I’ve gotta say that I don’t really understand people who go AWOL. If they joined the army then they should have the character to see it through. If anything they could just apply for conscientious objector status.. The way i see it though, is that they’re just people who were trying to leech off the system by getting a job in the army and trying to take advantage of the benefits and the pay, and then when they find out they’re getting sent to a place that’s a little dangerous, they run off scared. I can understand the fact that people might not agree with why we’re fighting, or maybe they just were taken by surprise with the way that the army is.. it can be quite different once you join.

In the end though, i’d say, if they want out, just let the fuckers out, make them repay the benefits that they’ve exploited, forbid them from ever serving in the armed services or any sort of police work or things of the sort, and call it done and done.

bleh. in the end though, it’s like i’ve said to people around me.

“We didn’t fucking join the army to bake cookies, quit your goddamn bitching.”

The last place I’m worried about someone ‘leeching’ the system is by joining the army, navy, air force, etc. If our military and armed services are used to uphold the constitution, protect the people, and be strong, then I certainly don’t want deserters and people who bail out. However, fighting in Iraq is a far cry from some noble aim. Afghanistan too, in my opinion. Chickens come home to roost, you can’t cheat karma. USA’s war in afghanistan is just that. Iraq is total corporation bonanza, nothing noble or even back lash about it—that is the swindle whos karma we pay with each soldier, civilian, and insurgent’s death and I do not want to think of what seeds are sowed for the future with this debacle. it is a war crime, this war. It was not hunky dorey in Iraq, but we only have ourselves to blame if Saddam is such a boogie man—us government put him there. I wonder how many of the ‘insurgents’ over there were working iraqis who had families and were reasonable folks before their country got invaded.

anyways, i would find it hard to believe any significant portion of people exploit the army to any degree of peril, more than politicians and defense contractors. if a few soldiers are awol, and set out to bamboozle the army, meh, who cares it is their own lack of integrity they have to face in the mirror each day and will hide from or confront before their death. it’s not like they’re making it harder for the ‘rest of us’ in their ploy.

applying for conscientious objector status don’t do you shit and makes life hell during the interim. no? As well, think yourself in your late teens or early 20’s, judgement isn’t stellar, i’m not expecting army recruits that age to be vessles of wisdom in thought and action, they’re smart, but they’re living life and make mistakes like every other human being.

“I’ve gotta say that I don’t really understand people who go AWOL.”

I’m not sure about htis guy but many people joint he army to help protect their country, not go and kill innocent people who are in no way a threat to them.

then when they find out they’re getting sent to a place that’s a little dangerous, they run off scared

This guy already did a tour of duty in Iraq, so it’s not like he just ran off when he found out he was being sent somewhere dangerous. He was a combat engineer (sounds like fun?). Not exactly someone out to exploit the terrible pay & benefits offered by the army.

There’s still ways to get out without just running away, even if it is painful to go through the process. I just don’t understand why the process is so painful.. way i see it is if people want out, let them out..maybe have them pay some penalties or what not, but no biggie.

Still, the way i see it, I joined the army and it’d be a bad show of character to just go AWOL. I don’t nescessarily agree with our reasons for being here.. but going awol just means that someone else will be called up to replace me. The stories you don’t hear about are the people who had to replace those people who went AWOL. People seem to think that going awol to avoid deployment is their own personal choice that doesn’t affect anyone, but that’s not how the army works.. because he went awol, his job didn’t vanish, there wasn’t an empty spot on the bus.. someone else replaced him, the job still was filled, and all he did was shirk out of his responsibility and dropped it on someone else’s lap.

Perhaps if the dissent rate is high enough, it can have the effect of convincing congress and the pres to pull out of iraq, and perhaps that would be a good thing, good effect of such acts.. it’s all hard to say though. the whole situation is really fucked up…

When Bush is in tha house, whatcha gonna do?
Ya go AWOL!

National Guards who served and were discharged honorably have been recalled 8 years later due to small print. Those who enlisted as NG were conned. They were promised a part time job and they end up being 8 months away from their family then returned for other tours.

Dissenters would achieve more by remaining in the US but, hell, they’re welcomed in Canada just like it was the case during the Viet Nam war. Had I the income and resources to shelter someone, I’d do it and I even promised a friend of mine in CA that her son will find shelter in my place if he gets called to go there and I’ll treat him like a son.

if Saddam is such a boogie man-us government put him there. I wonder how many of the ‘insurgents’ over there were working iraqis who had families and were reasonable folks before their country got invaded.

But Opie, you are wrong on each account.

The US didn’t put him there, he did what every Iraqi leader has always done, he fought, clawed and butchered his way to the top.

Second, insurgents are scum, before the liberation they were generally either foreign Islamo-fascsists studying how to hate women and the modern World, or they worked for Saddam in his corps of thugs.

And finally Iraq was liberated, a Democracy put in its place.

I disagree with you on one crucial point. I believe in Democracy, you obviously prefer freedom for yourself and dictatorship for the Third World.

But Opie, you are wrong on each account.

uhh Izzie…. I don’t believe glacialimprint is Opie…

check his profile. There’s now way Opie has anywhere near the linguistic talents to write anything similar to glacial’s blogs.

I think I actually know this kid. Wierd fuckin’ world.

Snark… you mean … Private Kyle Snyder, 23, of Colorado Springs, Colo ?

If I see him up here you want I should buy him a nice cold ale or two ? :)

Yeah. At least, I know a kid named Kyle Snyder who was a friend of friends, who I heard went into the service.

And yeah, buy him a brew if you should happen to run into him, eh? Ha!

wow, that is small world huh…and must hit kinda close to home.

even here sorta…. e-world, sure has changed things

Soldiers are slaves, that is why they can’t leave, that’s why they can’t refuse even unlawful orders (like go invade Iraq). But to call a soldier a slave misses the big picture. Hstorically, American slaves simply farmed the fields, and there is nothing dishonorable in that. As a prostitute whores out her body on the order of her pimp or her client, so a soldier whores out his soul for his commanding officers. A prostitute merely fornicates, but a soldier commits assault, arson, murder, war crimes. The true reality of being a soldier is on of being half-slave, half-whore, but occupying a postion lower than either.

That being the case, Canada doesn’t sound so bad. Unfortunately, most soldiers are more submissive than a masochistic street whore and a house-slave-uncle-tom rolled into one. After all, they’ve got to be to protect us from Sadaam’s ‘nucular weapons!’