Canadian goes AWOL from U.S. army

[Tripper11]

REGINA - A Canadian who served in the U.S. army in Iraq says he will soon return to his post to face the consequences of going AWOL.

"I never thought I'd do this. I wasn't thinking clearly when I left," said Pte. 1st Class Tyrone Roper, who served with 101st Airborne.

Roper, who has dual citizenship, was in the midst of some of the heaviest fighting in Iraq for nearly three weeks. He is now on anti-depressants, diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Roper says the images of those he killed prompted him to run away and hide in Western Canada.

CBC.ca

[mmonk]

1. I think there will be more

soldiers like this having a hard time psychologically dealing with this situation.

[creativelcro]

2. would it be encouraging desertion

to say: finally somebody with guts!
??

[number six]

3. Poor guy. I wonder how quickly the repubs'll work out a way to

blame Canada for this.

[eleny]

4. Or Clinton

[number six]

5. Yup. Or the French

Quite a lot of French in Canada. Coincidence? I think not (irony ends)

[Lisa]

6. rather a sad situation ...

They interviewed him on the National news last night. It sounds like he got swept up with the enthusiasm of his colleagues in Texas, when he decided to join the US military after the attacks.

After being credited with those 3 kills in Iraq, he was deluged with praise and attention ... but then the aftereffects began to sink in. I'm assuming he was under treatment for the post-traumatic stress, but ... even so, people can have pretty dramatic reactions. (After service in Rwanda, Canadian general Romeo Dallaire ended up with this as well -- he also "disappeared" like Pte. Roper did. http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/dallaire/ http://www.canoe.ca/Health0201/21_dallaire-can.html )

I hope he and his family will be okay, and that this isn't viewed as a sign of "weakness" -- some soldiers can be very hard on those who are perceived as cracking.