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Articles: Leaving Military: AWOL

Wife Facing Charges For Enticing Husband To Desert Unit; Fort Carson Couple Are Mennonites

Author; Unknown, The Denver Channel.com

July 21, 2005

FORT CARSON, Colo. -- A housewife is facing federal felony charges for allegedly enticing her husband to desert his unit before he shipped out to Iraq.

Spc. Dale Bartell, who is assigned to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, was convicted of intent to avoid hazardous duty. He was sentenced last week to four months in prison, and ordered to be dishonorably discharged. Bartell enlisted almost three years ago and served a tour in Iraq. He tried declaring himself a conscientious objector and left his unit twice in
early April when he thought he would be deployed to Iraq. He turned himself in May 12.

Amy Bartell, who was in Colorado Springs Wednesday for a hearing in U.S. District Court that was postponed until Aug. 17, said she and her husband joined a Mennonite church, then their philosophies changed.

"He's changed since joining. If he knew the teachings then that we know
now, he never would have joined," Amy Bartell said. "He knew there was going to be consequences for his stance." She said commanders told her husband that he could use "non-lethal"ammunition in Iraq.

"He knew that once they got him over there, they would have their way," she said. "He would have to ignore his religious convictions. What choice did he have? He went AWOL."

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver, which is representing the military in the case, declined comment. The couple have four children, ages 1 to 11.

"He's going through a lot," Amy Bartell said. "It does affect him. He's sitting in prison knowing I'm getting into trouble for what we believe."

Rev. Loren Miller, of Skyline Mennonite in Cañon City, which the Bartells attend, said the church was for pacifist Christians.t.

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