Quote:
Originally Posted by Raellus
Despite the Army’s best efforts, desertion became an increasing problem and field commanders were given extended latitude in dealing with deserters. Desertion was discouraged to some extent by geography. Outside CONUS, most American troops were unfamiliar with the language and culture of their surroundings. The sense of being a stranger in a strange land probably went a long way in maintaining unit cohesion. The cantonment offered a tangible sense of community and belonging to the troops who lived, worked, and fought there. Tales of cutthroat marauders roaming the areas outside most cantonments also discouraged some would-be deserters.
Nonetheless, officers had to contend with the slow but steady loss of fighting manpower to desertion. Over time, the Army developed a carrot- and-stick approach to discourage desertion. From time to time, amnesties were offered to deserters (the message being delivered by air-dropped leaflets and vehicle-mounted loudspeakers). Floggings and firing squads acted as the stick. Many units saw a return to corporal and capital punishment for a range of offenses, desertion foremost among them. Discipline was usually left up to the division commander and some deservedly earned a reputation for strict and sometimes brutal enforcement.
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I would just like to offer a couple of things on the subject of desertion.
First, I imagine that the desertion among US Armed Forces over seas would be a lot lower than the rate among forces in the Continental United States. Here are my reasons:
The primary motive for desertion, in my humble opinion, is to get away from the dangers, terrors and discomforts of military duty in the time of war. But with the entire world reduced to chaos following three years of war and a limited nuclear exchange, leaving the armed forces is actually going to make the individual less safe, more uncertain and less comfortable. Being in the armed forces of the remnant of a national government means that there is a remote possibility of resupply or other forms of outside assistance. Safety in numbers and all that. So there is more motive for staying with the organized unit.
The second most compelling reason to desert is, IMHO, a desire to reunite with friends and family outside the military. This desire is going to be a stronger motivator for desertion than the desire for a life of ease, since frankly, there is no life of easy anywhere. To truly find such a life of relative safety and security, a deserter would have to try and reach France or Sweden or Australia or South America. None of that is very likely for US forces deployed over seas. Not the least of which because many of these places may have policies in place hostile to refugees. Think "Children of Men" for how the Union Frances probably treats refugees.
So being stationed in Europe, the Middle East or Korea places the US serviceman so far from home and (in the case of the Middle East and Korea) in such xenophobic and hostile terrain that sticking with their unit may be the only way to survive. Deserters would get a pretty hostile reception from the locals and might have to come crawling back to their unit for food and protection.
Deserters who return on their own might make excellent deterrents for other deserters. Rather than court martial and execute or flog the deserter, the unit commander might make him available to tell everyone how bad it sucks out there in the world all by your lonesome surrounded by Poles, Muslims and Koreans all giving you the stink eye and trying to figure out whether you're worth the trouble to rob.
In fact, the only chance of getting home is to stick with your unit and pray for an evacuation. In fact, after Operation Omega, I imagine that any deserters in the Perisan Gulf or Korean Peninsula might return to their units because they want to be sure they don't miss their only ticket home. I'm sure that when they return they will bring some very interesting stories to cover their absence.
Just to throw in some useless statistics I got off wikipedia... the Pentagon reported just under 8,000 desertions between the start of the Iraq war and 2006. Of those, only one desertion occurred overseas. Take those stats with a grain of salt, but I wouldn't be surprised by them at all.
US Forces stationed in the United States would therefore, I believe, have a much higher desertion rate due to soldiers wanting to return to their home communities (presuming they are not known to have been nuked) and ascertain the welfare of family and friends. After all, they can just start walking and eventually they can get there. With little except official communications crossing the country, many service men are going to walk away from their posts and try and check on their families.
However, these desertions would not have to be permanent. Once servicemen and women have either determined the fate or condition of their home town, neighborhood and loved ones, they might realize that they want to resume their duty and return to the military. (This presumes that their family isn't in a situation where they need every trained, experienced soldier they can get their hands on in order to make it through the week alive.)
Going back to federal service might be as easy as just strolling into the nearest CivGov or Milgov outpost and reporting for duty. Of course a unit commander may have very reasonable suspicions about taking on a probable deserter. Is this man working for marauders? Are they a spy for one of the other Governments? Is he going to sap morale or discipline and try and recruit others to desert with them next time? Even with those valid concerns, it seems unlikely that a deserter would be turned down if they wanted to rejoin... even if they admitted to having walked away from their previous post rather than maintain the fiction that they are just "separated from their unit."
As to punishment, sure you could flog them, like it's the Napoleonic Age, but after that the punishment better be pretty light. You could shoot them like some Communist commissar, but that's hardly the American way of war and it's likely to ensure that those that desert never try to rejoin your unit. Likely as not there would instead be some pretty grueling punishment details, but nothing that would be the equivalent of a suicide mission. Just all the dirty jobs that no one wants to do in the army. Digging Latrines. Providing the muscle digging entrenchments and filling sandbags. Digging. Digging. Digging.
Soldiers probably fear their Sergeant coming at them with a shovel more than they fear a punch in the guts or a boot to the head.
Mind you, I'm talking about soldiers who volunteer to rejoin a unit, not deserters who got caught sneaking out of the perimeter or who got caught napping in a deserted house by a patrol. The ones who are brought back at the point of a bayonet would be far more likely to face corporal or even capital punishment.
Just some thoughts.
Should we create a separate thread to discuss the way other countries address their desertion and recruitment problems?
And what do you call it when deserters/stragglers attempt to rejoin friendly forces? What is the term for that?
A. Scott Glancy, President TCCorp, dba Pagan Publishing