"Soldier admits having himself shot to avoid Iraq return"

**Prada** · 02-27-2008, 05:34 PM

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Soldie...t_to_0226.html

A soldier who claimed to have been shot during a robbery while home from Iraq on emergency family leave has been revealed to have arranged the shooting with a friend.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Army Pfc. Matthew Myers staggered into a mini-mart in Apple Valley, 75 miles northwest of Los Angeles, last Sunday. He called 911 and told the sheriff's office he had been attacked and robbed by an unknown man while walking alongside the Apple Valley Country Club golf course.

Myers was taken to a hospital, but police became suspicious when he claimed it had been too dark for him to describe his assailant. When a search found two parallel sets of footprints, suggesting that Myers and the gunman had been walking together before the shooting, police confronted him with the evidence.

"He admitted it was a setup," Sgt. Todd Newton of the Apple Valley Police told KCAL News. "His friend admitted that he didn't want to go back to Iraq. I believe he was on some sort of emergency military leave. ... He didn't have the guts to do it, so he asked his friend to do it."

Officials intend to file criminal charges against both men, who have been best friends since high school. A military spokesman said that a leg wound like Myers' would not normally be sufficient to cause a soldier to be discharged. However, Myers could be discharged depending on the outcome of the criminal charges.

This video is from KCAL 9, broadcast February 26, 2008.

**RANA** · 02-27-2008, 06:37 PM

WOW, what a bunch of dumbasses.

**soccer#3** · 03-01-2008, 02:56 AM

war and army isnt for everbody

***perfectbeast2001*** · 03-01-2008, 04:39 AM

he was scared of getting shot in iraq so he had someone shoot him. yeah makes sense!

**Prada** · 03-01-2008, 11:23 AM

Originally Posted by perfectbeast2001

he was scared of getting shot in iraq so he had someone shoot him. yeah makes sense!

The difference is that his friend, I suppose, didn't intend to fatally shoot him. Just enough for him to be injured.

***perfectbeast2001*** · 03-01-2008, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by Prada

The difference is that his friend, I suppose, didn't intend to fatally shoot him. Just enough for him to be injured.

LOL any shot can be fatal. Unless his friend was both a doctor of anatomy and a crack shot. I wouldnt trust anyone i know to do it....

**SMCengineer** · 03-02-2008, 12:50 AM

Originally Posted by Prada

Officials intend to file criminal charges against both men, who have been best friends since high school. A military spokesman said that a leg wound like Myers' would not normally be sufficient to cause a soldier to be discharged. However, Myers could be discharged depending on the outcome of the criminal charges.

I'm curious, does anybody know what the charges would be?

**DOGGYBLASTER03** · 03-02-2008, 01:04 AM

destroying goverment property and maybe,
cowardice (yes seriously) i don't know about the Army but in the Marines a aquaintance of mine got charged for this for using drugs to get kicked out.

**Dizz28** · 03-02-2008, 03:25 PM

Oh they can tack on a whole laundry list of charges. Him being held in the states pending criminal charges will cause him to be away from his post more then 29 days so they can charge him for being a deserter, art 134, destroying gvmt property, misbehavior in front of the enemy (punishable by death in wartime). If you look at the UCMJ I'm sure you'll be able to find enough charges that, if they really wanted to, could put him in a brig for the rest of his life....would they award him that much time, probably not but it is possible