http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/july2007/250707rowearrested.htm

>Arrests and court martials for deserters are incredibly rare and this appears to be an obvious case of political persecution as the Loose Change crew prepare the cinematic release of the final version of their popular documentary.

Firstly...CINEMATIC RELEASE??? SERIOUSLY?

Secondly, later on they say that about 5% of Army deserters are punished. 1/20 is not "incredibly rare". In fact, I wouldn't even call it rare.

Rare sounds fair. I thought all deserters were punished, so this is a surprise.

1% for sailors or marines. That's rarer than I'd have steak.

If there were a 20 or 100-fold increase in prosecutions and trials with attendant publicity would it make the papers? Does the military have the processing capacity or room in the stockade?

OK, the article is completely misleading. It finally admits "The Army court-martialed just 5% of deserters last year, with that number dropping to just 1 per cent or less for the Navy and the Marines."

OK, that's a court-martial. That means you get arrested, they decide to have a trial, they have a trial, and you are convicted. And that's 5% of Army, which he is the branch he deserted.

Now, of the Army deserters who get ARRESTED, it's closer to 100% of them, so there is nothing special here in their treatment of him.

Most the other 95% gets a dishonorable discharge if they are anti-military, or is forced to return to active duty if they had some good reason. The court martial is for guys who walk off the battlefield in the middle of combat, deserting their team.

"Rare sounds fair. I thought all deserters were punished, so this is a surprise."

not really.  how many do they actually catch?  it must be kind of hard finding deserters to arrest...you know, unless they accidentally become famous by publishing insanely stupid conspiracy theories...

christ, what a sodding dumbass.  I hope they decide to toast his testicles.

If he's really a deserter, why did they let him go the last time he was arrested for desertion?

You know what most deserters do?  They go back to their pre-military life and work under their SSNs and pay taxes.  The government can find them, but doesn't want to, because it just costs the military money to process their discharge.

Arrests of deserters are, frankly, not rare.  I used to do processing for them for 2 years, and they get caught at the border or in a traffic stop all the time.

I have never, ever even heard of a fucking warrant being served on one.

Even if this was kicked off by the local police who didn't like him, the bottom line is he was arrested for making the movie.

Ahem.  They "have a Court Martial for only 5% of deserters" tells you nothing about how many deserters they HAVE.

Concluding that 5% of the Army is deserting is thus not supported.

They also don't say what other punishments the other 95% of deserters get.

How many people desert is not at all an issue here. The 'incredibly rare' in the article referred to deserters who get court martialed, which the article was deliberately trying to confuse with how many deserters are found, how many are arrested, how many are tried and or punished.

I definitely agree that court martials of deserters are rare, and the statistics support that (1-5% of desertions).

Is the guy being court martialled? No. So what is the relevance? And if he is, 5% of army deserters are court martialled so you can't say he's getting unheard of treatment. If you decide to desert, arrest and court martial is definitely a possibility, and a dishonorable discharge is virtually certain, despite the claims here that nothing is ever done.

As to actual numbers, 2002 has 3800 Army deserters:

http://www.refusingtokill.net/USGulfWar2/usmilitaryturningitsback.htm

Which was 1/6 the rate during the Vietnam war, according to that article.

2004 had 2,723 Army desertions and
2005 had 2,518 Army desertions in the first half, a big increase:

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=29247&archive=true

Probably since I think that was when they started with the extra long back to back deployments.

PLEASE note that that article's sidebar points out that NINETY FOUR percent of Army desertions result in a dishonorable discharge, and the other 6 percent get court martials and jail time.

I'll tell you what happened here. They arrested him before for this. When that happens, you are usually released on your own recognizance and given a date to return to the service at a specific base, where you stay while they process your dishonorable discharge. You better the hell make this appointment, just like if you are out on bail, you fuck better show up for the trial. If you don't return, then the next time they arrest you, they keep you and you will very likely get a court martial and jail time.

This guy is going to get court martialled and jail time because he skipped out on his requirement to present himself. It has nothing whatsoever to do with his making films. They treat everybody who skips out from their discharge processing this way.

Nobody here claimed nothing is ever done.

They don't fucking ROR deserters, and they don't hand out jail time for it.  I'd be shocked if it was a dishonorable discharge as well, since you generally have to murder someone to get that.

Surprise, surprise, PE's talking out his ass.  Again.

Big words from someone who is stupid, ignorant, and can't even think up a made up name.

Sorry, I was too busy reading about how he's been released.

Because he's not a deserter.  Curious.