Desertion
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Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL /ˈeɪwɒl/), which are temporary forms of absence.
Desertion versus absence without leave
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In the United States Army,[1] United States Air Force, British Armed Forces, Australian Defence Force, New Zealand Defence Force, Singapore Armed Forces and Canadian Armed Forces, military personnel will become AWOL if absent from their post without a valid pass, liberty or leave. The United States Marine Corps, United States Navy, and United States Coast Guard generally refer to this as unauthorized absence. Personnel are dropped from their unit rolls after thirty days and then listed as deserters; however, as a matter of U.S. military law, desertion is not measured by time away from the unit, but rather:
- by leaving or remaining absent from their unit, organization, or place of duty, where there has been a determined intent to not return;
- if that intent is determined to be to avoid hazardous duty or shirk contractual obligation;
- if they enlist or accept an appointment in the same or another branch of service without disclosing the fact that they have not been properly separated from current service.[2]
People who are away for more than thirty days but return voluntarily or indicate a credible intent to return may still be considered AWOL. Those who are away for fewer than thirty days but can credibly be shown to have no intent to return (for example, by joining the armed forces of another country) may nevertheless be tried for desertion. On rare occasions, they may be tried for treason if enough evidence is found.
There are similar concepts to desertion. Missing movement occurs when a member of the armed forces fails to arrive at the appointed time and place to deploy (or "move out") with their assigned unit, ship, or aircraft. In the United States Armed Forces, this is a violation of the Article 87 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). The offense is similar to absence without leave but may draw more severe punishment.[3]
Failure to repair consists of missing a formation or failing to appear at an assigned place and time when so ordered. It is a lesser offense within Article 86 of the UCMJ.[4]
An additional duty status code — absent-unknown, or AUN — was established by the U.S. military in 2020 to prompt unit actions and police investigations during the first 48 hours that a service member is missing.[5]
By country
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Australia
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During the First World War, the Australian Government refused to allow members of the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) to be executed for desertion, despite pressure from the British Government and military to do so. The AIF had the highest rate of soldiers going absent without leave of any of the national contingents in the British Expeditionary Force, and the proportion of soldiers who deserted was also higher than that of other forces on the Western Front in France.[6][7]
Austria
[edit]In 2011, Vienna decided to honour Austrian Wehrmacht deserters.[8][9] On 24 October 2014, a Memorial for the Victims of Nazi Military Justice was inaugurated on Vienna's Ballhausplatz by Austria's President Heinz Fischer. The monument was created by German artist Olaf Nicolai and is located opposite the President's office and the Austrian Chancellery. The inscription on top of the three step sculpture features a poem by Scottish poet Ian Hamilton Finlay (1924–2006) with just two words: all alone.
Afghanistan
[edit]A quarter of ANA and ANSF troops were reported to have deserted in 2009 with many troops hiding in the heat of battle rather than engaging the enemy.[10] Following the fall of Kabul in August 2021, the remaining forces of the ANA either deserted their posts or surrendered to the Taliban.[11]
Canada
[edit]During World War I, the Canadian Expeditionary Force passed more than 200 death sentences on deserters. Only 25 men were actually executed.[12]
Per the National Defence Act, "every person who deserts or attempts to desert is guilty of an offence and on conviction, if the person committed the offence on active service or under orders for active service, is liable to imprisonment for life or to less punishment and, in any other case, is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to less punishment".[13]
Colombia
[edit]In Colombia, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Spanish: FARC) insurgency were highly affected by desertion during the armed conflict with the Military Forces of Colombia. The Colombian Ministry of Defense reported 19,504 deserters from the FARC between August 2002 and their collective demobilization in 2017,[14] despite potentially severe punishment, including execution, for attempted desertion in the FARC.[15] Organizational decline contributed to FARC's high desertion rate which peaked in the year 2008.[14] A later stalemate between the FARC and government forces gave rise to the Colombian peace process.
France
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Many individuals who were conscripted by the French First Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars deserted. There were rough estimates to the number of individuals that deserted during the time of the levée en masse, but due to many factors, like the inability to manage and keep track of all the armies or differentiating between men with similar names, the exact number is unclear.[16] In 1800, the Minister of War (Carnot) reported that there were 175,000 deserters based on the number of individuals that sought the benefits following the amnesty put in place.[16]
From 1914 to 1918 between 600 and 650 French soldiers were executed for desertion. In 2013, a report for the French Ministry of Veteran Affairs recommended that they be pardoned.[17]
Conversely, France considered as highly praiseworthy the act of citizens of Alsace-Lorraine who during WWI deserted from the German army. After the war it was decided to award all such deserters the Escapees' Medal (French: Médaille des Évadés).
During the First Indochina War (1946–54), the French Foreign Legion was deployed to fight the Vietnamese insurgency. Some of the legionnaires, such as Stefan Kubiak, deserted and began fighting for the Việt Minh and People's Army of Vietnam upon witnessing torture of Vietnamese peasants at the hands of French troops.[18][19][20]