Army Deserter Receives German Peace Prize

by a Soldiers Mind

While millions of American Military Members continue to bravely serve our country in harms way, one US Army deserter or should I say coward, received a German Peace Prize on Saturday, for being a coward. This Army Deserter, SPC Andre Shepherd, who is originally from Cleveland Ohio, is currently attempting to claim political asylum in Germany. On Saturday, Shepherd was awarded the Munich American Peace Committee’s annual prize, during a protest at a major security conference that occurred in southern Germany.

Shepherd had served one tour in Iraq and had returned to Germany where he was stationed, when he went AWOL a year and a half ago. He applied for asylum in Germany on November 26th of last year, claiming he morally objected to the war in Iraq. After his deployment and subsequent return to Germany, he began to explore options. He eventually went AWOL on April 11, 207 from the Katterbach base in the middle of the night, showing to the world, what a coward he really is. What happened to the Oath he took when he enlisted in the Army, the Code of Conduct and Army Ethos? It’s obvious that he’s someone who doesn’t realize the significance of those. He’s lived underground in Germany since that time.

This turns my stomach for so many reasons. I find it despicable that SPC Shepherd is being rewarded in this manner for his actions, when in all reality, he should be spending many years in Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks. According to publicity about the award from the Munich American Peace Committee, Shepherd was given the award “for his courage and conviction in spite of the possibly extreme punishment from the US authorities and for publicizing your convictions to five other soldiers the courage to also leave the army and push for peace.”

My response to that is, ‘What a load of utter crap!’ If he really was such a courageous person, one would think that he’d have the guts to go through the appropriate process to see if he was eligible for Conscientious Objector status. Sure the process is a lengthy one, but it’s morally the ethically the right way to go about it, instead of being a coward and turning tail and running. His petition for asylum was heard by German authorities on Wednesday and is currently under consideration. I would hope that German authorities will do the right thing and turn him over to US Military authorities. Hopefully that’s exactly what they’ll do and Shepherd will spend some much deserved time locked up in Leavenworth. It’s the right thing to do.