David Hemler, AF deserter has suffered enough
Marine 7002, Old Trooper and Chief Tango sent us a link to an article about some doofus Zoomie, David Hemler, who deserted from the military in 1984 who thinks he’s suffered enough and should be allowed to return to the US without any punishment.
Dagens Nyheter said David Hemler had deserted aged 21 while serving at a U.S. Air Force base in Germany, after getting involved with a pacifist church and becoming disillusioned with the policies of former President Ronald Reagan.
Yeah, Ronald Reagan, that was a reason to desert. Fiery rhetoric. Those pacifist churches are nothing but trouble.
Apparently, he’s still on the Air Force’s “Most Wanted” list
“My dream scenario is that the responsible authorities realize I have already been punished quite severely for my actions … I have been living 28 years in lies,” Hemler said.
Yeah, keep dreaming, gumball. Living the life of luxury in socialist Sweden isn’t prison time. And he works for the Swedish government under an assumed name, I’m sure the nanny state will like that. In 1984, we were cleansing the ranks because of the glut in the recruit pool, I’m pretty sure he could have got a discharge just by asking. But I guess it’s easier to just walk away and then beg forgiveness two decades later.
His douchebaggery almost reaches the level of Alex Bacon, the former executive director of IVAW who went AWOL from the Coast Guard in Hawaii to protest their patrols of the fisheries. Or something.
June 17th, 2012 at 2:23 pm
A good lawyer could probably negotiate the AF equivalent of a chapter 10, which is discharge in lieu of court martial. This would include negotiated surrender, etc. Of course the GI Hotline people would likely steer him into some ridiculous strategy that makes no sense and is completely antagonistic toward the military.
June 17th, 2012 at 2:28 pm
Fuck him!! I’m an AF veteran who was serving when this little shores walked. Put this fuck in prison!!!
June 17th, 2012 at 2:30 pm
Should read “Little Shit “. Sorry got a bit pissed.
June 17th, 2012 at 2:32 pm
Me, too, WEW54. Deserters like him deserve nothing special from us. He certainly did nothing to to earn anything other than scorn and the highest penalty he can be given.
June 17th, 2012 at 2:37 pm
The punishment is the month of eating Air Farce food, living in a dorm under guard, pushing a broom and cutting the grass until his BCD is processed.
The guards will, most likely, let him listen to Abba and Justin Bieber on his iPad while he’s working.
June 17th, 2012 at 2:37 pm
The military never forgets. Recall the case of Sergeant Charles Jenkins. He defected to North Korea while he was assigned to the DMZ in 1965 to avoid having to go to Vietnam. He turned himself in at Camp Zama, Japan in 2004. He was sentenced to 30 days’ confinement, received a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and benefits and was reduced in rank to E-1.
Those of you who’ve read R.H.’s Starship Troopers will recall the scene where they don’t need to chase deserters down. Eventually they always come back and take their punishment.
This guy needs to shave the ball tickler off his upper lip (assuming its worse by now), drive down to Germany and turn himself in like a man. That is all.
June 17th, 2012 at 2:46 pm
If read the AF blotter right they aren’t after him for just desertion. it says “security matter”.
The butt nugget was also assigned to a security squadron…WTF ever that is, but it sounds like something important. So….I am not 100% but it looks like the guy is in a little deeper then desertion.
June 17th, 2012 at 2:51 pm
@7, I was thinking the same thing. Can’t imagine walking away from the AF in 84 would land you on a Most Wanted list.
Also, things weren’t all that tough for zoomies in Germany circa 1984, suspect there is more to the story.
June 17th, 2012 at 2:51 pm
I was in the AF in 1984 and I can tell you during that year they were asking for volunteers to get out early and all you had to do was ask and they would send you home in a heart beat.
This guy is full of BS and BTW what wars did Reagan start ?.
June 17th, 2012 at 2:55 pm
Irony is that now, post-DADT, this ghey douchebag would have a place.
June 17th, 2012 at 4:00 pm
Isn’t is so sad when someone screws up then wants to get away with it? Oh no it isn’t sad at all…I just wish Sweden would tighten its belt a little and dig around a little and discover this loser has been living off them. Oh well Sweedes are really nice people.
June 17th, 2012 at 4:26 pm
As a retired Air Force Master Sergeant who remembers when this asshat deserted, suffered enough? By whose standards you miserable piece of whale dung. Get a rope.
June 17th, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Whatever the security issue was, it likely got resolved relatively quickly – though not without cost and pain.
So what does Sweden know, and what did it do with the knowledge?
June 17th, 2012 at 4:37 pm
The reason he’s doing this now is because he thinks Obama will give him a pardon. He knows that if he waits, there’s a good chance there’ll be a new sheriff in town who won’t be so lentient.
So he’s still trying to avoid responsibility for what he’s done.
June 17th, 2012 at 4:38 pm
That should be “lenient.” Sorry.
June 17th, 2012 at 4:45 pm
…Steadfast and Loyal is on the right track: this hump was doing something Very Bad when he bailed, and HE KNEW IT. And think about this for a second – that idiot Julian Assange was in Sweden and lost a judicial fight involving classified information that may very well end up with him in a US courtroom answering a great many awkward questions. You gotta believe that poor Davey is spending more than a few nights wondering if he’s next.
I sincerely hope so.
Mike
June 17th, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Jesus Christ. I disagreed with a lot of George W. Bush’s policies, but I never considered running off crying. I’m sure many agreed with me, and also never deserted. Plenty of TAH readers disagree with President Obama’s policy, and somehow they still overcame their despair and continued to man their posts. At least I now know shirking commitments isn’t just a recent phenomenon.
Hemler must have not been paying attention during his Oath of Enlistment. There’s nothing about being the President’s Praetorian Guard or service equating to support of their policies. You obey the orders of the President who is acting on behalf of the Constitution and the American people.
I’d actually admire him if he showed his conviction by growing a pair and filing for CO status. Instead he took the easy way out by running away. It takes courage to completely change your beliefs like that, and staying to face the consequences of your resulting choices.
June 17th, 2012 at 5:01 pm
As a current zoomie, I say let him rot in Sweden. If he wants to clear his mind then he should stop living his lie, man the hell up and accept the consequences of his actions. Also while I was only on Brat status in ’84, if memory serves me right Security Sq was just the name for the Security Police Squadrons.
-Ish
June 17th, 2012 at 5:09 pm
What ever happened to the legit unselfish conscientious objectors? Groups like the Mennonites didn’t declare themselves CO so they could get wasted in school. I wonder how many of the ‘pacifists’ today would do anything similar to what happened in WWII such as volunteering for the Civilian Public Service, CCC, firefighting, ambulance driving, medical orderlies, and smokejumping. I wish they would teach about the Minnesota Starvation Experiment in schools. Something tells me Hemler has never had to go without Mickie D’s whenever his tummy makes the rumblies only fries can satisfy.
June 17th, 2012 at 5:38 pm
My $0.02 worth: we give him a nickname, Fakheem. And we use it while discussing him.
As in, “Hemler? Fakheem!”
June 17th, 2012 at 5:49 pm
The story “The Man Without a Country” comes to mind. He knows that the minute he sets foot on US soil, he’ll be locked up tighter than a bull’s ass during fly season. Because of that, he’s estranged himself from the country of his birth…that’s some small consolation.
He needs to be “cashiered” from the service, like what was done to the fictional Captain Jason McCord: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashiering.
I also remembering hearing many years ago about a young Marine who had disgraced himself and his uniform, and was booted out. The unit held a formation, his misdeeds were recited and the convening authority’s action read, and he was sent on his way…carrying all of his belongings in a sea bag, with an MP vehicle slowly following him so no one would pick him up.
I remember the gunny saying something to the effect, “It was a long m’ effin’ way to the effin’ front gate!”
June 17th, 2012 at 5:52 pm
Oops…left out that I heard that story from an old “Hard Corps” gunnery sergeant who looked as worn out as an old sea bag.
June 17th, 2012 at 6:07 pm
Suffered what? Anyone got an idea? What the hell has he suffered?
Maybe the Swedish government said “No more freebies. Go home or get deported.”
June 17th, 2012 at 6:10 pm
We had a guy flee to Canada in 2008 (?) to avoid, um, going to drill weekends, I guess. He gave a sob story to the Toronto Star that basically boiled down to “I was afraid we might someday be mobilized and then someone might give me an unlawful order to torture a detainee (even though I’m not even an interrogator) because the Army taught me Arabic.” Yeah, doesn’t make much sense to me, either.
Eventually, he got an OTH in absentia, and I’m sure he won’t be getting tax returns for a while, since we charged him for all of the gear he never turned in. But no other real consequences. Pity.
June 17th, 2012 at 6:27 pm
The Reuters story says he was serving with the 6913th Electronic Security Squadron in Augsburg, Germany which would not be the cops. ESS usually had to do with signals intelligence. I can see why the AF wants him, if only to find out what he may have divulged.
June 17th, 2012 at 6:30 pm
Oh yeah, 84 was the year of my first reenlistment. I say he has not been punished at all for his crime.
June 17th, 2012 at 7:01 pm
He deserted from the AIR FORCE?! What kinda wuss is he? The AIR FORCE??? Sentence him to finish tour in the Marine Corps!!! As a grunt.
June 17th, 2012 at 7:25 pm
Most likely he found some fine trim in that pacifist church he was angling for. That’s usually the motivator. Hating Reagans Policies was just a pretense to moral authority.
June 17th, 2012 at 7:33 pm
So why is it that he suddenly decided NOW was a good time to end his yellow bellied ways? Need I remind you he was part of the AIR FORCE he wasn’t really going to be killing Commies.
yeah. . .I say pretend like you just want to slap him on the wrist then give max punishment under UCMJ
June 17th, 2012 at 7:33 pm
I mena, you have to remember back then in the 80s the leftists had a major hard-on for Reagan, claiming he was going to start a nuclear war.
Probably one of those pro-Commie National Council of Churches affiliates, with the usual assortment of cute, bra-less, neo-hippy chicks in sun dresses, protesting the warmongers. He fell for one of them, no doubt. Or a cute dude.
June 17th, 2012 at 7:51 pm
#30 SGT Ted: Our POTUS was, at that time, an anti-nuclear, anti-Reagan protestor. Perhaps this POS feels safe with a kindred spirit in the White House.
June 17th, 2012 at 8:02 pm
SGT Ted, I think we need to downsize our stash of nukes, but the notion that there would have been a nuclear war among countries is absurd. I don’t think the Soviet Union and America had enough gumption to be willing to destroy the entire human race.
June 17th, 2012 at 8:36 pm
Ann-What? Haven’t you seen The Watchmen? We were right on the brink until Ozymandius conned Dr. Manhattan into letting him figure out how to use his powers and then blew up selected cities to unite us. Too bad about Rorschach and all, but the fragile peace had to be protected.
June 17th, 2012 at 8:47 pm
68W58, sorry I was too busy throwing up in my popcorn. The director was a little too enthusiastic in showing Billy Crudup’s downstairs mixup. Even my gay guy friends found it gross.
I guess it’s better than some twisted Care Bear love parable requiring Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandius to use the love they generate from making out to turn all the nukes into kittens and puppies.
June 17th, 2012 at 9:13 pm
I’m sure he’s suffered enought, let him serve whatever time in the brig (or whatever the AF calls it) then give him his dishon discharge, where he’s not allowed to vote, purchase a firearm or run for office, hold any govt job etc…what’s left? He would make an excellant homeless fucking bum.
June 17th, 2012 at 9:16 pm
Well, I WAS going to sit down and enjoy my boiled peanuts.
Eww……
June 17th, 2012 at 9:20 pm
CI, I’d also add in that he’s probably never going to get any job with that record. Bosses don’t like flaky workers.
June 17th, 2012 at 9:23 pm
No Not only No but Hell No. does living and workind in Sweden equal suffering hardships?As mentioned before a possible security leak.
June 17th, 2012 at 9:29 pm
Joe, the real punishment will be here. That’s why I say give him his crappy discharge, and dump him right back into society. The stigma he’ll get and basic privileges of a law abiding citizen he lost will mean he’ll be getting quite the punishment. He’s SOL when it will get to be too much since there isn’t a country you’d ever want to live in that allows criminals to immigrate.
June 17th, 2012 at 9:49 pm
Here’s what is supposedly an interview with him:
http://blackandgold.com/ee/44648-after-28-years-david-hemler-tells-truth.html
Has anyone checked to see if he has a Facebook page? I don’t (must be one of about 3,000 people in the country who don’t).
June 17th, 2012 at 9:51 pm
Just read the entire interview. He’s a low-life, whining turd with no self-esteem and the spine of a jellyfish.
June 17th, 2012 at 9:59 pm
@Marine_7002, that interview is ridiculous. He’s an abject coward. A real CO would have faced the consequences of his change in beliefs instead of running away with their tail tucked.
What I find truly sickening is how he never so much as sent a postcard to his family to let them know he was okay. I could NEVER do that to my parents. If he did that to his parents out of convenience then what would he do to his Swedish family? If his wife has any sense she’ll divorce him.
June 17th, 2012 at 10:56 pm
Based on the unit he was in he would have had an extremely high security clearance. Even after all of these years it’s still important that he be properly debriefed.
June 18th, 2012 at 12:26 am
@43 wall to wall debriefing?
June 18th, 2012 at 3:45 am
I think a better solution is to have some NCIS types (whatever the AF equivalent is) meet him in Sweden and debrief him. Then they give him his Big Chicken Dinner and leave.
Notify TSA that he is on a “no-fly” list and notify customs that he is on a “forbidden entry” list.
Let him understand that he can NEVER return to these United States, even for burial.
June 18th, 2012 at 5:22 am
@345-Tim; The USAF cops are identical to NCIS & CID and known as Office of Special Investigations (OSI). Since he held a higher grade security clearance, I’m willing to bet their concern would be high but not high enough to have warranted a visit to him by the US Embassy. Let him motor on down to Germany, turn his ass in and suffer like everyone else says.
June 18th, 2012 at 5:41 am
Wonder if we could convince Sweden to extradite this ass? IMO, that would be poetic justice – he runs away to Sweden and lives large on their krona for nearly 3 decades, only to eventually piss them off enough to extradite his ass back to the US to face the music. (smile)
June 18th, 2012 at 5:53 am
I like AW1 Tim’s idea!
That “man” did the chicken walk back in the ’80′s and one would THINK that with age and separation from his country and family, he would of matured enough to accept responsibility for his actions and face the music. But NO, he has asked, basically, to just let bygones be. Sorry ass-hat. It doesn’t work that way. But we all see how selfishly narcissistic you are.
June 18th, 2012 at 7:32 am
Suffered? Really?
Swedish bikini team “suffered”? Yeah, I’m calling bullshit. Put the guy in Florence Supermax for a few years and see how much he thinks he’s suffering then.
June 18th, 2012 at 7:35 am
This guy doesn’t have all his dots connected. And I’m not so sure he ever has. Keep that in mind before you judge him as you would judge a sane person.
June 18th, 2012 at 7:47 am
The fact that he’s worked for the Swedish government for 28 years rather argues against that thesis, AV. I ain’t buying it. Particularly considering exactly where he was working in the USAF, and what his command (6913th ESS) did.
Unless he’s ruled criminally insane, it’s also irrelevant. If he’s not criminally insane, diminished capacity is a matter more appropriate for consideration as a mitigating/extenuating factor for sentencing.
June 18th, 2012 at 8:20 am
What a tard to go AWOL from the Air Force. He probably read “Red Storm Raising” from Tom Clancy while in Germany and wet himself.
June 18th, 2012 at 8:27 am
Hondo,
You don’t need to buy it. It’s a fact anyway.
I know, because I know the guy. Or, rather, thought I knew him.
But I’ve only known him for the past few years and it might be that 28 years on the run has changed him. He might have been a bright kid. Although I very much doubt it.
And I agree. It is a mitigating factor only, and not an excuse. But worthy to keep in mind before lamenting over his actions.
June 18th, 2012 at 8:35 am
AV: don’t have any reason to dispute what you say about knowing the guy. But his former unit in the USAF argue strongly that he was indeed at one time a bright young man. You had to be to get assigned the specialties most common in those units.
Whether he still is “all there” today is a matter for the courts to decide – provided he truly wants to come home. If so, he can come home, take his medicine, and then go about his business. But he gets no free pass.
That’s particularly true given his duty assignment at the time of his desertion.
June 18th, 2012 at 8:36 am
@53: I don’t care if he’s Forrest Gump, the punk went over the hill and for 28 years has lived without any consequences. Now he thinks he’s suffered enough? Screw him. However, what he deserves and what he’ll get are two totally different things. I would prefer he wasn’t allowed back in the US, ever, plus a Big Chicken Dinner, and that he have to repay the US for his time in the military. But that’s just me.
June 18th, 2012 at 8:42 am
Can’t agree, Old Trooper. Given his last assignment before he deserted, I want him returned to US control so we can debrief him and find out what – if anything – he gave away after he deserted.
It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that he gave away something that cost us dearly, or even cost lives. Until we debrief him we won’t know.
June 18th, 2012 at 8:51 am
Stake him spread-eagle on an ant hill in the desert,
while having to listen to Fran Drescher’s screeching.
June 18th, 2012 at 8:57 am
Hondo,
It’s fully understandable that you’d want him debriefed.
But I am somewhat sceptical to you finding any information coming from him reliable. Firstly, he’s not all there. Secondly, he’s lived a 28 year lie and has to be a master of denial.
A debriefing under US control is not going to happen however. He will stay in Sweden until all is clear, even if that means until the day he dies.
And since the US can’t get him extradicted your best hope would be interrogations on Swedish soil and under Swedish supervision.
June 18th, 2012 at 9:10 am
Sorry, AV–but he DOES need debriefed, although I’d suggest it not be on American soil. He needs handed a BCD or DD and never allowed to return to the US.
He hated it so much, he can stay the fuck out.
The fact that he doesn’t have the stones to come back until, as you put it, “all is clear” shows me that he’s “there enough” to know he’s fucked if he ever falls under US custody.
June 18th, 2012 at 9:31 am
NHSparky,
He’s absolutely “there enough” to understand that.
Not sure if you guys know it be there’s an interview with him (in english) at http://www.dn.se/webbtv/nyheter/david-hemler-deserted-28-years-ago/
June 18th, 2012 at 9:37 am
AV, insanity doesn’t necessarily mean he isn’t responsible for his actions. The key to the insanity defense in the US is not that they are incapable of empathy or guilt. It’s simply whether or not they were aware that what they did was against the law. Much to the chagrin of criminals this obviously isn’t applicable too often since it necessitates psychosis. As he took concerted effort to conceal his whereabouts for over 20 years then insanity isn’t the cause of it.
June 18th, 2012 at 9:53 am
AV, I agree he’s never going to willingly leave. He spends almost thirty years letting his family believe one of the cruelest lies possible, has a career as a comfortably compensated civil servant, and still leaves his parents to foot the bill to go to him.
I hope the Swedes see him for the sociopath he is, and boot him out for the good of their country. The ones I’ve met all seemed to be nice upstanding people, and don’t deserve a shady little rat like Hemler running loose.
Vietnam was the last time the American military put any concerted effort into finding deserters who haven’t committed felonies. It’s a waste of money, and they almost always either can’t stand being a fugitive any more and turn themselves in or get snagged by police checking IDs or performing a traffic stop.
I still don’t buy his pacifist claims. The Air Force in the 80′s wasn’t exactly having a personnel shortage. A CO with no disciplinary issues would have managed no worse than a General Under Honorable discharge (which is an administrative discharge, not a punitive one.)
June 18th, 2012 at 9:53 am
AV, what is the reaction in Sweden over all of this?
June 18th, 2012 at 9:54 am
He seems quite lucid in the translated interview linked in comment 40 above, AV. According to that interview, he’s hoping for “no punishment, or a few weeks max”. Based on history, that’s probably what he’d be looking at – if all he did was simply desert.
The last US deserter to “come home” from North Korea got 30 days and a dishonorable discharge from the military. He’d been gone nearly 40 years. I’d guess Hemler would get roughly the same, or maybe slightly more time (living in Sweden probably wouldn’t be considered quite as bad as living in North Korea).
If his Swedish lawyer is worth a damn, they’ve told him this. The fact that he doesn’t want to come home and take his lumps convinces me he may well have taken something with him when he left, or divulged something after he deserted. Or that he may have been passing stuff to ideological “friends” before leaving.
He comes home and gets debriefed. Then we figure out whether he’s simply a deserter or something far worse.
Or he stays away permanently. His call.
June 18th, 2012 at 9:56 am
Ann,
He’s absolutely responsible for his actions and he understood what he was doing when he walked away.
But if he was then, as he is now, then I have a hard time understanding what he was doing in the USAF in the first place.
He is far from rational and his reasoning is very loosely connected. On any subject.
He isn’t completely insane however and therefor any defense couldn’t claim insanity as an excuse. But I would say that it’s mitigating.
June 18th, 2012 at 9:59 am
As a crazy person, Ann, pfew, I was
so relieved to read what you said.
June 18th, 2012 at 10:02 am
Ann @ 63,
Most ppl seem sympathetic and feel sorry that he’s had to live a lie for so many years. Negative reactions are mostly related to his selfishnes in keeping his US family worried and in the dark for so long.
Very few are criticising him for deserting.
June 18th, 2012 at 10:06 am
Some people think that they can join the service to gain credibility in thier philosophies later in life. they fail to realize that 4 years is a long long time and if you aren’t dedicated it can wear on you. Much like we see with Left Wing military fakes. They either fabricate whole military careers, or served in non-combat roles then fabricate tales of daring do.
This dude is rational…though we may not agree nor understand it. If he had a Clearence higher then Secret then clearly he passed some form of evaluation to get it. You really can’t fake those. What he hide was his motivations which is easy enough because at the time they were just gestating.
Then with the right exposure and manipulation his feelings came out. I can’t say what the trigger was but it could have been a combination of things. Death in the family, something shattered his belief, maybe he was found out early and left….who knows. The fact is this is more then just desertion based on politics.
June 18th, 2012 at 10:11 am
Uh, AV . . . he was in the USAF because he voluntarily signed a contract to enlist. He was not forced to do that. And he was mentally competent to do so at the time.
Either Ann has this one nailed, or he’s dirty and fears further exposure. He’s either simply someone who regretted a decision, got scared, and used religion as an excuse to desert – or he disclosed protected military secrets to folks with an agenda and/or connections to a foreign government, either before or after he deserted.
If the former, history says he’ll get exactly what he says he can accept: a reasonably short incarceration followed by freedom. If the latter, he has a very good reason to worry if he ever comes back under US control.
It’s his call. The fact that he won’t take his chances tells me there’s quite possibly more to this story than we’ve heard so far.
June 18th, 2012 at 10:16 am
He got tired of all the Swedish meatballs hitting his chin!
June 18th, 2012 at 10:19 am
having served alongside the AF pukes in Field Station Augsburg in ’84 (I left later in the year) I can assure you that a)the worst thing they faced was a particularly crappy shift schedule (4 mids, then 4 evenings, then 4 days, no days off or breaks- but then they got 4 days off!) and having to live in the same town as a variety of Army intel pukes, mixed with some infantry and 3/63rd tankers. There were a few good ‘military’ mixed in amongst the Air Force, but there were a LOT of really spoiled children, too. His MOS was likely something like 208 or 202, the AF equivalents for 98G and 98C, or maybe whatever they called an 05H. He would have had a high security clearance, to be sure, but almost anything he ever knew is VERY outdated by now – hell, half the Warsaw Pact is in NATO nowadays. FS Augsburg is even gone – handed over to the German BnD years ago. By now, nothing this idiot knew is classified higher than New York Times. What’s he going to do, spill the beans on equipment less sophisticated than a modern cell phone?
June 18th, 2012 at 10:21 am
I remember back in ’03 in Quantico. I went to go register my car at PMO and there was a PFC in his 60′s. I found out that he had deserted in the late 60′s and had turned himself in after living under an assumed name for 30 years. The rumormill went that it was because he had just had a kid and didn’t want to go to Vietnam although I don’t know that piece for a fact. Rather than throwing him in the brig, the Marines decided that he would instead be required to finish out his original contract. I say send this guy back to active duty…and maybe, Afghanistan
June 18th, 2012 at 10:24 am
Hondo @69,
Noone is claiming he was forced to anything. But, again, if he was then as he is now, and I was the USAF recruiter, then it should have been me that should get shot for taking him onboard.
June 18th, 2012 at 10:32 am
@67 Av: I have to take issue with the feelings of people there that “Most ppl seem sympathetic and feel sorry that he’s had to live a lie for so many years.”
He did NOT HAVE to live a lie for so many years. He could have been up-front about his desire to leave the service when he was still on active duty, and given how things were going back then, he could have found a way out. He may not have liked the type of discharge he received, but at least he could have gotten out without becoming a deserter.
Even after that, he could have come out at any time, admitted his identity and his deserter status, and taken his licks like a man.
HE chose to stay hidden, NO one was twisting his arm to do that. It’s called being accountable for the choices he made. He took the easy way out, and now he’s paying the price.
June 18th, 2012 at 10:34 am
Dave, see #56. As Hondo said, until he’s debriefed, who knows what he gave away.
Because the Cold War is over, should we release John Walker and his family?
June 18th, 2012 at 10:37 am
He sounds so gay.
June 18th, 2012 at 10:43 am
Dave: I’ve read that some parts of ESC worked missions other than the ones you obliquely reference above. Dunno if that’s true about 6913th ESS or not.
And I’m as concerned with seeing him debriefed in detail about the year or two before he deserted as with what he did after he left.
June 18th, 2012 at 10:46 am
@73 Av: what do you specifically mean by “if he was then as he is now?” Are you implying that he had then, and has now some sort of mental, emotional, or other defects that should have disqualified him from entering the service? If so, what were those defects, and what test, exam, or other process do you propose should have detected any such defect?
My point: he may be (and was) immature, impulsive, naive, and/or more. Those personality traits are not in and of themselves reasons to disqualify people for military service; lots of people (including me) were like that when we entered the service, and we obviously grew up and fulfilled the obligations we freely agreed to fulfill.
He was (and still appears to be) intelligent and lucid enough to make choices and understand their consequences.
Unless you know something about him that we don’t, I see no reason that would have prevented him from finishing his enlistment and living up to the terms of his enlistment contract and the oath he took to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic” and “bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”
June 18th, 2012 at 10:50 am
Marine_7002 @74
I agree. Quite a few reactions have actually been that they feel that it was strong of him to come out at all.
June 18th, 2012 at 10:57 am
@77
He lacks capacity for logical derivation to an extent that I would say constitutes a defect.
Maybe it’s recently acquired, I don’t know, but if he was like that during the enlisting process, then you guys need to do something about your tests.
June 18th, 2012 at 11:27 am
NOT saying he does not need debrief or punishment!! What I am saying is that most likely whatever classified info from back then is obsolete by now. At that specific point in time, high capacity storage was on Winchester discs, for instance. The M-1 Abrams was relatively new and the M16A2 had not been released. Tactically, what he knew was equivalent to having the secret order of battle at Gettysburg.
June 18th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
This clown obviously is hiding MUCH more than simply walking away from his post. He did not need to do that, and he had to know that, so he ran in the first place for reasons other than not wanting to go to work that morning.
Don’t care if whatever info he passed to whomever back then is today outdated/unclassified. Does not matter because at the time he did whatever he did he knew it was illegal, immoral, illadvised, or worhty of his being conficted of all sorts of crimes.
Or maybe he got laid so much that it scrambled his brain and he had to turn to drugs to cope. And we have no way of knowing just how many drugs he has ingested since then to escape the harsh punishment of having to live with the consequences of his freely made life choices.
All we really know is just enough to make some educated guesses about what he did then and has never answered for to date. My best guess is that he has taken a bunch of drugs, perhaps beginning prior to his desertion.
June 18th, 2012 at 1:57 pm
CaptMustang, I think we can trust him to give the TCNs (who actually know what it means to work in difficult situations) a break by assuming some shit burning duties.
June 18th, 2012 at 2:57 pm
I think that this guy should be punished to the fullest extent of the UCMJ! Back in 1984 there wasn’t that much going on compared to what our Airmen are facing today in Afghanistan. There is NO statue of limitation on Desertion!
June 18th, 2012 at 3:16 pm
Does anyone know if the military still employs the lash? If so, I think one lash per year of desertion for his crimes is a good start to his punishment.
June 18th, 2012 at 3:34 pm
on a semi-related note – MSN has video today in which Swedish workers are having problems keeping up with their difficult 26 hour work week. Guess the combination of being a deserter and that tough work week finally wore him down.
June 18th, 2012 at 7:11 pm
#85 I so wish!
Also ESS would have been intel and ESC later became AIA which in turn has become AF Intel, Recon, Surveillance Agency
-Ish
June 18th, 2012 at 8:34 pm
Isnala is correct, 6913th ESS was an intel unit in Augsburg. As a former 6913th puke, I suggest a nice lengthy stay at a govt facility turning big rocks into little ones. I personally wasn’t in the unit until about 18 months after this numbnuts decided to run, but the 13th was a self contained unit; we had maintenance, security, linguists, code, and analysts all belonging to the unit of about 300 which manned the field station and separate mobile intel assets (I was an anal cyst on the mobile side).
June 19th, 2012 at 1:57 am
“I have been living 28 years in lies.”
WHOSE lies ??
If the “punishment” is lies, then WHO is punishing WHOM ??
Ha !! — To this day still, he does not understand JUSTICE = CAUSE & EFFECT.
June 19th, 2012 at 4:35 am
After having read the numerous hate mails wishing the worst on David Hemler, I have come to the conclusion that he must have more courage than most.
June 19th, 2012 at 5:14 am
emeretia: No, he’d a damned coward. Or he’s hiding something else.
If he had courage – and actually had a bona fide “Damascene conversion” after signing up – he’d have stayed in and gone through the process of being declared a conscientious objector. If that wasn’t the case, the honorable way to handle this situation would have been to either apply for an authorized early release (the USAF was granting them fairly often) or serve the rest of his enlistment.
He did neither. He chose to run away from the situation instead.
Running away from one’s problems vice facing them is what a coward does.
The alternative is that he’s hiding other misbehavior involving unauthorized disclosure of secret information. Given his last duty assignments and specialty, that possibility cannot be discounted out of hand.
June 19th, 2012 at 5:21 am
@90- it takes “courage” to desert your post, in the face of absolutely no danger at all? It takes courage to run out on your family, when you could have just recieved a normal discharge or a transfer by talking with your supervisor? It takes courage to let your mother think you’re dead for 28 years, while you go off and play house in Sweden? It takes courage to lie to your employer, wife, children, and a couple of different countries, just to avoid admitting a mistake?
Courage is not the ability to slink away from any problem with your dick tucked between your legs, leaving other people to deal with them. Pull your head out of your ass.
June 19th, 2012 at 5:49 am
Also, debriefing time does not count as time served. Suffered enough? Good job,married and raiesed a fanily. Sounds more like the American Dream.
June 19th, 2012 at 6:33 am
Lock him up for a long time. He deserted the USAF and should suffer the consequenses. A few posters obviously have no service at all.
June 19th, 2012 at 7:03 am
@56: Ok Hondo, I’ll concede that point, but then once he’s been properly and thoroughly debriefed; can we do my part of the plan?
June 19th, 2012 at 7:43 am
Old Trooper: works for me. But recent history (the last guy who came in from the cold after 20+ years, in 2005 or so) says he’ll probably get a short confinement and a DD instead.
That’s provided all he did was desert. If he was involved in providing secrets to outsiders, he could well have been involved in espionage. That’s a whole different ball game.
June 19th, 2012 at 7:44 am
Joe Williams: if you read this, please see the last few comments on the Wittgenfeld thread ( http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=29627 ).
June 19th, 2012 at 10:04 am
@90–you have no idea what hate is. We’re just mildly pissed at this point.
June 19th, 2012 at 10:23 am
@ #90 – What a hateful thing to say. Shame on you.
June 19th, 2012 at 10:25 am
#100 – Yay!!!
June 19th, 2012 at 10:43 am
Ya gotta love how the loony left defines hate as anything which does not square with their world view, even as they spew utterly nonsensical rudeness, if not downright threatening behavior and words, at others.
June 19th, 2012 at 3:52 pm
I don’t understand what is hateful about wanting Hemler held accountable for breaking a law whose consequences he was well aware of.
June 19th, 2012 at 4:20 pm
Ethics, laws and contracts don’t apply to Liberals,
nuch the same as they don’t apply to little kids.
Liberals are classic cases of Arrested Development;
i.e., adults with the minds of bratty, little kids.
That’s why they won’t accept any responsibility for
the consequences of their misbehavior and why they’ll
always blame others and lie to weasel out of it,
embellishing on lies with more lies. Liberals are
the Energizer Bunnies of liars, telling lie after lie.
June 19th, 2012 at 4:37 pm
[All] of the screwy opinions of Liberals are [always] based
[entirely] on their wishful thinking, on theories born out of ignorance, on contrived, bogus bullsh*t (also known as lies),
on distortions, on exaggerations and on screwy rationales
which reinforce their screwy delusions. No substance. No facts.
June 19th, 2012 at 5:15 pm
No. 100 Brian:
I had no idea
you were so old .
June 25th, 2012 at 4:22 pm
Find out everything about David Hemler at david-hemler.com
July 1st, 2012 at 3:50 am
Mr Hemler did request a discharge but was denied. There were several SPN’s he could have been voluntarily discharged under, 558, 318 etc.
Not that I agree or don’t agree with what he did but he tried the proper channels first.
July 8th, 2012 at 1:11 am
Based on the unit he served in, I’m guessing that Hemler was knee-deep in a KGB/Stasi honey trap (ala Clayton Lonetree) and decided to beat feet to neutral Sweden. His well rehearsed but poorly delivered cover his ass story doesn’t pass the smell test considering the level of paranoia. A man who simply deserted because he had suddenly become a conscious objector would not have put his family through such hell. On the other hand, a man facing 20 years at Ft Leavenworth or even a death sentence for espionage would most certainly do everything he did including cutting off all contact with his family.
July 8th, 2012 at 2:43 am
He’s a filthy deserter! Find the baddest Bubba with the biggest “johnson” in the US penal system and make them roomies. After Bubba is done with him, put him in GP and let it ‘slip’ that he’s an SP/CM “Sexual Predator/Child Molester and he’s as good as dead. Some of my “homies” have done stretches and talk!
July 21st, 2012 at 9:58 pm
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August 16th, 2012 at 11:41 pm
Peace Church?!? Pacifism is the biggest sham/lie of them all. When placed in a fight or confict situation- what do you do: you fight. You either fight with your human nature and do nothing. or enter into combat and fight.
Even Christ Almighty him self opened a can’o whoop. He knew that we would have have our seasons to live, fight and die.
He digraced his unit- He dishonored his Mother and father. Failed to give ceaser what was dure to him. And he claims that he left for spiritual and philisophical objections. Have the balls and cowboy up and say – Am a broke dick and cant hang in the AF.
David if you read this- know that your are a stain to your battle brethern. if you are truly sincere- walk back to Germany and face your consequences. If not then ban his family from leaving the US. Let him watch his blood house die as his house thought you did those many years.