War in Iraq causing few desertions, officials say
E.A. Torriero Chicago Tribune Apr. 21, 2006 12:00 AM
CHICAGO - American soldier Levi Moddrelle returned on leave from Iraq on Christmas Eve 2003, his mind and body scarred from war. A few weeks later, scheduled to deploy to Iraq again and telling friends he didn't want to die, the Kentucky helicopter mechanic went missing.
"Something happened to him over there that made him run away," said his mother, Susan Tileston, from her home in Stanford, Ky.
Moddrelle, 22, is one of more than 9,500 enlisted military personnel, from all branches of the service, including the National Guard, who have abandoned their service since the start of the war, according to military statistics.
Moddrelle, however, is part of a diminishing minority, not a growing trend. The number of desertions has dropped every year of the Iraq war, despite rising opposition to the conflict at home. Desertions have been cut in half since 2001, which was before the Iraq war started and when the war in Afghanistan was just beginning. Among the possible reasons for the drop: post-Sept. 11 patriotism and the added financial incentives from the Pentagon.
Military officials point out that desertions during the Iraq war are dwarfed by those in past U.S. conflicts. That may be testament to the all-volunteer force as opposed to the draft.
When it comes to the national debate over the Iraq war, deserters are hardly the driving political force they were in the Vietnam years. Only a few are vocal opponents.
"They are simply an insignificant part of the equation," said Charles Moskos, a sociologist at Northwestern University who specializes in military affairs. "The numbers are really low."
In World War II there were about 40,000 deserters, more than half of whom were convicted. And during the Vietnam War, the Pentagon reported 550,000 incidents of desertion, including about 350,000 who were considered draft dodgers and resisters. Military police combed the United States to arrest them. About 60,000 fled to Canada.
The troops fighting now in Iraq were not drafted as most in Vietnam had been, and many of them signed up with gung-ho intentions. But some are finding the war experience too brutal to bear.
From 2,500 to 3,000 of the 1.4 million Americans on active duty are absent without leave on any given day, military officials say. Many live quietly underground, staying with friends and family.
"I feel the war and the killing is unjustified," said Darrell Anderson, 23, who served seven months in Iraq with the Army's 1st Armored Division, fought in combat and was wounded by a roadside bomb.
Scheduled to redeploy to Iraq early last year, Anderson went to Canada, leaving his gear and a Purple Heart with his unit in Germany. In Anderson's hometown, Lexington, Ky., his mother has become an anti-war activist supporting his desertion.
There are signs that desertion rates could be growing, according to lawyers dealing with their cases.
As many as 4,000 enlisted people per month contact the support network GI Rights Hotline to inquire about consequences of deserting, organizers say. But most do not desert. Under recent changes in the military pay system, soldiers are offered economic incentives to remain in the service and stand to lose much if they flee.
"You have to be very motivated against this war to leave," said former Florida National Guard Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia, who served eight months and 22 days in a military prison after being convicted of desertion in May 2004. "The military makes it hard for you to walk away from those benefits."
Many times, deserters voluntarily return to duty in a few months. They often are dealt with administratively and, in a military that needs to retain soldiers, most are pressed back into service. Save for a few cases where deserters made public anti-war statements, most do not face prosecution or stern military discipline.