An American Disgrace

I decided to make a comparison to the young Canadian who died with honor on the previous post with a young American who chose dishonor. The full article appears in The Lexington Herald-Leader

AWOL Soldier Says He Wants to Come Home
by Jim Warren

"Lexington's Darrell Anderson says he would rather come home -- even if it means facing prison for deserting from the U.S. Army -- than continue a lonely and uncertain life in Canada.


Darrell Anderson, 24, speaks to the media during a rally in Fort Erie, Ontario, Saturday, June 17, 2006. The soldier who fled to Canada two years ago after serving in Iraq said he would return home to face consequences from the U.S. Army. 'I decided that I've got to go back and get this over with once and for all, instead of living in limbo up here forever,' Darrell Anderson told the Lexington-Herald Leader for Saturday's Sept. 23, 2006 edition from Toronto. (AP Photo/Don Heupel)
As for those who brand him a coward, Anderson declares, "I'm a combat veteran; I've been to Baghdad and back. What have they done?" But Anderson insists he has no regrets about fleeing to Canada in January 2005 and publicly opposing the war in Iraq.

He said he's making plans now to return to the United States, turn himself in to a special processing unit at Fort Knox for soldiers absent without leave and accept whatever punishment he's given. That could mean a dishonorable discharge, jail time or both.

"I decided that I've got to go back and get this over with once and for all, instead of living in limbo up here forever," Anderson said by phone from Toronto.

Anderson told some Canadian publications this summer that he was considering going home, and his mother in Lexington confirmed the decision earlier this month. Like other news reports about Anderson, the word drew sharp reaction, many Lexingtonians asserting that he should be locked up when he comes back, others calling for leniency."

Of course when he gets back to the states, he can contact these guys and well..........enough said.