Soldier Charged with Felony Military Desertion

Описание: Twenty-six year old Nathaniel Floyd White, a former Soldier in the U.S. Military, sits in the Henderson County jail.

He's charged with felony desertion of his post. The North Henderson High School graduate is being held without bond, per the request of U.S. Military officials.

"You just can't walk off and leave your duty," said retired U.S. Airforce Tailgunner, Caroll Wright. He says the charge of desertion within the Military ranks is highly unusual. "Desertion is a very serious crime," says Wright. "It's just like wartime and you leave to keep from being in battle."

But White's wife, who spoke on the condition News 13 not release her first name, says her husband wasn't in battle when he left his post at Fort Bragg, in Fayetteville in 2007. "He was not in combat," she says. "He was not assigned to go into combat. I believe he left the base. He rode a bus."

White's wife went on to say her husband always talked of turning himself in. But, she says, when they married a year ago, Nate, as she calls him, stopped talking about taking the serious step and facing potential prison time. "He wanted to make it right," she says. "He promised me on our year anniversary he would do it. But this (arrest) came first."

Henderson county deputies arrested White at his home Sunday morning, in Hendersonville. His wife provided News 13 with a photo of her husband on their wedding day a year ago. She says he wasn't cut out for the Military, but couldn't find another way out. "In the Military you sign a contract. Unless you have health reasons, you cannot leave. He wants to own up to his mistakes," says White's wife.

Carroll Wright meanwhile, says potential penalties are much more serious than what a Soldier faces for going AWOL. "Desertion will draw a dishonorable discharge plus going to prison," she says.

White's wife says her husband just completed his first year of technical school at Blue Ridge Community College and was studying to be a computer programmer. He now awaits an arraignment for extradition and a trial at his former base.

By: Kimberly King
Follow Kim on Twitter: @KimKingReports

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