To the four officrs and four enlisted soldiers that prosecuted SSG Camilo Mejia for desertion:
You gave SSG Camilo Mejia one year in jail for deserting his post in Iraq? One year? That’s it??!!
Yes, I know that he was reduced in rank and got a bad conduct discharge; yes, I know that this soldier was claiming status as Conscientious Objector (after his desertion) and there is a lot of popular sympathy for this soldier and his cause and yes, I know that there are serious objections to this war in Iraq - I share those objections; but still…
He deserted his unit in a time of war.
This bears repeating: He deserted his unit in a time of war.
Sorry, after having served 23 years in the military, all I could do when I learned of the result of his Court Martial was blink in astonishment.
I learned of the outcome of the Court Martial on 60 Minutes II this evening - this was mostly a reprise of the first report some weeks ago. Then, as tonight, I spent the time watching the segments screaming at the TV “String him up!” and “He’s a Coward!” and other less-than-flattering epithets. I was sure that the Army would throw the book at him.
I am not so hawkish as to favor the death penalty that the UCMJ allows for this but still…one year in jail.
I did a Google search trying to find any statistics on punishments for this offense, but all I came up with was a lot of info about Capital Punishment and President Bush’s alleged AWOL…
I would be interested to see what the typical punishment was during Vietnam. Anybody have any good sources?
At this time all I can offer is this:
From the Article 85 of the UCMJ:
Maximum punishment.
(1) Completed or attempted desertion with intent to avoid hazardous duty or to shirk important service. Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 5 years.
(2) Other cases of completed or attempted desertion.
(a) Terminated by apprehension. Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 3 years.
(b) Terminated otherwise. Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 2 years.
(3) In time of war. Death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.
Yoi. Here I was thinking “Hey, I thought Spiny Norman was ineligible to be in the US Military for 23 years because he wasn’t a US citizen all that time.”
Now I go and see that the E makes all the difference.
Should we not punish murderers because OJ got off? What happened with Bush has bupkis to do with this guy. It’s a totally different case. But you already know that, because we had this conversation in GD not two weeks ago.
This guy should see some serious time, in my opinion.
It’s not a victimless crime. Desertion involves abandoning people under potentially deadly circumstances. That they weren’t in a firefight in this case does not excuse the crime nor the nature of it. The loss of any one man endangers the rest. You know how the military is organized, dude. No one is indispensable, and yet everyone is indispensable at the same time.
Actually, number one is all that applies, so we are only looking at a max of five years. Number three does not apply since it is no longer a time of war. Remeber, Bush declared an end to the war itself, which is why our military people ove there are not making war time pay.
Normally I might agree but look at the specific circumstances in this case. he did not abandon his post, he just refused to return from a furlough and was trying to claim CO status. Since he was not in the field, it’s only “desertion” in a legal sense. He failed to appear for duty, he did not take off from the field.
I can think of one other guy who failed to appear for duty during a war yet he does not receive the same hostility that this guy is getting.
He should be help accountable for his actions, as any member of a responsible society should be held. That his accountability is more serious than most members of society’s is a result of his choice of profession. Any individual that contemplates joining the Armed Services must contemplate the idea that he/she may be involved in combat and other people may rely on each other for mutual support/protection.
This is not a smoking dope- or prostitution-type offense - this is, IMHO, a far more serious offense. It’s a crime against his word, his character, but most importantly, a crime against his fellow soldiers, his unit, his Army and his country.
If it were otherwise, why did our previous generations dictate that this was a crime punishable by death?