Yesterday Nov 17 I attended 2 court martial proceedings at Fort Carson. 

Both cases had been plea bargained ahead of time with stipulations of

guilt and recommended sentences agreed to.  The court room time was spent

detailing the terms of the guilty pleas by Anthony(Tony) Anderson and

Daniel Sandate and some arguments for reduced sentences.   

    In the Anderson case the sentence for his conviction was set at 15

months in prison.  In the Sandate the sentence was set at 20 months.  The

judge could and did depart below those guidelines in both cases. 

Anderson got 14 months and Sandate got 8. (He has already served 4 1/2

months of that at the El Paso County Jail).

Tony Anderson enlisted in the delayed entry program at age 17 and did his

basic training between his junior and senior year in high school.  He

skipped his last semester in school and joined the regular Army in

January of 2008.  He had enlisted as a fire fighter but got switched to

the MP's instead.  In June of 2008 he got orders to go to Iraq and found

that his conscience was telling him he could not go into a situation

where he would be expected to kill others.  Over the summer he was

repeatedly told he had to go.  His company commander sent him to the

judicial corps and to see a chaplain.  In both cases he was told he

didn't have any chance of being recognized as a CO,  but he continued in

his resistance stance and was finally charged with failing to deploy and

disobeying an order and his case was set for court martial.   The defense

was limited to trying for a reduced sentence.  Tony read his statement,

sobbing throughout.  He came across as a serious minded and very sincere

war resister.  Between 17 and 19 years he seemingly really matured and

made a conscious decision not to take part in war, whatever the

consequences might be.   The judge did reduce his sentence by one month

and gave him a Bad Conduct Discharge instead of the more severe

Dishonorable Discharge.  He was taken into custody and will be at the

county jail for 10 days or so before being sent to a military prison.  

  Daniel Sandate has had a very troubled life with multiple stays in

mental health facilities and numerous suicide attempts.  Despite knowing

his history of mental illness and suicidal tendencies the Army gave him a

waiver to join after the Marines had declined to let him enlist.  He got

through his training and did a tour in Iraq where he was injured in IED

attacks and was exposed to traumatic incidents which still haunt him as

PTSD.  He also sustained a serious back injury which eventually required

surgery on his return to Fort Carson.  He got unsatisfactory treatment at

Fort Carson for both his physical and mental problems and decided to go

to Canada.  After more than 2 years in Canada he was returned to U.S.

custody in the summer of 2008 and returned to face charges as a deserter.

 .  The defense called Bev Jahn as an expert witness on PTSD and on

Daniel's case in particular.  She had visited with him for some 10 hours

in several sessions at the jail.  Sandate himself delivered a long

riveting account of his personal life history with details about combat

experiences and suicide attempts etc.   In this case the judge departed

downward for the recommended guidelines by 12 months giving Sandate 8

months instead of the recommended 8 months.  Again the discharge was a

Bad Conduct one not a Dishonorable one.  He should be out in a couple of

months but unless he gets V A benefits it is unlikely that his problems

will be dealt with.  

    As I sat through the two legal proceedings I thought of a phrase from

Vietnam War days, "Military Justice is to Justice as Military Music is to

music" .

Quitting a military job for whatever reason brings serious legal

consequences.  It doesn't matter if you entered at 17 (before one can

even vote) or that you have serious personal problems or that your

conscience comes to life and tells you no.  .  Once you're in there

"yours is not to reason why, yours is but to do or die" (Kipling)  It is

presumed that you will blindly follow orders or go to jail.  The younger

you enter the military machine the more malleable and compliant you are

expected to be.  War demands that it be this way.  Single murders are

crimes.  Mass murders are heroic deeds.

Bill