AWOL Vet turns himself in, faces 5 years in prison

[babylonsister]

Exclusive: AWOL Iraq Veteran Turns Himself In Instead of Returning to Iraq; Faces Five Years in Prison

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/26/1415257

Army medic Agustin Aguayo and his wife, Helga, speak to Democracy Now. Later today Agustin plans to turn himself in to the military weeks after he went AWOL at his base in Germany. He faces five yeas in prison. Today, a Democracy Now exclusive. Army medic Agustin Aguayo. He applied for Conscientious Objector status and was denied. He was deployed to Iraq for a year, he refused to load his gun no matter how dangerous the situation. Earlier this month, Aguayo went AWOL at his base in Germany after the military ordered him to return for a second deployment. Today - Agustin Aguayo will turn himself in to the military. His lawyer says he could face up to five years in prison.

Agustin Aguayo and his wife Helga joined us yesterday at a studio in Los Angeles for an extended conversation. I began by asking Agustin to talk about his decision to join the military.

* Agustin Aguayo, AWOL Army medic who served in Iraq

* Helga Aguayo, wife of Agustin Aguayo

The long, rush transcript is up at the link.

[EFerrari]

1. Amy has a long and very good interview with this gentleman

on today. :)

[ThomCat]

2. I'm sure they're denying Conciencious Objector status

pretty much across the board. They're probably assuming that if they say no these people will suddenly pick up their guns and become killers.

What this guy has done, refusing to load his gun through an entire tour of duty, should guarantee that he gets CO status.

[babylonsister]

3. I'm listening to him now; he's definitely a pacifist. My heart goes out

to him. Five years in jail? It's just not fair.