http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/ARMY_DESERTERS?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULTMore Army deserters are being prosecuted
By PAULINE JELINEK
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- With the nation fighting two wars, the number of soldiers deserting has increased and the Army is stepping up prosecutions.
Army statistics released this week show the number of desertions rose in the four years before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America prompted the Bush administration's war on terrorism. Desertions then fell for three years but they have been rising steadily again in the last three years as the increasingly unpopular campaign in Iraq has worn on.
Even with the recent increases, less than 1 percent of the Army's active duty force of 507,000 soldiers desert, according to Army data. That compares with 3.4 percent of the 1971 force that fought the Vietnam war, Maj. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman, said Tuesday.
And even with a sizable boost in the rate of prosecutions, the overwhelming majority of cases still are handled through administrative discharge. Some 5 percent of cases go to trial, Edgecomb said.
Junior enlisted soldiers are the most likely to desert, Army researchers say.
More than 60 percent of deserters over the past 1 1/2 years had less than a year in service, Edgecomb said. More than 80 percent have less than three years of service.
"The three primary reasons deserters cite for their actions are dissatisfaction with military life, family problems and homesickness," she said.
The problem "tends to increase in magnitude during wartime" and the Army treats the offense more seriously during war, she said, because it can affect a soldier's unit and its mission.
"We prosecute for desertion much more heavily in a time of war than in a time of peace," said Paul Boyce, another Army spokesman.
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