Global reports Deserter.

He tried and found himself to be lacking. At least he tried. He has been judged and sentenced by his peers and his men.

All these comments on this guys character are infinitesimal compared to what he's putting himself through right now.

I came across this article on another site and the accused tells his side of the story. Not being a soldier his story seems plausable and easily verified, so what did he do WRONG?

Ex-soldier tells his side of the story
GREG MCARTHUR

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

A former non-commissioned officer in the Canadian Armed Forces accused of abandoning his troops in an Afghanistan firefight says he stands by his actions and wakes up every morning with “self respect.”

The former soldier was in charge of a small group of Canadian soldiers that were among those ambushed in a Panjwai district marijuana field on Sept. 3 — the same ambush that claimed the lives of four Canadians.

In yesterday's Globe and Mail, four soldiers still in Afghanistan spoke out against their former commander, alleging that he froze in battle and fled from a mud-hut compound while a handful of his charges were pinned down by enemy fire. None of the soldiers who died that day were part of the firefight in question.

In an interview yesterday, the non-commissioned officer offered his side of the story, explaining that he had to leave the battle three times for various reasons: to reposition his section's light-armoured vehicle so it could open fire on Taliban gunmen, to check why the vehicle's 25-millimetre cannon was malfunctioning and to find a C6 gunner to help provide cover fire. He spoke to The Globe on condition of anonymity.

“My guys did great. They kept their heads down. They didn't move. They didn't freak out. When I told them to throw grenades, they did,” he said.

“Now of course, now that it's after the fact, I realize they didn't necessarily know what I was doing — and that might have clouded their judgment,” he said, explaining that many of them saw him leave and likely asked “Where the hell is [he] going?”Part of the problem, he explained, was that his radio broke, which meant he couldn't speak with the light-armoured vehicle from inside the compound.

“My choice at that time was real simple. Either I tell one of my privates or corporals to get up during a firefight and run 15 or 20 metres and try to do something for me. Or I leave them exactly where they are covering their arcs, and then I do it.
“I needed to make sure that stuff was being done properly, I figured the best bet was to do it myself . . . Basically, it's being thrown back in my face. That's cool. It's all part of the job I guess.”

The soldier has since resigned from the military, a move that he says was prompted by a number of reasons.

Shortly after the firefight, he was wounded and flown back to Canada. Before he left, he was called in by a captain who asked him to sign a “note to file” — the military's equivalent of a blotch on an employment record.

He didn't get the chance to defend himself, he says, and when he found out he was going to be reassigned, he decided to pack in his long military career.

“It makes my stomach turn every time I talk about it,” said the middle-aged father, whose own father was a military man.

He also had personal reasons for resigning, he said.

“Being shot at isn't the greatest thing in the world, neither is being shot. After being wounded, I wanted to be around and spend time with my [family] as opposed to going overseas and make some extra money.”

He said a campaign is being waged against him by another soldier in his former section, who he accused of misleading his former charges. That soldier has openly accused him of abandoning him.
The former non-commissioned officer sees it differently. He alleges that, when he ordered his section to retreat to their vehicle, this particular soldier didn't listen and blasted the marijuana fields with cover fire.

He says he yelled at his charge, “What the hell are you doing? I told you to get in the vehicle,” but his subordinate refused to stop, so he left him.

The two have been long enemies, he said. He called his former subordinate “Mr. I-get-to-be-in-the-centre-of-attention.

“If I had shown some kind of gross cowardice under fire, don't you think I would have been immediately relieved of command?” he asked rhetorically. “I wasn't. There was no formal charges of any kind.”

But in previous interviews conducted by The Globe and Mail, other soldiers back in Canada have called the former non-commissioned officer's decisions into question.

When the ambush began, he ordered the troops to dismount. That rendered the light-armoured vehicle's cannon useless, because any fire would endanger Canadian troops, said Private Francois LePage, the man behind the cannon that day.

Pte. LePage said he could see movement around the compound and was itching to open fire, but couldn't. He kept yelling, “I see him. I see him,” and was repeatedly told by a superior, “Stop saying you see him. I know you see him.”

“It pissed me off because we could have killed them all,” Pte. LePage told The Globe in an October interview.

However, the former non-commissioned officer said the orders to dismount came from his superiors, Major Matthew Sprague and Lieutenant Jeremy Hiltz.

There were lots of things that went wrong on Sept. 3, the former non-commissioned officer said, especially the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's decision to drop leaflets on the village of Pashmul and give the Taliban advance warning of their arrival. That decision allowed them to plan an ambush, he said, but instead, he's become the fall guy.

“As far as I'm concerned, the guys are great guys and no matter what is written, ultimately it's going to hurt morale. If that means I get to be the bad guy because I'm out of the military and a [civilian], then I'll be the bad guy. I don't mind that.”

well that changes everything

you are fallacy fallible Lilly. It would be nice if you tried to add to a discussion instead of zinging out meanless tripe filled on liners it must be hell being exanimate..

Lilly what it's like being dumb, unemployed and Liberal? I'm so sorry how much does the Ex pay you to sit on your rather ample ass? God bless him he got out alive???????????????????????? So how many years left until welfare cuts you off sunshine??????????????

What should he have done? Good question. Battle is somewhere when you have to make decisions based on situations that can not perhaps be repeated elsewhere. For any of us with combat training to say we would have done anything different would be BS. I only question why these 4 men would open their gaps to the press anyway. They had nothing to win and everything to lose. What they don't realize is that senior leadership don't like soldiers with lose lips. They would rather have men and women who can keep their mouth shut and do their jobs. Any bitching should have been done inside the wire amoung themsleves, not CBC. My guss is all four men just toasted any great future they may have had.

As for the Sgt. He did what he had to do. I congradulate him for having made it out alive and with a whole new awareness of what bullets and grenades do to the human body. I had a grenade go off on an open range that hit several of us. The metal fragments helped me to become so fearful over the next couple of years that I would shake when I had a grenade in my hand....I normally passed them off to others to throw if we were in an open area. i would only use them when I had a foot of concrete between me and the grenade going off....I have a big nice scar on my shoulder to remind me of why those things are not toys.

I can completely understand his point of how being wounded can really help motivate you to seek other employment. :wink:

You're a world-expert on desertion?

This is an Internet Forum, SprCForr. Haven't you noticed? Everyone here is a world-expert on everything.