[NYTr] Army Desertion Rates Up 80 Percent Since Invasion of Iraq in 2003

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[It seems plenty of soldiers are voting with their feet, just not
making a public stink about it. -NY Transfer]

AP - Nov 16, 2007
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MILITARY_DESERTERS?SITE=INKEN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Army Desertion Rates Up 80 Percent Since Invasion of Iraq in 2003

By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting
their posts at the highest rate since 1980, with the number of Army
deserters this year showing an 80 percent increase since the United
States invaded Iraq in 2003.

While the totals are still far lower than they were during the Vietnam
war, when the draft was in effect, they show a steady increase over the
past four years and a 42 percent jump since last year.

According to the Army, about nine in every 1,000 soldiers deserted in
fiscal year 2007, which ended Sept. 30, compared to nearly seven per
1,000 a year earlier. Overall, 4,698 soldiers deserted this year,
compared to 3,301 last year.

The increase comes as the Army continues to bear the brunt of the war
demands with many soldiers serving repeated, lengthy tours in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Military leaders - including Army Chief of Staff Gen.
George Casey - have acknowledged that the Army has been stretched
nearly to the breaking point by the combat. And efforts are under way
to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps to lessen the burden
and give troops more time off between deployments.

Despite the continued increase in desertions, however, an Associated
Press examination of Pentagon figures earlier this year showed that the
military does little to find those who bolt, and rarely prosecutes the
ones they get. Some are allowed to simply return to their units, while
most are given less-than-honorable discharges.

© 2007 The Associated Press.