN TV (Milwaukee) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1831404/posts#comment Thu, 10 May 2007 17:09:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1828400/posts Decorated veteran mistaken as deserter for second time 5/4/2007, 1:45 a.m. PDT porwam The Associated Press GLADSTONE, Ore. (AP) — For a second time, a decorated Iraq war veteran has been mistakenly listed as a deserter — this time costing him a day in jail. Joe Wolters, 26, of Gladstone was released the Clackamas County Jail on Wednesday after his parents spent the day making frantic phone calls to Army officials, who eventually cleared up the paperwork mistake. "I was a little mad at the Army," said Wolters, who enlisted in 2002 and spent a year stationed in Iraq as... The Oregonian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1828400/posts#comment Fri, 4 May 2007 15:22:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817426/posts If he had any doubts upon arriving here, big news from back home likely erased them. It was 5 p.m. Wednesday when Linjamin Mull, stepping off a bus in downtown London, ended a two-week journey that turned him from an American soldier to expatriate, just as the Iraq war controversy flared again in the U.S. That same day, the U.S. government announced troop deployments to Iraq -- a war Mull refuses to join -- will be extended from 12 to 15 months. "Most people don't have the courage to leave," said Mull, a New York City social worker and graduate... Sun Media http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1817426/posts#comment Sat, 14 Apr 2007 20:22:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1803695/posts On the morning of Monday, Jan. 9, 2006, a 21-year-old Army specialist named Suzanne Swift went AWOL. Her unit, the 54th Military Police Company, out of Fort Lewis, Wash., was two days away from leaving for Iraq. Swift and her platoon had been home less than a year, having completed one 12-month tour of duty in February 2005, and now the rumor was that they were headed to Baghdad to run a detention center. The footlockers were packed. The company's 130 soldiers had been granted a weekend leave in order to go where they needed to go, to say whatever... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1803695/posts#comment Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:00:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1771518/posts An Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan took maps of the Mojave Desert and abandoned his car late last week southwest of Needles, sheriffís officials said Sunday. But rescuers ó including volunteers from Redlands and Yucaipa ó helped find the young soldier alive and unhurt Sunday afternoon on a mountaintop south of the Mojave National Preserve, said San Bernardino County sheriffís Deputy Dave Pichotta, who was assigned to the search. Andrew Stone, 20, of Wisconsin was found alone and uninjured about 1:30 p.m. Sunday on a peak in the Sacramento Mountains, said Pichotta, a volunteer forces coordinator working... Inland Daily Bulletin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1771518/posts#comment Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:09:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1751368/posts On the night before Darrell Anderson was supposed to return to Iraq for his second tour of duty, he got in a car and drove to Canada. The Army specialist decided he could not go back to the place where he had shot at Iraqi civilians, been wounded by a roadside bomb, and watched other soldiers die. So he went absent without leave. "I'd spend three years in prison rather than go back to Iraq," Anderson, 24, said Saturday. Instead he spent nearly two years in Canada before returning home to Kentucky and turning himself in to the military, where... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1751368/posts#comment Sun, 10 Dec 2006 19:47:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1732930/posts LOUISVILLE, Ky. Nov 4, 2006 (AP)— Since going to Canada to avoid another deployment to Iraq, Corey Glass has considered returning to the United States. But after hearing that a fellow former soldier who surrendered to the military and was ordered to return to his unit instead of being discharged, Glass may not return at all. "They're not going to win the hearts and minds like that," said Glass, 24, who signed on with the Indiana National Guard in 2002. Kyle Snyder, a one-time combat engineer who joined the military in 2003, disappeared Wednesday, a day after surrendering at Fort... ABC.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1732930/posts#comment Mon, 6 Nov 2006 01:01:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1730507/posts A U.S. Army soldier who fled to Canada rather than return to Iraq has disappeared again, this time just a day after surrendering to the military. Pvt. Kyle Snyder, 23, of Colorado Springs, Colo., told The Associated Press he was supposed to return by bus to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Louisville on Tuesday but didn't go. He said he went AWOL after Fort Knox officials told him he would be sent back to his unit, the 94th Engineer Battalion. Snyder returned to the United States on Saturday, after his lawyer said he had reached a deal to receive an other-than-honorable... BREITBART http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1730507/posts#comment Thu, 2 Nov 2006 06:34:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1716654/posts He should have gone for the second time to Iraq - US soldier Augustin Aguayo fled from his apartment in Schweinfurt and disappeared. Since this week the deserter sits in the Mannheim military prison and waits for his process. He is worldwide one of thousands of cases. Mannheim - Both military policemen sat beside his wife in the sitting room, they waited. Their tone was rough. He should pack his things, they ordered, fast. They tried to figure out how they could bring him fastest to the airport. For a long time his companions of the 1 infantry division waited... Der Spiegel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1716654/posts#comment Tue, 10 Oct 2006 04:34:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1712557/posts This column is going to make me very unpopular with Republicans. I don't care. It must be said. Following the revelations about Florida Rep. Mark Foley's sexually suggestive e-mails to a 16-year-old congressional page, I have concluded Republicans are unworthy of retaining control of the federal government. I sincerely regret this is the case. I would much prefer that there were a real viable alternative to the Democrats, who are not only unworthy, but also unacceptable. But wishful thinking is not going to protect our country. Wishful thinking is not going to expand freedom, promote justice and restore morality to... Worldnetdaily.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1712557/posts#comment Tue, 3 Oct 2006 05:18:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1711580/posts Lexington's Darrell Anderson crossed the border back into the United States yesterday afternoon, almost two years after deserting from the Army and fleeing to Canada, and started for home in Kentucky, where he plans to turn himself in at Fort Knox on Tuesday. But Anderson's stay at Fort Knox apparently could be brief, according to his attorney. Chicago lawyer Jim Fennerty, who is representing Anderson, told reporters in Canada yesterday that an officer at Fort Knox told him by phone last week that the Army has decided not to court-martial Anderson, and plans to release him within three to five... Lexington Herald-Leader http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1711580/posts#comment Sun, 1 Oct 2006 13:10:28 GMT