After escaping a second forced Iraq deployment via a window in Germany, Agustin Aguayo reported on September 26th to the Fort Irwin army base in the Mojave desert to continue fight for conscientious objector discharge. He said that he has his irreconcilable objections to returning to Iraq, even as a medic.

Army Specialist Agustin Aguayo, a 34-year-old U.S. citizen who was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, explained that he was not anti-war when he enlisted in 2002. But his military experiences changed him. He applied for a conscientious objector discharge in February 2004- before he was sent to Tikrit, Iraq for a year as a combat medic. He has unsuccessfully fought the Pentagon for a discharge ever since.

A few weeks ago, Agustin escaped through his base apartment window at Schweinfurt, Germany U.S. Army base to resist another forced deployment to Iraq. With the help of German anti-war activists, he made his way back to the United States. At Tuesday's downtown Los Angeles press conference, Agustin declared, "Why am I turning myself in? Because it is the right thing to do. It is the responsible thing to do. I'm not a deserter or a coward. I just felt that I needed to be unavailable for this movement because I have come to believe that it is so wrong."

At the Fort Irwin National Training Center, Spokesman John Wagstaffe said Agustin will go through processing and will either be sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for discharge, or back to Germany to face military prosecution. He could be in custody at Fort Irwin for up to 72 hours. Wagstaffe said that... Fort Irwin processes, on average, about 20 AWOL soldiers per month. Minutes after Agustin was handcuffed, frisked, and taken into custody near the Fort Irwin visitor’s center, his attorneys filed a new Federal Court appeal requesting his immediate release from military service as a conscientious objector. Photos

Aguayo Defense website