Army deserter goes AWOL rather than return to unit

(Originally published in The Toronto Star, November 2 2006 )

A U.S. Army soldier who fled to Canada rather than return to Iraq has disappeared again, this time just a day after surrendering to the military.

Pte. Kyle Snyder, 23, of Colorado Springs, Colo., said he was supposed to return by bus to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., from Louisville on Tuesday but didn't go. He said he went AWOL after Fort Knox officials told him he would be sent back to his unit, the 94th Engineer Battalion, something which was not part of the deal he had reached with the military to return. As part of the agreement brokered by his lawyer, Snyder was to receive a less-than honourable discharge from the army.