Sgt. Who Left His Base in Protest of Iraq Is Sentenced

FT. BRAGG, N.C. — A paratrooper who says he left his military base because he disagreed with the U.S. mission in Iraq was sentenced to three months of confinement after pleading guilty Thursday to going absent without leave.

Sgt. Ricky Clousing, 24, of Sumner, Wash., also will receive a reduction in rank and will forfeit two-thirds of his pay during his confinement before getting a bad-conduct discharge. His plea allowed him to avoid a more severe sentence for desertion.

Attorney David Miner said Clousing had “no regrets” for his decision to leave his Ft. Bragg barracks in June 2005 after a five-month tour in Iraq, where he worked as an interrogator in a military intelligence battalion.