AWOL Army soldier Swift to face military trial.

Byline: Susan Palmer The Register-Guard

Spc. Suzanne Swift, the Fort Lewis soldier who went AWOL last January to avoid a second tour in Iraq, is going to trial.

On Wednesday Lt. Gen. James Dubik referred Swift, a military police specialist who grew up in Eugene, for a special court-martial on two counts: being absent without leave and missing movement, a charge brought against soldiers who fail to deploy when their units are assigned to travel.

Swift could have faced much more serious charges. She refused to go back to Iraq in January and was AWOL for five months before being picked up by Eugene police at her mother's house in June.

Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, soldiers AWOL for more than 30 days are considered deserters.

Swift could have been referred for a general court-martial and the possibility of up to five years in prison. Instead, under the special court-martial, her maximum sentence if convicted would be a year of confinement.

2 Officials also could have chosen a more lenient route, such as discharge from the military or a nonjudicial punishment.

No date has been set for the trial, Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Hitt said.

Swift could not be reached for comment Wednesday and her lawyer, Keith Scherer, declined comment.

The 22-year-old soldier has garnered national support from peace activists and women's groups. She has been featured in news stories in the Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle and been the subject of an ABC-TV "Nightline" broadcast.

Swift alleged that she couldn't face a second tour in Iraq because of sexual harassment and coercion she experienced during her first tour. A gunner and driver for a military police unit that saw duty in Karbala, she alleged that one sergeant sexually harassed her and another coerced her into a sexual relationship. Stateside, the harassment continued when a third sergeant made sexually suggestive comments about where she should report for duty, she said.

Base officials had held off charging Swift until they looked into her accusations against the other soldiers. In an investigation concluded in August, they confirmed the sexual harassment incident at Fort Lewis but said they couldn't substantiate the incidents she alleged in Iraq.

Swift isn't the only Fort Lewis soldier to go AWOL.

Comprehensive numbers were not available Wednesday, Hitt said, but in the first six months of 2006, 72 soldiers were AWOL. Of those, 34 returned to the base, he said.

During that same period, there were 42 desertions, with 12 returning, he said.

Hitt wouldn't speculate on why Swift - who was gone from the base for well over 30 days - wasn't charged with desertion.

Nationally the number of soldiers deserting has been steadily declining, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Norman Wade said in an e-mail.

Commanders have discretion about punishment, Wade wrote.

"Our primary course of action is to attempt to rehabilitate the soldier, reintegrate him/her back into their unit. Very few deserters are tried by court-martial, only 176 in fiscal year 2004. Each case is evaluated on its own merits," he wrote.

While the number of deserters may be going down, the Army may be getting tougher in handling them.

A government pamphlet for military lawyers published in May 2005 showed that the number of soldiers being tried for desertion and AWOL is rising steadily, from 52 desertion and 177 AWOL cases tried in 2001 to 176 desertion cases and 336 AWOL cases in 2004.

It's not clear why the numbers are going up, wrote author Jeffrey Haggler, a professor in the Criminal Law Department at the Army's Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School.

"Perhaps this trend simply follows an increase in the overall number of unauthorized absences, or it reflects commanders' perception that absence without leave and desertion are more serious offenses in times of armed conflict," Haggler wrote.