With well-known Iraq objector Ehren Watada waiting to face his second court martial, objector Agustin Aguayo was found guilty of desertion earlier today. He fled on September 2 from a window of his on-base home in Germany while officers were there trying to force him to redeploy. Here’s the Los Angeles Times:
Aguayo first applied for conscientious objector status in February 2004, just before his unit deployed to Iraq.
A combat medic with the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, he served for one year at a base near Tikrit — often refusing to load his weapon while on guard duty — while his application was being considered.
The Army rejected his request, and after numerous appeal attempts failed…Aguayo faced a second deployment to Iraq last summer.
Aguayo may face up to 7 years in prison. The number of conscientious objector applications tripled when the Iraq war began, and has held steady since then.
