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Soldier Gets 3 Months for Desertion |
2007-02-06 |
FORT BLISS, Texas (AP) - A soldier was found guilty Monday of deserting her Army unit on the eve of its deployment to the Middle East and was sentenced to three months in military prison. A guilty plea by Spc. Melanie McPherson, a 28-year-old reservist from Tofte, Minn., to going absent without leave was superseded by a military judge's ruling on the more serious charge of desertion. McPherson told the judge she hitchhiked to Minnesota after leaving Fort Bliss the day before her unit was to leave for Kuwait, in July. McPherson was also reduced in rank to private and will receive a bad-conduct discharge after her prison term. Trained as a military photojournalist, McPherson said she left because she was afraid she would eventually be deployed to Iraq as a truck driver or military police officer. She said she feared that if she were sent to war as anything other than a photojournalist, she would endanger herself and those around her. McPherson also pleaded guilty to missing her deployment. |
Posted by:Steve White |
#5 Compare her comments Re; fear of getting hurt with those from a PH1 (Navy 1st Class Petty Officer) recently quoted in the Whidbey News-Times. She not only did her photojurnalism duties, but also provided armed cover for her shipmates on the streest in Iraq. She received, either a Silver or Bronze Star (cannot remember, sorry) for her actions, but declared that she wasn't any sort of hero, just doing her job. |
Posted by: USN, Ret. 2007-02-06 14:34 |
#4 This is all making headlines around the country, but a Colorado Springs enlisted man was found guilty of being AWOL, and faces up to 10 months and a BCD. He was scheduled to go back to Iraq for the second time in December, 2004. Note that most of these desertions occurred in 2004, about the time of the Presidential elections. I guess these idiots all thought John sKerry would be elected, and they'd be pardoned. Bunch of bleeping cowards... |
Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-02-06 13:47 |
#3 Can we get Air America to pay her for an interview, that'll kill two birds with one stone, nobody will listen to her, and it'll drive AA further into debt? |
Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-02-06 10:35 |
#2 That also makes it a federal felony conviction. Sorta shuts a number of doors on her future. However it opens new ones, like going on the |
Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-02-06 09:41 |
#1 Reporter. It figures... CNN call her yet? |
Posted by: tu3031 2007-02-06 09:06 |