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82nd Airborne soldier leaves his post, seeks asylum in Canada
Canadian Press
Friday, February 20, 2004
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FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) - A soldier in the 82nd Airborne Division who says he had "a romantic vision" of military life has left his post and is living in Canada, where he has sought refuge as a conscientious objector.
Jeremy Hinzman, a member of the 2nd Battalion of the 504th Brigade Parachute Infantry Regiment, could be prosecuted as a deserter if he is caught inside the United States.
He'll be listed on a national database and could be arrested, but the army won't go looking for him, said Sgt. Pam Smith, a spokeswoman for the 82nd Airborne, based at Fort Bragg.
"We don't have time to go and track down people who go AWOL," she said. "We're fighting a war."
Hinzman, who grew up in Rapid City, S.D., joined the army in January 2001. He and his wife and baby fled last month to Toronto.
Hinzman told the Fayetteville Observer by phone that the socialist structure of the military appealed to him - he liked the subsidized housing and groceries and, at the end of his service, the money for college.
"It seemed like a good financial decision," he said, adding, "I had a romantic vision of what the army was."
But he was horrified from the start of basic training, by the chanting about blood and killing during marches, by the shooting at targets without faces and by what he called the dehumanization of the enemy.
"It's like watching some kind of scary movie, except I was in it," he said. "People would just walk around saying things like, 'Oh, I want to kill somebody."'
Hinzman said he turned in his first application to be a conscientious objector in August 2002, saying he wanted to fulfil his service obligation but not to participate in combat.
He said army officials told him his six-page explanation was lost. But later, when he was doing clerical work, he was handed a file that included the application.
He reapplied, but by that time his unit was on track to go to Afghanistan and he left with it. With the application still pending, he was kept off patrol and worked as a dishwasher.
Hinzman said his application was denied while he was in Afghanistan.
He returned to Fayetteville in July and talked things over with his wife, Nga Nguyen. They figured it was only a matter of time before his unit would be sent to Iraq. He said he felt the war there was unjust and was being fought over oil interests.
On Dec. 20, Hinzman found out that his unit would be deployed to Iraq. On Jan. 2 - a Friday, the start of a four-day weekend - he packed his wife and 14-month-old son, Liam, into their car for the 18-hour drive to Canada.
His absence was noticed that Monday and he was declared absent without leave the following day.
Hinzman said he has received much support from Quakers in Toronto and Fayetteville, where he joined the Friends Meeting when he couldn't find a place to practise Buddhism, his preferred faith.
Ann Ashford, recording clerk at the Fayetteville Friends Meeting, said Hinzman and his wife were faithful attendees. She said the community supports Hinzman, though no one knew of his plan to desert.
During the Vietnam War, an estimated 30,000 Americans sought refuge in Canada to avoid compulsory military service.
Hinzman's chances of receiving refugee status are slim: Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board said none of the 268 American applicants last year was accepted.
Those who are denied refugee status may be granted permission to stay in Canada under other provisions, said Charles Hawkins, a spokesman for the board.
Hinzman said he knows the decision will take a while. He said the hardest part has been leaving the people in his unit, which is now in Iraq.
"I didn't do this out of animosity toward them," he said, "but toward the situation we were in."
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Information from: The Fayetteville Observer, fayettevillenc.com
© The Canadian Press 2004
http://www.canada.com/search/story....52-b1c67f3a181c
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Send this waste of oxygen back to the loving arms of Yank MPs at the border.
What the heck was he thinking when he signed up for infantry? It's going to be a picnic?
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| quote: | Originally posted by chinamon
not true. i say "ugh"
but i am a tranny. |
| quote: | Originally posted by kotsy
lol colour me retarded |
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