This article, by Chris Kenning, was originally published un the Courier Journal, July 17, 2008
Pfc. James Burmeister said he was an Army scout in Iraq when he became disturbed by a tactic of planting equipment to lure Iraqis, presumably insurgents, who could then be shot by American snipers.
When complaining about the "small kill teams" to superiors failed, he said he went absent without leave in May 2007 while on leave in Germany -- fleeing to Canada in hopes of telling his story and getting the practice stopped, he said.
Yesterday, four months after turning himself in, Burmeister pleaded guilty to being AWOL at a court-martial at Fort Knox where a military judge sentenced him to six months in jail, a loss of pay, reduction to private and a bad-conduct discharge that will deny him Army benefits.
"Soldiers considering going AWOL … must know there are consequences for abandoning their comrades," Army prosecutor Capt. Christopher Cross said.
Burmeister originally was charged with "desertion with intent to shirk important service," which could have left him in jail for a year. Under a deal with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge in hopes of a more lenient sentence.
But his parents had hoped he would be released so they could take him home to Oregon to heal his internal war wounds and have him around to help with family problems. His father crumpled his face into his hands as the sentence was read, and later said he was "devastated."
His mother has multiple sclerosis, his siblings have diabetes and schizophrenia, and the family doesn't earn enough to repair their 30-year-old manufactured home, which is in disrepair, his father said.
"I understand the need for some kind of punitive action … but the strain it's putting on the family is tremendous," Eric Burmeister said, calling the sentence "an outrage."
Burmeister's military defense attorney, Capt. Tyson McDonald, argued in court that the prosecution was pursuing the case only because Burmeister had spoken to multiple media outlets about the "small kill teams," which he said were later halted.
"They're not happy that dirty laundry was getting aired," said McDonald, who argued Burmeister did "the wrong thing for the right reason."
Such prosecutions of Army deserters are relatively uncommon, despite a slight increase since the 1990s because of the Iraq War, according to Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman at the Pentagon.
Of the 4,698 soldiers who deserted in 2007, which the Army defines as being absent without leave for more than a month, only 108 were convicted. An additional 395 were convicted of being AWOL.
Overall, desertions have risen 92 percent from 2004, but Army officials say they still represent less than 1 percent of its overall fighting force, and fall short of the Vietnam War-era draft. In 1971, for example, 33,000 soldiers deserted.
Consequences can be as light as a reprimand and return to the soldier's unit, but most often the person gets an "other than honorable" administrative discharge. For some, a court-martial resulting in a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge can result in up to five years in jail.
The last high-profile case at Fort Knox -- one of only two Army deserter processing centers and which deals with about 2,400 deserters each year -- was that of Darrell Anderson of Lexington, who went AWOL in 2005 after deciding he couldn't continue to fight without inadvertently killing innocent civilians.
In 2006, after 20 months in Canada, he turned himself in at Fort Knox. Anderson was given a less-than-honorable discharge with a loss of benefits.
In court yesterday , soldiers, reporters, anti-war activists and Burmeister's parents gathered for the four-hour trial. Testimony included discussion about Burmeister's media interviews while in Canada.
Burmeister told The (Portland) Oregonian newspaper last year that he had participated in a team that put out cameras labeled as U.S. property, giving the team the right to shoot whoever tried to take it. He also spoke with Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and other news outlets.
I know going AWOL was wrong, but I thought it was the best way to stop the small kill teams," said Burmeister, who left his wife and child in Germany to spend nearly 10 months in Canada.
Although the Army has declined to discuss specific methods of combat, including the "small kill teams" or "bait and kill," as the practice was known, their existence has been detailed in several national newspaper articles. Yesterday, Burmeister said wire, AK-47s or other objects were placed in the open as soldiers laid in wait.
Burmeister's attorney said that e-mails from his unit indicate that the practice was stopped earlier this year.
Burmeister's mother said he surprised her by joining the Army in 2005, hoping to help rebuild Iraq. Instead, he found himself with the 18th Infantry Regiment manning a machine gun atop a Humvee. In February 2007, his Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb, the third such attack on it. In Germany on leave, he was suffering from anxiety and an inability to sleep and was taking heavy medication.
In Canada, a doctor diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder, from which he said he still is suffering.
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