Basically what this ruling is telling everyone is that if you are a service member in USFK and are charged with child porn, just defect to North Korea and the charges will be dropped if you make it back:
Pvt. Travis King on Friday was sentenced to one year in prison after pleading guilty to deserting to North Korea. But he walked out of the courtroom a free man. “With time already served and credit for good behavior, Travis is now free and will return home,” said Frank Rosenblatt, an attorney for the soldier. Military Judge Lt. Col. Rick Mathew also sentenced King to reduction in rank to E-1 and a dishonorable discharge in a court-martial that lasted most of the day.
During the trial, King, 24, sat in his dress uniform between his attorneys and said it was his decision on July 18, 2023, to join a tour of the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea and then bolt into North Korea. The soldier did so because he was “dissatisfied with work,” he told the judge. King also pleaded guilty to three counts of disobeying an officer on Oct. 7, 2023, and another charge of assaulting a noncommissioned officer the following day.
He pleaded not guilty to additional charges related to child sexual abuse material and making false statements. The judge dismissed the remaining charges.
You can read more at the link, but King played the predictable race card saying everyone in the Army is racist. I have seen people in the Army get more jail time for doing far less than what King did and yet prosecutors agreed to a plea deal that let King walk free after less than a year in jail.
I appreciate all the links and interest my posting on Joshua Key has created because I believe it is important that the lies he is continuing to repeat are exposed.
US Army deserter Joshua Key in need of a serious hair cut and shower.
Something else I found interesting is that someone has posted over at Joshua Key’s Wikipedia page that the ROK Drop is involved in a “controversy”. Get this the controversy is that I stated that Joshua Key was the first deserter to go to Canada since the Vietnam War when in fact two other deserters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey went to Canada before him. I should have been more clear, Key is the first deserter to actually have served in Iraq to seek refuge in Canada.
What you see at Wikipedia is the usual tactic of many people of the far left, they try to twist one sentence to discount everything else that was in my posting about Joshua Key. Notice they cannot dispute the facts so they try to change the subject.
It is hard to take people like this seriously especially when they write songs like this, The Ballad of Joshua Key:
It is just me or did this guy cover every lefty cliche’ imaginable?
Anyway when I originally wrote the Joshua Key posting I had not read the book and just based the posting off of radio interviews Key did and book excerpts available on the Internet. I have since read his entire book and the holes in Key’s story are only greater after doing so. I was just going to let the first posting I did be the final word on what I think about Key, but since Key’s buddies updating his Wikipedia page want people to believe there is some controversy going on, then lets start a controversy; namely one where Key can explain all these facts I’m about to lay out after reading Key’s book.
Fact #1: Cow Tipping is Impossible
The lies start out early in Key’s book when he is describing his childhood. On page 25 he talks about how he and his friends would go cow tipping when cows go to sleep standing up. He says the cows would fall over like “bowling pins”. I grew up in the country with cows in a field behind my house. Cows do not sleep standing up and cow tipping is an urban legend. Go to YouTube and find a successful cow tipping. If it could be done it would be all over YouTube. Key is lying because there is absolutely no way he was knocking over cows like bowling pins.
If you don’t believe me go try it yourself and film it. So since he is clearly lying about this it puts into question everything else he describes about this childhood in Oklahoma.
Fact #2: Timothy McVeigh was Not a Gunnery Sergeant
On page 30 of the book key claims that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was a Gunnery Sergeant in the US Army 1st Infantry Division. McVeigh was not a Gunnery Sergeant because there is no Gunnery Sergeant rank in the US Army. This book is so sloppily written that the writer Lawrence Hill couldn’t even bother to do a simple Internet check to figure out that McVeigh was a Sergeant in the Army.
It also further shows the incompetence and stupidity of Joshua Key that he didn’t even recognize there wasn’t a Gunnery Sergeant rank despite having once served in the Army. There are only Gunnery Sergeants in the Marine Corps.
Fact #3: Key’s Recruiting Claims Are Full of Falsehoods
Towards the beginning of Key’s book he states that his recruiter’s name was a Staff Sergeant Van Houten. On Army Knowledge Online everyone in the military has an account that can be looked up. Even people who have retired or left the Army can still be looked up on the system. So I looked up Sergeant Van Houten on AKO and guess what, there is no Sergeant Van Houten, there is not even one Van Houten of any rank in the Army.
Key also says a government employee by the name of Daniel Russell also worked at the recruiting station. However, there are no government employees by the name of Daniel Russell on AKO. There are three contractors, but none of them working for recruiting.
In the opening chapters of the book Key goes on and on repeating every left wing talking point about recruiters praying on poor people and minorities even though as statistics show this is not true.
Key also claims on page 44 that the recruiting building he was in had a poster that said that “Desertion in the time of war means death by firing squad” and that he had to sign a document saying he understood that poster. This sounds like utter BS to me because I have never seen such a poster and I signed no such document when I joined the Army and I know of no one else who had as well. So considering Key has an imaginary recruiter this sounds like an imaginary poster and document as well. Has anyone else seen such a poster and document?
If you listen to this Canadian radio interview with Key he claims 99% of the soldiers in his unit were recruited because they were poor and had no other options in life, but to join the Army. For you all in the military reading this, did 99% of the people in your unit join up because they were poor and had no other options? Of course not and the statistics show this.
If you look at this graph that displays recruiting numbers from the Pentagon the highest number of people in the military are from the middle class. A very small number of recruits are considered poor and their total number is below the national average for 18-24 year old recruits. The upper middle class and even the wealthy are at or above their percentage of population for 18-24 years old. Once again Key is full of crap.
Finally Key claims that his recruiter told him that he would go to a unit that would never deploy or see combat. If you can believe this Key joined the Army after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and thought he would never have to go to war. The guy is an idiot if he thinks he would never have to face the possibility of going into combat after 9/11. He is even more of an idiot that he thought he would never have to go to combat when he voluntarily chose to become a combat engineer. You would think the word “combat” would have tipped him off. Furthermore the secondary military occupational specialty of a combat engineer is an infantrymen!
In this Canadian radio interview Key also claims that being stationed in CONUS means you do not have to deploy. That is not what CONUS means. CONUS means Continental United States compared to OCONUS which means Outside the Continental United States. CONUS simply means you are stationed in the mainland US. It has nothing to do with whether you are deployable or not and Key had to know this unless he is that incompetent.
He additionally says in the interview that 47 Army recruiters went AWOL two months before his interview which is another lie. In fact 37 members of Army Recruiting Command went AWOL between 2002-2005. Army Recruiting Command is not all recruiters. It is a huge organization that has all the elements of a typical Army command to include supply sergeants, personnel clerks, mechanics, chaplains, etc. that could have gone AWOL. Plus 37 people going AWOL in four years in a unit composed of five brigades isn’t unusual. Plus many times when people go AWOL they come back. Key is once again not telling the truth.
Key is clearly both an idiot and a liar.
Fact #4: Rent in the Military is Free
On page 42 of his book Key claims the military lied to him saying that rent in the Army is free, but when he joined he later found out that they docked $700 a month from his paycheck for rent. What Key doesn’t tell you is that Basic Allowance for Housing is added to a servicemembers paycheck to pay for housing. I have long chronicled here on the ROK Drop the various people getting arrested for BAH fraud because they were falsely claiming BAH for a city their spouse did not live in.
That $700 coming out of his paycheck every month is from his BAH to pay for his on post housing. Key is either so dumb he doesn’t know what pay he is getting in his paycheck or he is lying. Either option doesn’t look favorably upon him.
Fact #5: You Don’t Receive 8 Shots of Anthrax at One Time
Key on page 43 of his book claims the military gave him 8 anthrax shots at one time. First of all you do not receive 8 anthrax shots at one time. In fact only six anthrax shots are given over an 18 month period:
Although many servicemembers experience temporary pain or soreness at the injection site, most individuals experience no significant reaction. The anthrax vaccine series consists of six shots: the initial, then at two and four weeks, then again at six, 12, and 18 months. Following the initial six-shot series, members only require annual boosters. No shots are ever repeated in the series, rather members will receive the next shot they are due based on the last shot they received in the series. [Osan AB]
This is a straight up lie that cannot be explained away. However, Key’s lie is even greater because the military was not issuing anthrax injections at the time he claims he received 8 anthrax shots.
1998 — Defense Department starts a program of inoculating troops with the anthrax vaccine.
June 2001 — Inoculating troops temporarily suspended because of a lack of anthrax vaccine when the manufacturer, BioPort, changed its manufacturing process without approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
June 2002 — Defense Department resumes inoculating troops after FDA approves vaccine and manufacturing process, lifting the temporary suspension from a year earlier. [Stars & Stripes]
Key says the injections took place prior to him signing his Army contract on April 13, 2002. However, in June, 2001 the Pentagon stopped issuing anthrax shots and did not start issuing them again until June, 2002, which is after the time that Key said he was given 8 anthrax shots. Key is a total liar on this claim.
Fact #6: Basic Training is not 17 Weeks Long
On page 47 Joshua Key claims that he was not able to call his family for 17 weeks. Phone calls during basic training are a privledge but generally soldiers can call their families more then once during basic training. However, in Key’s case he must of went to some super special long boot camp because I have never heard of a 17 week long basic training. In fact basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood where Key received his training is only 9 weeks long.
In the book he also states that drill sergeants regularly cursed at him and told him that Muslims were terrorists and sand niggers. They also recruited Key to regularly beat other recruits. By regulation drill sergeants are not allowed to curse at recruits, make derogatory statements, or beat other recruits. Considering all of Key’s other lies in the book I find these claims unlikely.
Fact #7: Key Changes Story on Wanting to Fight in Iraq
In the book on page 57 Key says:
As I’ve stated, I thought it was better for me to help stomp out terrorism and defend America then to leave the job to my own children.
However, in this socialist newsletter Key writes he had a different reason for going to fight in Iraq:
I called Brandi: “I’ve been fooled!” After several months of training I was re-assigned to Fort Carson, Colorado, to the 43rd Company of Combat Engineers. Brandi came to live on the base with the kids. And, in the fall of 2002, the rumurs about Baghdad began. Everything was done from the perspective of fighting in the desert, against Iraqi troops. The war games became more intense. Whole regiments were kept on stand-by. Be ready to leave from one day to the next, we were told. And myself, I kept on believing, clinging to their promises. I couldn’t believe they’d lie to me. I wanted to put the question to an officer, but I was made to understand that I should keep quiet if I didn’t want my family to suffer. I was trapped.
So in his book he was more then happy to go fight Saddam and then in an interview he only went to combat because he was trapped and didn’t want his family to suffer. So which is it?
Fact #8: Highly Unlikely Key was Limited to One MRE and One Liter of Water a Day in Kuwait
On page 59 Key claims that his unit was given only one MRE and one liter of water a day while in Kuwait. This sounds highly bogus because when I was in Kuwait we had more food and water then we needed because of the contractors that cooked up food for all the servicemembers in these huge circus tents. In fact we regularly had steak and lobster in Kuwait. In Kuwait the only time we ate MRE’s is if we had to go out to the range. If you didn’t watch yourself you could put on wait while in Kuwait.
Key also claims he had to steal water from other units so his unit would have water to drink. So even if Key’s story is true he admits to being a thief which according to the book isn’t the first time he admits to being a thief because regularly in the book he describes stealing money and jewelery from the Iraqis.
Fact #9: Highly Unlikely that Under 24 Hours After Being in Iraq Key’s Unit Was Conducting Raids
On page 69 Key claims that under 24 hours after being in Iraq his unit was conducting raids, bashing in civilians, and arresting people for no reason. Think about this his unit used flat bed trucks to go from Kuwait all the way to Ramadi which would take many hours to complete such a convoy and then download all their equipment. So after doing such a long movement the first thing the unit would do is go raid houses?!!! It doesn’t make any sense at all considering they hadn’t even set up a unit area yet.
He also claims that every night they would raid up to four houses and arrest all men over five feet tall. I don’t know of any company sized element in Iraq that would raid up to four houses every night, especially an Engineer unit. Once again it sounds like utter BS
Fact #10: There is no M-16 Grenade Launcher
On page 131 Key claims a member of his unit tried to commit suicide with an M-16 Grenade launcher which there is no such thing. There is an M203 grenade launcher however.
Key said that the soldier shot himself in the ankle with a grenade that didn’t go off. Anyone with basic training on an M203 knows that a grenade from the M203 has an arming distance. Why would a soldier try to kill himself with a grenade he knows cannot go off?
Fact #11: You Cannot Take Half Pay for Three or Six Months
On page 133 of his book, Key claims a soldier was docked half his pay for three months for asking a visiting colonel a question about why he did not have Interceptor body armor. First of all any JAG would have an easy time defending any soldier given non-judicial punishment for simply asking a question. Secondly Key’s commanding officer cannot legally give such a punishment.
Here is what company commanders are authorized to give as non-judicial punishment otherwise known as an Article 15:
Restriction to specific limits (normally work, barracks, place of worship, mess hall, and medical facilities) for not more than 14 days
Extra duties, including fatigue or other duties, for not more than 14 days
Restriction with extra duties for not more than 14 days
Correctional Custody for not more than 7 days (only if accused is in the grades E-3 and below)
Forfeiture of 7 days pay
Reduction by one grade, if original rank in promotion authority of imposing officer. Not imposable on E-6 or above for USMC, or E-7 or above for other services
Confinement on diminished rations for not more than 3 days (USN and USMC E-3 and below only, and only when embarked on a vessel)
Admonition or reprimand, either written or verbal.
Here is the punishment the battalion commander can hand out under a Article 15 offense:
Restriction to specific limits (normally place of duty, barracks, place of worship, mess hall, and medical facilities) for not more than 60 days
Extra duties, including fatigue or other duties, for not more than 45 days
Restriction with extra duties for not more than 45 days
Correctional Custody for not more than 30 days (only if accused is in the grades E-3 and below)
Forfeiture of one half of base pay for two months
Reduction by one (NCO below E-6 in USMC or E-7 otherwise) or more (sub-NCO) grades.
Confinement on diminished rations for not more than 3 days (USN and USMC E-3 and below only, and only when embarked on a vessel)
Admonition or reprimand, either written or verbal.
No where in there does it say a soldier can lose half his pay for 3 months. Additionally Key cannot even keep his lies straight because in this Canadian radio interview Key says this soldier lost half his pay for 6 months! So which lie is it?
It is pretty hard to keep all your lies straight, huh Joshua Key?
Fact #12: You Cannot Get an Article 15 for Crying
On page 148 Key claims an officer from another unit threatened to tell his unit officers that he saw him crying which would lead to him getting an Article 15 and loss of pay. He evens says the officer gave him a written reprimand. I have never seen an officer in another unit give a written reprimand to a solider he doesn’t know in an entirely different unit. It makes no sense because that officer is not his chain of command thus rendering anything he wrote utterly pointless because he has no UCMJ authority. Plus once again a JAG lawyer would have a field day defending any soldier given an Article 15 for crying. Finally Key if received a written reprimand, where is it? What is the guys name because he doesn’t disclose it in the book.
Fact #13: Avengers Do Not Have Two .50 Cals on Them
On page 169 Key makes the claim that an anti-aircraft humvee, which is an air defense artillery Avenger, used its two mounted .50 cals to kill some civilian crossing into Iraq from Syria by firing hundreds of round at him.
First of all an Avenger only has one mounted .50 cal which is mounted below one of its two stinger missile pods which you can see above. The .50 cal only holds 200-250 rounds and could not have possibly fired the “hundreds” of rounds that Key claims.
Fact #14: Key Provides No Evidence to Support his Massacre Claims
At various points in the book Key makes claims about US soldier committing massacres such as on page 81-82 he claims in Fallujah that members of the 82nd Airborne massacred about a dozen civilians for no reason. He claims on page 106 that members of the Florida National Guard were playing a “twisted game of soccer” with the heads of civilians that they had beheaded.
However, in this video interview of Key, the claim is made that they were the heads of decapitated Iraqi soldiers while in the book they were the heads of civilians that were decapitated by M-16 fire from US soldiers:
Once again it is hard to keep all the lies straight I guess.
He also makes multiple claims about randomly shooting cars while on patrol and makes the outrageous claim that one one of his sergeants used a .50 cal to ignite a trail of gasoline on the road from a car they had shot at and the spark of the .50 cal round ignited the trail of gasoline which caught up to the car and blew up its fuel tank. I want to see Mythbusters try and prove this Hollywood Rambo story.
He even says they used captured Mercedes to go and conduct raids with. When I was in Iraq the only servicemembers I saw conducting operations in civilian vehicles was US Army Special Forces soldiers. Not once did I see regular Army soldiers regularly conducting raids using civilian vehicles like Key claims. How many of these vehicle would you need to put a platoon of engineers in with all their equipment to conduct a raid? You would need a huge convoy of civilian vehicles not to mention the extra exposure to IED’s in an unarmored civilian vehicle. I do not find this claim credible.
The one common thread in all of these incredible stories is that he provides no proof. How come no one is his unit has come forward to support his claims? On his webpage and on his Wikipedia page there are no attributions from anyone that served with Key that can verify all his stories. We are left to take Joshua Key’s word that all these wild stories happened as claimed. However, as I have already shown Joshua Key is a proven liar.
Conclusion
Key has plenty of other stories in the book to include female lieutenants that would go on the prowl asking privates for sex to entrap them and give them punishment, medics not helping wounded Iraqi civilians, soldiers raping Iraqi women left and right, Abu Graib style abuse of prisoners, and get this even soldeers trying to bring ears back with them to the US. He even says one guy tried to bring a severed arm back with them. When he went AWOL his stories of government agents stalking him was really quite comical considering the Army allows civilian law enforcement to turn in deserters when they are picked up for routine traffic stops. I wonder if he saw black helicopters looking for him as well?
The bottom line is that any leftist talking point you can think of, Key includes it in his book in order to reinforce all the left wing stereotypes about the military. So there are plenty of references to My Lai, poverty draft, killing kids, etc, etc. This book is nothing but pure propaganda. For those of us who have served in Iraq, Key’s claims are entirely unbelievable and actually quite comical. If what Key claims is true and he is facing deportation from Canada, then why isn’t he lining up members of his prior unit to testify in his defense?
I think everyone gets the point by now that Joshua Key is a liar and an absolute disgrace not that people on the far left care. Key is simply a tool for these people to bash the US military with and Key is more then willing to play long because the livelihood of his family in Canada is dependent on him telling his tall tales. That is why you have all these journalists and radio hosts giving him softball interviews in order to tell his lies.
Key is also part of the leftist attempt to create a perception of discontent within the ranks like the leftist plants from Amnesty International tried to create before the 2006 Congressional elections. This group just happened to be backed with a media campaign led by the biggest liberal public relations firm, Fenton Communications. (You need to read my prior postings here and here to understand what I’m talking about.)
These people are just as disgraceful as Key for spreading blatant propaganda. I am willing to bet that many people on the far left believe that even if Key and his cohorts are lying, the ends justifies the means. That is why despite all the evidence to the contrary these people will not denounce liars like Joshua Key. That is why you don’t see anyone in the media trying to locate members of Key’s former unit to interview them to corroborate his stories. How hard could arranging such an interview be?
The US government needs to bring Key back from Canada and court martial him. I want Key to try and explain the various lies I have uncovered. Could you imagine what lies an investigator interviewing all the members of his unit could uncover much less what I have disclosed? He should be deported and be given a fair trial where we can all see if his lies stand up in court. After seeing what I already have uncovered about Key is it any wonder he has no interest in seeing if his claims would hold up in a court martial and instead prefers to hide in Canada? Canadians deserve better then to have frauds like Key living in their country. Hopefully the Canadian courts do the right thing and deport Key back to the US where he would have to take responsibility for substantiating all the tall tales he has told.
