Re: Awol

[Marilyn Langlois <langlois-rine@comcast.net>]

Rich is correct, the number of AWOL's is increasing.  Depending on the
circumstances, the consequences of turning oneself in can be quite mild,
however in other circumstances they can potentially be harsh, though usually
not as bad as the military would want you to believe.  Intimidation remains
one of their primary tools.  I've also had callers on the hotline who said
they would rather spend 6 months in jail than go to Iraq.

As has been mentioned before on this list, an important role for educators
is to remind teenagers who are considering enlisting to get themselves fully
informed first!  Thanks, Rich, for the Project Yano site, which looks like a
good one.  Military recruiters routinely lie, and once you go to basic
training and start learning the truth, it's very difficult to get out.

Marilyn
GI Rights Hotline 800-394-9544

> From: Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>
> Reply-To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
> Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:57:56 -0800
> To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
> Subject: [ca-resisters] Awol
> 
> http://girights.objector.org/
> 
> I know a couple of people who thought they got good advice from the
> group above, though I have no idea what came of them.
> 
> Project Yano might be able to help  http://www.projectyano.org/
> 
> A few rules of thoughts---not from a lawyer but me----there are now
> thousands of deserters. This person is far from alone. The military
> so far seems to be trying to keep most of these cases quiet and they
> have been fairly lenient, although some folks got slammed.
> 
> Of course, the person can leave the US. New Zealand is a long way,
> but it is not deporting awols and other resisters, yet. Canada is an
> unreliable ally for deserters now, but there are a lot of people up
> there who have not been forced out yet.
> 
> There will be some advice on "turn yourself in," if you want to stay
> in the US. Well, I know people who stayed in the US as Vietnam draft
> dodgers for years, who surfaced when the amnesty was granted, and
> they did ok, though they did not get great jobs, etc. But if you do
> turn yourself in, don't let a JAG lawyer plead you out. Don't ever
> plead guilty to anything. We are innocent. They are guilty.
> 
> best r
> 
> 
> 
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