Wild Thing’s comment…..
I have NO sympathy, NO patience for draft dodgers or deserters.
I don’t care how many years it has been. Punish the hell out of them!!!!
U.S. arrests soldier who fled in 1968
Traveled to U.S. dozens of times since dodging service in VietnamAllen Abney, grandfather is languishing in confinement
at a U.S. military base —
under arrest for deserting the U.S. Marine Corps
38 years ago because he didn’t want to fight in Vietnam.Allen Abney, 56, is in custody at Camp Pendleton near San Diego today.
His family in the East Kootenays is anxiously awaiting word on what’s next
for the father of three who deserted the marines and fled to Vancouver in
1968 at the age of 19.Charges of desertion can result in what’s known as "other-than-honorable"
discharges, a special court martial and sentences of up to one year in military
jail or a general court martial where the maximum penalty is five years behind bars.“I really cannot conceive that that’s a possibility. I really want to stress that,”
said Lynn Gonzales, who works with the San Diego Military Counseling Project,
a branch of the GI Rights Hotline.Gonzales was to meet with Abney yesterday.
Abney, a Canadian citizen since 1977, was taken into custody Thursday.
He and his wife, Adrienne, were crossing into Idaho after leaving their home
south of Cranbrook, bound for a holiday in Reno.“They stopped us at customs. I handed over our passports and they called us in.
After 20 minutes of sitting there, they took him,” Adrienne told The Province.Adrienne said her husband had traveled into the United States dozens, if not
hundreds of times, with no problem whatsoever.Allen, who was born in Kentucky but has lived in Canada since he was 10,
joined the Marines voluntarily when his brother was drafted, figuring he too
would be compelled to serve. His brother stayed in Canada as a conscientious
objector. Allen completed basic training in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.Before he could be shipped overseas, he took a weekend break in Mexico then a
bus all the way to Vancouver.Abney married in 1971 and became a Canadian citizen in 1977, the same
year then-U.S. president Jimmy Carter offered to pardon deserters if they
applied through a special discharge review program. Abney did not take
advantage of the offer.Though he rarely talked about that time in his life, daughter Jessica said, her father
was hardly living in secret. He never changed his name and has traveled extensively
throughout the U.S.What the marines would want with the “slightly overweight” man who likes hunting,
fishing and driving ATVs is beyond Adrienne.“Maybe they’re using him as an example to prevent Iraq-bound Marines from
deserting.
I don’t think they’d have much use for him in Iraq,” she said.A Marines spokesman said Abney will be returned to his original unit, where the
commander will decide what happens next.The family has called the Canadian consulate in the U.S. and has had sporadic phone
contact with Allen since his detention.Foreign Affairs spokesperson Rejean Beaulieu said federal officials are aware of the
case, but he could not comment further.The Abneys are also waiting to hear something from the government.
“The Canadian consulate in the U.S. is not being very helpful at all,” said Adrienne.
Meanwhile, U.S. Army deserter Joshua Key said Abney made the same “moral choice”
to not fight in a war he felt was wrong. Key faces an immigration hearing later this month
that will determine whether the 27-year-old can remain in Canada or must return to the
U.S. to face military justice.“It seems a little weird, crossing the border as many times as he did. I say it’s a damn
shame. He’s already established himself as a Canadian citizen,” Key said from his home
on Gabriola Island.
.
Wild Thing’s comment……….
Look how they are already making excuses for him.
“I really cannot conceive that that’s a possibility. I really want to stress that,”
said Lynn Gonzales, who works with the San Diego Military Counselling Project,
a branch of the GI Rights Hotline.
Shoot him! I could care less that he is a grandfather, a husband, a son or anything.
A Marines spokesman said Abney will be returned to his original unit, where the
commander will decide what happens next.
Good, Sir, please do not let this coward go unpunished. And I blame Canada too for
accepting draft dodgers and deserters.
Our country needs to begin to take a bad ass stand on things like this. And on other
traitors to like Carter, Gore, Bill Clinton, Kerry, Fonda, you name it!
NO MORE TREASON or else!
And if that isn’t bad enough that they even have to think about what to do with this jerk.
Look at this! OMG!
.
Plans for U.S. draft dodger sculpture revived
Activists’ proposal draws fire from conservatives, veterans groups
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Peace activists have revived plans for a sculpture to commemorate Vietnam War draft resisters who fled to Canada, a proposal that had drawn the ire of U.S. veterans groups and conservatives.
The activists, who are also organizing a reunion for “draft dodgers” in July, said on Tuesday the proposed monument is still needed to warn Americans and Canadians about the dangers of militarism.
“It is very important educationally that we have specific peace monuments,” said Isaac Romano, an American who immigrated to Canada and now lives in British Columbia’s Kootenay region where many U.S. war resisters settled.
The plan for a monument in Nelson, B.C., was originally announced in 2004, but quickly dropped after it was denounced by the U.S. Veterans of Foreign Wars and conservative media commentators.
“It could be that there is a group in the States that sees it as an opportunity to remind Americans that they are not locked into the militarism. That there is an escape valve,” Romano said.
The proposal calls for a sculpture of two Americans, a male and a female, crossing an imaginary border where a Canadian figure is waiting to welcome them.
It has been estimated that 125,000 draft-age Americans fled to Canada to avoid Vietnam and prosecution under U.S. law, although about half returned home after President Jimmy Carter granted amnesty in 1977.
The question is, will Bill Clinton attend the draft dodger reunion?
Will John Kerry be the guest speaker on the proper way to avoid military service and hide your military records?
The draft dodgers got away with it. Thru deferments, political connections, two presidential amnesties, national guard, marriage or whatever, most of the 60’s/70’s generation got out of serving. Most of our present day politicians are former “avoiders”.
Screw it. I grew up thinking it was every American male’s duty to try to serve. Even tho we now have a volunteer military, I still use the term Draft Dodger to describe males who are too chicken to give 3 or 4 years out of respect for others who have secured their freedom.
HI BIG DOG good questions. Coward Clinton would be a perfect speaker for those cowards that’s for sure. And Kerry too like you said.
Thanks for commenting about this.
I agree Tom, what gets me are parents that say I love my kids too much to let them serve. So they tell their kid they cannot do it. I have had two people tell me this and I told them off. This is a real thing with me. I have zero tolerance for anyone with this kind of attitude.
Thanks Tom.
As the father of two son’s (25 & 18) I don’t want my boys going off to war. As a man who gave 26 years of his life in the service of this nation, I feel I kind of gave enough to cover both of my boys since they missed so much of normal father and son stuff due to my duty requirements. But, as a Senior NCO, an American, and a man, I know that someone has to do it and right now someone has a son or daughter in harm’s way. My son’s are no different or better than those other son’s and daughters. No parent in his right mind wants their child to go off to war. But, if either of my son’s enlisted, I would be one proud father. They have an idea of what military life is like and they know what the dangers are. If something happened to them, my heart would break, I would cry, and by God’s Grace I would honor them by holding up their service to this great nation and the principals they believed in.
As you said WT ‘shoot him’. We used to do such things back before the Lie-berals turned this
nation into a land of pussies.
Bob, you see what you said is what makes a difference. You are right Bob, no father that loves his sons wants them to enlist, to go into battle to risk being injured or killed. Especially Fathers that have served and know what it is about.
What gets me angry about it are the Fathers like one of our neighbors that has a son that wants so badly to go into the Air Force. They argue all the time about it. His son has not gone yet and resents his Father for the disagreement about this desire he has. The neighbor told his son if he goes to college and finishes school then to think about it and maybe then but not until. The son is angry about this so they have a coolness between them.
I asked our neighbor that was telling us about this if he will keep his word to his son and he said no way. When the time comes I will tell him something again to keep him from enlisting. This is wrong, for one thing to lie to his son, for another to keep his son under an iron fist so to speak from wanting to do something that is not against the law, and he wants with all he is. A very sad situation indeed. The neighbor has never served in the military and is also a Democrat.
Thank you so much Bob for sharing about this I did about this.
Hi SparkS, thanks for commenting on this.
I am just so angry at the lefties that want to live off our freedom that came at such a high cost and then bash our miitary as well. It makes my blood boil. And draft dodgers send my head reeling with anger.
Thanks again SparkS
Well cry me a river, this SOB deserted and left his buddies to fight and die in his place, now the latest is he may be released. Perhaps he was drafted but in 1968 at a time Marines were mostly enlisted i.e. volunteers.
Obviously he had no regard for them or his fellow countrymen preferring the yellow banner of cowardice. While I’d prefer his prosecution and lockup at Leavenworth there is a lack of courage to carry this out. Just send him back, he’ll fit in well whether it be Kingsgate, British Columbia or in Montreal with his cut and run Comrades where he is loved and cherished.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060315.NATS15-1/TPStory/National