Another kind of hero:

Un-Volunteering: Troops Improvise to Find Way Out

By MONICA DAVEY

Published: March 18, 2005

he night before his Army unit was to meet to fly to Iraq, Pvt. Brandon Hughey, 19, simply left. He drove all night from Texas to Indiana, and on from there, with help from a Vietnam veteran he had met on the Internet, to disappear in Canada.

In Georgia, Sgt. Kevin Benderman, 40, whose family ties to military service stretch back to the American Revolution, filed for conscientious-objector status and learned that he will face a court-martial in May for failing to report to his unit when it left for a second stint in Iraq.

One by one, a trickle of soldiers and marines – some just back from duty in Iraq, others facing a trip there soon – are seeking ways out.

Read more.  It seems there are good ways and bad ways to do this.  Simply skipping town (deserting) is not good.  But this seems the way to go.

By the way, read a right wing spin of this story at Captain’s Quarters.  Captain Ed claims that the New York Times is acting "hysterical" and that this story is "splash[ed] . . . all over the paper" (it’s not).  Captain Ed notes that the Times admits that it is talking about relatively few soldiers.  So, Ed, how can you accuse the Times of inflating a story when you acknowlwedge that it is being honest about it?