Ricky Clousing

Who is Ricky Clousing?

Sergeant Ricky Clousing 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 left his barracks in June 2005 in protest of the Iraq war and remained absent without leave until 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. He is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

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 was also demoted to the rank of private, lost two-thirds of his pay for three months, and received a bad conduct discharge. He served his sentence at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and returned home on December 23, 2006.