In an AP article found on Yahoo, an Army medic Spc. Agustin Aguayo decided that he could never point a weapon at anyone or kill anyone. He believes that war is immoral.

I cannot fault his conscientious objection to the war, or to being a soldier. But Mr. Aguayo is 35-years old. He isn’t an 18-year old. He claims that he joined the Army to get money for his education and never thought he’d have to serve his country as a soldier. This was in 2002–this was post 9/11, and there were armed conflicts going on in Afghanistan.

So my question is, did he think of the consequences of joining the Army when we already had a sizable number of personnel in a war situation? Did he just want the money under the GI bill? And how could this guy be a Specialists, a medic even, if he can’t think through this simple causal relationship?

The obvious excuse that some will throw out is that the recruiters lied to him. “I know you don’t want to actually fight, but as a medic you won’t have too. You can just stand in the line of fire and get shot at when you are dressing some real soldier’s wound.”

I’m not sure whether I should be speechless at Mr. Aguayo’s abject stupidity, or spitting mad at him.

Regardless, he was convicted today of desertion. The judge will probably let him off with a light sentence, primarily consisting of time already served awaiting trial. They also reduced his rank to a private and gave him a dishonorable discharge. So much for his education money.