deserter:
(plural: ‘deserters‘; pronunciation: the letters ‘de’ rhyme with the letters ‘di’ in “dip”, and the letters ‘s’ said with a ‘z’ sound as in “zebra”)
a person who leaves (deserts) his duty or his leader, especially one who leaves (quits) military services without permission;
Jermy Hinzman, deserter, fled from US to Canada to avoid participating in Iraq war in 2004
Jermy Hinzman, a US Army soldier, refused to fight in the Iraq war on moral grounds and was treated as a deserter and so, to avoid punishment (court marshal) he fled to Canada.
In the past, the hardships at the battle grounds were so unbearable that most soldiers became deserters, and to maintain discipline and to deter others from becoming deserters too, the deserters who were pursued and caught and were punished severely!
Though not as many as there used to be, there are deserters in the armies world over — some soldiers desert because of bad conditions, some are scared and some others on moral grounds, and they are usually given asylum (food, shelter and protection) by other governments.
Joshua Ralph Hernandez, deserter, deserted from Navy
for an article about a US deserter in Germany, please click here,
and for another article on the fate of some British soldiers who were killed in the past, please click here.
