Article content
An American soldier has been arrested at the U.S. border after walking from Canada and declaring he was turning himself in for military desertion dating back 16 years.
Article content
The 38-year-old man used the pedestrian walkway across the Rainbow Bridge border crossing between Niagara Falls, Ont., and Niagara Falls, N.Y., on Tuesday and surrendered, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Article content
The man was escorted from the public-facing border office to a secondary inspection area for verification. Border officers confirmed his identity and found he was right, there was an active U.S. Army warrant for military desertion on file in the National Crime Information Center, a U.S. law enforcement database.
He was held in custody and turned over to U.S. Army personnel.
Recommended from Editorial
It is not known how long he has been in Canada or whether he was living here, but he carried only one bag with him across the border.
His name and rank have not been released, nor what his role was in the military at the time of his departure.
He appears to have been based at U.S. Army base Fort Liberty, N.C. His case has been forwarded to the Fort Liberty, North Carolina Provost Marshal’s Office. The Provost Marshal is the base’s chief law enforcement officer and law and order adviser.
Fort Liberty, previously known as Fort Bragg, is a huge military complex, the largest U.S. Army base by population, according to the U.S. Department of Defence. It is known as the home of the Airborne and Special Operations Forces.
Article content
The U.S. base has not responded to a request for information.
If the dates he provided to border officials are correct, he was surrendering after leaving his military duties when he was 22 years old, around 2008.
Under U.S. military law, desertion is defined as being absent from military duties without authority with intent to remain away permanently.
If a soldier deserts his post in a time of war the punishment can be death.
In 2008 the U.S. military was actively engaged in the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan at that time, collateral damage by U.S. strikes were mounting, with civilian deaths sparking outcries and souring support for the war. A surge of U.S. troops was on the horizon from the incoming administration of newly elected president Barack Obama.
In Iraq, the war against Saddam Hussein that began in 2003, had become the most dangerous yet for U.S. troops with 2007 being the deadliest year for American military personnel.
• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | X: AD_Humphreys
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.
Share this article in your social network
