Deserter Detained at Canadian Border...and it's a CHICK!
09-26-2012, 03:07 PM
Punitive Articles of the UCMJ
Article 85—Desertion
“(a) Any member of the armed forces who—
(1) without authority goes or remains absent from his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to remain away therefrom permanently;
(2) quits his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to avoid hazardous duty or to shirk important service; or
(3) without being regularly separated from one of the armed forces enlists or accepts an appointment in the same or another one of the armed forces without fully disclosing the fact that he has not been regularly separated, or enters any foreign armed service except when authorized by the United States Note: This provision has been held not to state a separate offense by the United States Court of Military Appeals in United States v. Huff, 7 U.S.C.M.A. 247, 22 C.M.R. 37 (1956), is guilty of desertion.
(b) Any commissioned officer of the armed forces who, after tender of his resignation and before notice of its acceptance, quits his post or proper duties without leave and with intent to remain away therefrom permanently is guilty of desertion.
© Any person found guilty of desertion or attempt to desert shall be punished, if the offense is committed in time of war, by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct, but if the desertion or attempt to desert occurs at any other time, by such punishment, other than death, as a court-martial may direct.”
Guide Note: The offense of Desertion, under Article 85, carries a much greater punishment, than the offense of AWOL, under Article 86. Many people believe that if one is absent without authority for greater than 30 days, the offense changes from AWOL to Desertion, but that's not quite true.
The primary difference between the two offenses is "intent to remain away permanently." If one intends to return to "military control," one is guilty of "AWOL," under Article 86, not Desertion, under Article 85, even if they were away for ten years. The confusion derives from the fact that, if a member is absent without authority for longer than 30 days, the government (court-martial) is allowed to assume there was no intent to return. Therefore, the burden of proof that the accused intended to someday return to "military control" lies with the defense.
A person who is absent for just a day or two, then apprehended, could still be charged with the offense of Desertion, but the prosecution would have to show evidence that the accused intended to remain away permanently.
I bolded the sections I believe apply to her specifically. Being that she's been away since 2007, intent to remain away can be assumed. I'd need to see how other deserters were punished to get an idea of what her penalty should be. Our society is squeamish about punishing women in the same manner as men for similar offenses. Since there's no precedent for how a woman was punished for this, I'm really curious as to how they'll proceed. Obviously, we don't execute for this, but I'm wondering how they adjudicate these cases beyond court-martial/dishonorable discharge.
This is just another example of how chicks exist in their own dream world. She came into the military with this sense of idealism, and once the truth of how the world really is smacked her, she wanted out. I'm sure every soldier faces some kind of shock when actually witnessing the horrors of war, but they also walk in knowing it's going to be pretty horrific. Women generally serve in rear, support positions and usually aren't put directly in harm's way (Jessica Lynch and Shoshanna Johnson were part of a supply convoy when they were injured and taken hostage, and convoys obviously go through hostile areas), and other women may be injured when ordinance is launched into an area away from the front lines. It's one thing for a combat soldier to decide he doesn't want to be a part of an atrocity that he either witnesses or felt pressure to participate in (though I still can't condone deserting), but this bitch?
"The best kind of pride is that which compels a man to do his best when no one is watching."