A US Army medic who fled his base and refused to return to Iraq with his unit was found guilty of desertion at a court-martial on Tuesday and faces up to seven years in prison. Mexican-born combat medic Agustin Aguayo, 35, pleaded guilty to going absent without leave and missing his deployment but denied charges of full desertion.
But Colonel Peter Masterton, the military judge at the court-martial in southern Germany, said the court had found Aguayo, who is married with two children, guilty as charged. It was unclear when the sentence would be handed down. The case comes at a time of waning support for the Iraq war in the United States and follows the high-profile trial in February of First Lieutenant Ehren Watada - the first known court-martial of a US Army officer for publicly refusing to serve in Iraq. Watada's court-martial ended in a mistrial.
Aguayo has been fighting for three years to be recognised as a conscientious objector. He served one term as a medic in Iraq in 2004, during which he said he refused to load his gun while on guard duty.
He escaped through a window and left his base in Schweinfurt, Germany, in September 2006, shortly after missing his unit's redeployment, and went missing for several weeks before turning himself over in California. "I missed the movement," said Aguayo, dressed in military uniform. "Yes, I deliberately stayed away from the battalion area." he said in a shaky voice. A key issue in court was whether Aguayo, who could appeal, quit his unit with the intent to avoid hazardous duty and shirk important service.
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