AWOL soldier surrenders after 19 months (Mark Wilkerson)

KILLEEN, Texas — A year and a half after going AWOL before his second deployment to Iraq, a soldier surrendered at Fort Hood on Thursday with a dozen war protesters by his side.

Army Spc. Mark Wilkerson said he was tired of running and sought help from Cindy Sheehan's protest camp in nearby Crawford, which helps educate soldiers about their rights as war resisters.

"I just could not in good conscience go back to a war I felt was wrong," Wilkerson, 22, of Colorado Springs, Colo., said at Sheehan's camp before the 40-mile trip to the post near Killeen where he had been stationed.

Wilkerson would not be confined to a cell or other facility when he returns to his unit, said Maj. Joe Edstrom of the post's public affairs office. He said he did not know whether Wilkerson would be restricted to the post or what punishment he faces, but said his company commander would decide.

"He's back in the United States Army as a soldier again," Edstrom said.

Wilkerson, who said he never left the country but won't reveal where he was, heard about Sheehan's efforts to help war resisters after he had decided to surrender.

"It's amazingly scary to do what he's doing," said Sheehan, who did not travel to Killeen on Thursday. "He has all of our support, but when he gets to Fort Hood, he's going to be by himself."

Sheehan's oldest son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004. A protest camp has emerged on land she recently bought in President Bush's adopted hometown. Dozens of protesters have spent several days a week outside Fort Hood handing out literature about war resisters' rights, in addition to providing pamphlets at the Crawford camp.

Wilkerson went to Iraq at the start of the March 2003 invasion and returned to the U.S. a year later. He said his views of the war changed, so he applied for conscientious objector status a few months before finding out his unit would return to Iraq.

His request was denied and he was told his appeal would not be considered until his unit came back. He said he then fled during a two-week leave before the January 2005 deployment.

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