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TWO GIs WHO DESERTED TO CANADA ARE BACK
HOME --
Both tell of lack of help from military for
physical
and emotional problems.
First story
here...
http://www.news-jour
nalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Eas
Volusia/evlHEAD02EAST012509.htm
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of
page.
Share story/email link.
-------------------------
Penalties minor for ex-soldier who deserted
By AUDREY PARENTE
Staff writer
Army Ranger Allen Robby Keller sat alone in a motel room outside Fort
Drum, N.Y., his head swirling with images of firefights, luminous
explosions, the whizzing of bullets from unseen snipers in the dusty
streets of Iraq.
But then he'd picture his soft-skinned newborn baby boy, Grai, and
pink-cheeked daughter, Avah, in the arms of his beautiful wife, Michaelagh,
safe at home in Canada.
Two such disparate scenes; and it wasn't the first time he'd felt such
inner push and pull.
Months earlier in Iraq, he'd been wracked with worry about his wife's
problem pregnancy with their second child. Combat stress, sleeplessness,
nightmares, loss of appetite -- it all added up to and was magnified by a
moment of hesitation during a firefight just before he was granted a leave
during the Christmas holidays in 2007.
He'd hoped to put the stress behind him when he visited his grandmother
and other family in Daytona Beach during that leave. Then, on Christmas
Day, Keller was in Canada for the birth of his son, and he found he
couldn't go back.
He was mixed up and angry, especially about being held beyond his initial
enlistment term for a second deployment because of the military's
stop-loss policy, which can involuntarily extend a soldier's contracted
active duty service. He was supposed to be away from his post for only a
few weeks but had remained absent without official leave -- AWOL.
After a month, when he still didn't return, he was labeled a deserter.
Then, after staying in Canada, his wife's home country, for 89 days, he
returned to the United States, to a motel just outside his home base but
struggling about what to do.
He picked up the phone. Should he go back to his regiment? Should he go
back to Canada?
CRIME
Deserters in the Roman Legions may have been subject to death. The French
Foreign Legion tossed apprehended deserters into 40 days of hellish jail
time and then returned them to duty. Death penalties for U.S. Civil War
desertions were enforced in both Union and
 Confederate
armies.
In the modern Army, commanders have discretion to retain and rehabilitate,
administratively separate, or court-martial AWOL or deserted soldiers once
they are returned to military control. Some charges under the Uniform Code
of Military Justice carry such punishments as dishonorable discharge, five
years' confinement, and forfeiture of pay and rank reduction. The maximum
penalty for desertion in time of war is death or such punishment as a
court-martial may direct. Not since World War II has the death penalty
been invoked, when Army Pvt. Eddie Slovik became an example and was
executed by firing squad.
In 2008, the Army reported 3,600 soldiers deserted, out of a peak strength
of 522,017. The figure was down a thousand from the previous year.
"The vast majority of American soldiers serve their country admirably and
honorably," Army spokesman Lt. Col. George Wright said. "AWOL and
desertion are crimes that not only affect the soldier, but in a time of
war, put other soldiers' lives at risk. Not only do these crimes go
against Army values, they degrade unit readiness."
Desertion primarily affects first-term-enlisted soldiers, Wright said.
They accounted for three-fourths of desertions in 2007.
After Keller completed his first term and was stop-lossed by the Army, he
decided to re-enlist for a signing bonus since he had to serve the time
anyway. He had nearly completed his second tour in Iraq when he deserted.
PUNISHMENT
Keller had no idea what punishment he would face when he made the call to
voluntarily turn himself in.
At first, Keller thought things might go badly for him. He feared the Army
would make an example of him because his story had been published in The
News-Journal last year.
"They were going to throw the book at me," Keller said in a phone
interview about the day he returned to Fort Drum. He said someone "in
higher authority" told him the Army might have dropped his case because of
his good record if not for the publicity.
But the fact that he'd turned himself in worked in Keller's favor.
"They said 'come in tomorrow and we will deal with your situation,' "
Keller recalled.
There were no military police. There was no jail. He was put in a barracks
and told to report every morning for a task with another soldier in a
similar predicament.
"We were sitting for hours and hours and neither one of us knew what would
happen," he said.
Days, then weeks went by. Keller felt strange but kept quiet.
"We didn't cause any problems, and they kept pushing our cases to the
side," he said. "A lot of others were coming and going faster than we
were, like soldiers getting DUIs getting out."
Eventually, he spoke with a Judge Advocate General military officer -- a
lawyer. He feared losing his Ranger designation -- "I felt like I was
walking on eggshells," he said -- but in the end he believes his record
and support from his old company commander helped him. He pleaded guilty
to his absence in August before a summary court-martial officer.
A month later, Keller's sentence was handed down: reduction in rank from
staff sergeant to sergeant, forfeiture of $746 and restriction to a
limited area for 14 days. He also was assigned 45 days of extra duty,
which was waived.
Keller since has left the military. He won't say what kind of discharge he
received but says he still has all his military benefits and is now living
in Canada with his family, though he may return to the states.
"It was a very difficult and confusing time," he said. "The pressure built
up so much toward the end of my deployment. . . . It's not like any other
job where you can just quit. If they would have just given me time to get
some type of help or do a lesser job, like battle planning, I could have
been a great asset.
"But . . . they were making an example out of me."
Army Deserters
Year; desertions; total enlistment; rate (per 1,000)
2000; 3,687; 479,426; 7.7
2001; 4,399; 482,170; 9.1
2002; 3,971; 480,801; 8.3
2003; 2,610; 486,543; 5.4
2004; 2,450; 499,299; 4.9
2005; 2,659; 499,543; 5.3
2006; 3,301; 492,728; 6.7
2007; 4,698; 505,402; 9.3
2008; 3,600; 522,017; 6.9
SOURCE: U.S. Army
-------------------------
Second story here...
http://newsok.com/
soldiers-choice-offers-a-lesson/article/3340551
Story below:
-------------------------
Oklahoma soldier’s
choice offers a lesson
Man served time after
deserting his unit, says mental health issues were to blame
BY BRYAN DEAN
Daniel Sandate made some bad choices.
The former Army private made headlines when he was deported from Canada,
where he spent nearly three years hiding after deserting his unit.
After returning to the United States last year, he was sentenced to eight
months in the stockade.
Sandate, 26, was released Tuesday from Fort Sill and plans to stay with
friends in the Oklahoma City area for the time being. Having paid the
price for his choices, he hopes to get back on his feet and that others
will learn from his story.
Physical and mental problems
Sandate said he never
meant to be anything other than a good soldier. His problems started in
June 2004, when he developed severe back pain just before deploying to
Iraq.
When he got back, Sandate said, his superiors ignored his medical problems
and made him walk long distances when he needed to take his prescription
pain medication.
"It came to the point where I didn’t want to get my medicine because it
hurt more to walk that far than it would for me to just do without,”
Sandate said.
He said discipline threats from the Army started as his physical condition
deteriorated and his job performance suffered.
Sandate didn’t notice it, but friends told him his personality changed
dramatically after he returned from Iraq. He had a history of depression
and showed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Sandate’s attorney, James Branum, practices out of Oklahoma City and works
with groups that provide legal help to soldiers. He suspects Sandate’s
mental problems pushed him over the edge.
The idea to leave for Canada wasn’t supposed to be a permanent move.
Sandate said he just needed a break from the Army, and he’d met a girl
online who happened to live there.
"Next thing I know, I was on a plane, and I was in Toronto,” Sandate said.
"I didn’t have anything thought out at the time. One of my downfalls is I
don’t really plan things ahead.”
Help never came
He planned on coming
back to his unit until he got a call a week later from his sergeant
telling him he had committed a crime punishable by death. As the gravity
of his mistake set in, he said, he decided not to go back and face the
wrath of his superiors.
Sandate came to the attention of Canadian authorities when he attempted
suicide. Sandate said he actually looked forward to returning to the Army,
hoping he’d get help for his mental illness.
That help never came. He said he was denied mental health treatment by
both the Army and the county jail where he was held awaiting trial. He
pleaded guilty to desertion and was sentenced to eight months, far less
than the potential two to five years deserters can face.
Karen Connelly, a spokesman for Fort Carson, said the military can’t
comment on a specific soldier’s physical or mental health because of
privacy laws, but she said all soldiers have access to adequate medical
care.
"Every soldier is treated as an individual and has the opportunity to be
treated by health care specialists, and they get a treatment plan just
like anyone else if they saw a civilian doctor,” Connelly said.
Branum said the judge took into account Sandate’s mental health problems
and the lack of treatment by Army doctors.
"I wish that he’d gotten help early on and fought back,” Branum said.
"He did what he was supposed to do in Iraq. When he came back, he had
serious mental and physical health issues, and he was turned away.”
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
-------------------------
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