I wrote earlier about the latest celebre du jour duty shirker who ran off to Toronto to hide from his duty in the eeeevil American war.

Well, turns out there’s way more to the story.

Well, let’s start with the basics. First, SPC Jemley is in signals intelligence; despite the fact that he knows Arabic, he will never ever be required by the Army to interrogate anyone. Indeed, without obtaining the Human Intelligence Collector MOS and then certifying, he would be breaking the law were he to try to do so.

The contractor job at Guantanamo that he complains about had nothing to do with his military career. He used his training and security clearance, paid for by the US Army, to get a highly paid civilian contractor job, and then supposedly balked at the requirements. No one in the Army ever required him to go to Guantanamo. No one in the Army could order him to work as an interrogator at Guantanamo. If you are afraid that “coercive techniques” might possibly constitute torture, you probably shouldn’t apply for jobs where you might use them–never mind the fact that the worst you might face is getting fired when you refuse to do so.

Go read the entire smackdown at Sig. He’s in the same unit, under the same commander. An insider’s take on the cowardice that drove Peter Jemley to flee to Canada.

Unmentioned is what would happen if Jemley came back–he’d be re-classed into some other non-Intelligence job and could finish out his enlistment and earn an honorable discharge. Even after deserting, MAJ B was willing to give him a chance. No dice. Unmentioned also is the fact that he will never again be trusted with my nation’s secrets either way–he’ll never be in danger of being called to interrogate anyone. Ever.

Ok so what can I DO about it?