Sounds awful, right? Except, wait a minute...
At least 8,000 members of the all-volunteer U.S. military have deserted since the Iraq war began, Pentagon records show, although the overall desertion rate has plunged since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. . . .
Desertion numbers have dropped since 9/11. The Army, Navy and Air Force reported 7,978 desertions in 2001, compared with 3,456 in 2005. The Marine Corps showed 1,603 Marines in desertion status in 2001. That had declined by 148 in 2005. . . .
Opposition to the war prompts a small fraction of desertions, says Army spokeswoman Maj. Elizabeth Robbins. "People always desert, and most do it because they don't adapt well to the military," she says. The vast majority of desertions happen inside the USA, Robbins says. There is only one known case of desertion in Iraq.
Most deserters return within months, without coercion. Commander Randy Lescault, spokesman for the Naval Personnel Command, says that between 2001 and 2005, 58% of Navy deserters walked back in.
Huh?
Let me get this straight...about 8,000 troops have deserted the military since the Iraq war began, yet since 9/11 the number of desertions from the Army, Navy and Air Force combined have dropped by nearly half? Which doesn't even get into the fact that apparently over half of those who desert end up coming back to fulfill their service obligations.
So what then is the basis of this statement in the article?
Some lawyers who represent deserters say the war in Iraq is driving more soldiers to question their service and that the Pentagon is cracking down on deserters.
No, it appears, from the numbers, as though the Iraq war is driving soldiers to remain in the military and fulfill their service obligations.
Just another confusing, misleading article for the drive-by media I guess. They can't even get stories about more of our troops serving honorably right.