It’s interesting to watch how a story moves forward from a daily print service to a weekly military service and from there to a progressive blogger. This story originated with Gannett’s News Service, an in-house wire service. Just an aside: this story appeared in Air Force Times but I couldn’t find it in Army Times or Stars and Stripes.

Thousands of Troops Say They Won’t Fight
By Ana Radelat
Gannett News Service
Saturday 05 August 2006

Swept up by a wave of patriotism after the US invasion of Iraq, Chris Magaoay joined the Marine Corps in November 2004.

The newly married Magaoay thought a military career would allow him to continue his college education, help his country and set his life on the right path.

Less than two years later, Magaoay became one of thousands of military deserters who have chosen a lifetime of exile or possible court-martial rather than fight in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"It wasn’t something I did on the spur of the moment," said Magaoay, a native of Maui, Hawaii. "It took me a long time to realize what was going on. The war is illegal."

Magaoay said his disillusionment with the military began in boot camp in Twentynine Palms, Calif., where a superior officer joked about killing and mistreating Iraqis. When his unit was deployed to Iraq in March, Magaoay and his wife drove to Canada, joining a small group of deserters who are trying to win permission from the Canadian government to stay.

"We’re like a tight-knit family," Magaoay said.
The Pentagon says deserters like Magaoay represent a tiny fraction of the nation’s fighting forces.

This man’s confused. It’s interesting to me that his patriotism sprang from the Iraq invasion, and not from 9/11. While it’s well-documented that Mr Bush lied like a cheap Persian rug to justify his illegal invasion of Iraq, the man states that it took 20 months for his patriotism to click in, and compel him to enlist. He also states that he joined the military in order to continue his college education, like thousands of other volunteers. It’s a tragic commentary on Mr Bush’s 21st century America that people have to risk their lives in order to get an education. There’s no point in commenting on his statement that he also sought to set his life in order, since we don’t know the circumstances. But I do see how you could become disillusioned about military service if training officers joke about killing Iraqis. By November 2004 the invasion was over and the occupation was fighting for its life, beset by resistance fighters at every turn.

The Pentagon says deserters like Magaoay represent a tiny fraction of the nation’s fighting forces.

"The vast majority of soldiers who desert do so for personal, family or financial problems, not for political or conscientious objector purposes," said Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, a spokesman for the Army.

Since 2000, about 40,000 troops from all branches of the military have deserted, the Pentagon says. More than half served in the Army. But the Army says numbers have decreased each year since the United States began its war on terror in Afghanistan.

Those who help war resisters say desertion is more prevalent than the military has admitted.

More prevalent? Twenty thousand Army deserters out of some 500,000 troops since the invasion three years ago? It may not seem like a statistically large figure, but the impact is much greater. Each deserter is an empty bunk in a barracks, a name taken off a locker. The troops see this. No matter what their reaction is, it means added hardship for all those who remain. And 4% makes a major impact in planning and operations, even spread over three years.

Joe Davis, spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said deserters aren’t traitors because they’ve done nothing to help America’s enemies. But he rejects arguments that deserters have a moral right to refuse to fight wars they consider unjust.

"None of us can choose our wars. They’re always a political decision," Davis said. "They’re letting their buddies down and hurting morale - and morale is everything on the battlefront."

And every soldier who deserts causes those who remain to contemplate that desertion. While some may feel antagonistic about the deserter, there will be a few who think about it. Again and again.

Many thanks to Chidyke for bringing this forward.