Army Medic Convicted of Desertion

Mar 06, 03:49 PM

Current Headlines: A U.S. Army medic who refused to serve in Iraq was convicted of desertion Tuesday and sentenced to eight months in a military prison.

A judge at a court martial in Germany also ordered a bad conduct discharge for Agustin Aguayo and loss of pay and allowances, Deutsche Welle reported.

Aguayo pleaded guilty to going absent without official leave. But Col. Peter Masterson, the court martial judge, found him guilty of the more serious charge of desertion.

After his unit returned to Germany from Iraq, Aguayo applied for conscientious objector status. When he was turned down, he left his base, going through a bathroom window at night, and fled to his home in Los Angeles. He turned himself in 24 days later and was returned to Germany to face charges.

Aguayo, who enlisted after the invasion of Afghanistan in 2002, sought classification as a conscientious objector before his first deployment in Iraq. His wife said he refused to carry a loaded weapon while he was there.