Ricky Clousing

Sergeant Ricky Clousing (born 1982) served as an interrogator in the United States Army, in Company B of the 313th Military Intelligence Battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division. He served in Iraq from December 2004 until April 2005 with the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, during which time he witnessed what he describes as "abuse of power ... without accountability". He reported the incidents he witnessed, which resulted in criminal and administrative investigations, while his superiors sent him to see a chaplain and a psychologist about his misgivings. Clousing called a hotline for members of the military run by Quaker House, part of a coalition of antiwar groups, and after months of soul-searching he left his barracks in June 2005 in protest of the Iraq war. He remained absent without leave (AWOL) for fourteen months before going public with his anti-war position in a press conference on August 11, 2006 and then turning himself over to Military Police at Fort Lewis, WA, that same day. At his press conference, he was joined by family and members of groups such as Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and Not in Our Name, who expressed support for Clousing's decision to leave the military.
Clousing's court-martial was held October 12, 2006. He was sentenced to 11 months in confinement for going AWOL, but served 3 due to a pretrial agreement in which he pled guilty to the charges. He served his sentence at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and returned home on December 23, 2006.
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