I know that many of you are good at getting messages out about this sort of stuff! Anyone care to help a stranger that is now in jail for going AWOL?
I don’t know this person and I certainly do not have any knowledge of the circumstances for this man’s decision to go AWOL (there are hundreds of reasons to not want to go to Iraq and I do not have to list them to you guys), but as a vet that luckily just got my “official honorable discharge” (the “2nd” honorable discharge you get from the IRR) last month, I feel a certain responsibility towards trying to figure out how to best help this young man that lives in my hometown.
New Milford Times – News – 07/22/2005 – Soldier charged as a fugitive:
“A New Milford man will likely face a court-martial for desertion from his Army National Guard Unit, following his arrest Tuesday by New Milford police as he allegedly left the scene of a minor car accident that occurred at 12:10 a.m.
(snip)
Assistant State’s Attorney Jonathan Knight said his office contacted an Army investigator in New York who said that Mr. Johnston, a member of an Army National Guard unit based in Huntington, N.Y., was absent without leave (AWOL).
Mr. Knight said Mr. Johnston was arraigned in Bantam Superior Court Tuesday. He was then transported to a holding facility on Whalley Avenue in New Haven.
According to published reports, Mr. Johnson’s unit, which is part of the 69th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, has been in Iraq for the past six months. There, it is attached to the 42nd Infantry Division, which had been deployed from Fort Benning, Ga.”
I am going to try and contact a few of the Anti-war Veteran groups and see if they can help him, though I am not sure if any of them are already following this?
