Exclusive: Arrested U.S. Army deserter fled hard-fighting airborne unit 16 years ago

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The American soldier who walked across the border from Canada and surrendered to U.S. agents for military desertion is a U.S. Army sergeant with the 82nd Airborne who sought refugee protection in Canada 16 years ago to avoid another combat tour in Afghanistan.

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Christopher Vassey, 38, was living and working in Ontario as an ironworker while he fought for asylum, with hope of Canadian citizenship.

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U.S. border authorities wouldn’t release his name, citing privacy considerations, but the National Post confirmed Vassey’s name through his Army unit and traced his military record and 16 years in Canada, where he spoke publicly about his deserter status.

In Toronto, Vassey hooked up with anti-war activists and other U.S. military deserters and became an outspoken critic of America’s war efforts.

“It became more and more evident that we really screwed up in Iraq,” Vassey said in an interview in 2012.

“When it really hit home, though, was when we were in Afghanistan. I’m being commanded by all the same people who had just gotten away with war crimes in Iraq… they brought the Iraq war with them to Afghanistan,” he said, standing on camera wearing his U.S. Army uniform in front of a Toronto courthouse during an anti-war rally, to activist media Cuzdcrow.

“It’s just my mom back in the States,” he said. “My sister had died while I was up here, and I couldn’t go back for the funeral because I would have got arrested at the border. So that’s been tough. My mom’s alone, my dad died when I was a kid.”

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Vassey has a long and, at one point enthusiastic, connection to the U.S. military.

He joined the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps while in high school and enlisted in the New Jersey Army National Guard when he turned 17, in 2003, according to court records. He earned promotion and even worked as a recruiter for the National Guard.

Unsatisfied with the National Guard, he joined the U.S. Army in 2006, and reported to what was then called Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, the U.S.’s largest army base. It is now called Fort Liberty.

In January 2007, Vassey was deployed with an infantry unit to Afghanistan, where the war was raging. By the end of that year he was promoted to sergeant.

He became disillusioned with the mission, however. In Afghanistan, collateral damage by U.S. military strikes were mounting and civilian casualties soured public support for the war.

Vassey alleged at his refugee hearings that he was ordered to do things that were contrary to the rules of armed conflict, such as firing randomly in an attempt to provoke an enemy engagement without precautions against civilian harm. He said they called it “recon by fire.” He said his unit strapped dead bodies of Afghan insurgents to the front of military vehicles and drove through villages to intimidate the population, according to court filings.

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When he returned to the United States from his combat tour, in April 2008, he said he had mental anguish over his experience as a soldier, despite excelling enough to have been promoted. Facing an impending return to combat, he decided to leave.

“I had to make a choice whether I was going to partake of this anymore,” he said in his 2012 interview. “It was basically Canada or go back to Afghanistan. So, I went and came to Canada.”

It became more and more evident that we really screwed up in Iraq

On July 7, 2008, Vassey packed his things at Fort Bragg and left, making himself AWOL, meaning absent without leave.

He became an American soldier on the run.

On Aug. 4, 2008, he crossed into Canada and claimed refugee protection that same day.

Friends he made in Canada in the war resistance movement started an online petition in 2009, asking for a public show of support for his asylum bid to avoid a court martial and jail in the United States.

“Chris asks nothing more than to stay in Canada — to work, to live in peace, to settle into his new life,” the petition said.

“I’ve had steady work the past few years,” Vassey said in his Toronto video interview. “I’m a construction worker up here, iron work. I built hospitals.” He turned and looked behind him, down University Avenue and pointed: “I built that building right there, part of it. So I’m just, you know, doing my part for Canada, trying to build up Canada.”

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He had his refugee status hearing at the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) in 2009. He was denied asylum in 2010.

It is difficult for an American citizen to obtain refugee protection status in Canada. Not only must they prove persecution, but also that the state can’t adequately protect them, which is a high threshold when talking about Canada’s closest ally. In 2022, for instance, 339 claims by U.S. citizens for refugee protection were rejected and zero claims were accepted, according to IRB statistics.

Still a fighter, of sorts, he appealed that refusal to the Federal Court.

The court’s decision in 2011 found the IRB’s analysis of expert evidence on the independence and impartiality of the U.S. military court system was inadequate and one sided. Judge André Scott ordered the IRB to convene a new refugee hearing for Vassey.

After his second hearing, the IRB again denied him refugee protection. Vassey appealed that decision to the court, as well. Federal Court Judge Alan Diner ruled in 2015 that the IRB needed to convene a third refugee hearing to again hear his case.

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It is not known what the outcome of that hearing was. Refugee cases are considered confidential by the IRB. The IRB could not be reached for comment. There is no record of a third court challenge.

On Tuesday, carrying one bag, Vassey took the pedestrian walkway across the Rainbow Bridge border crossing between Niagara Falls, Ont., and Niagara Falls, N.Y., and surrendered, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

He told Customs officers he was “turning myself in” for military desertion. They confirmed his identity and found an active U.S. Army warrant on file in the National Crime Information Center, a U.S. law enforcement database.

He was held in custody until he was turned over to the U.S. Army.

The U.S. military had little to say about the affair.

“Sgt. Christopher M. Vassey entered the Army an Infantryman in April 2006 and is currently assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division,” Lieutenant Colonel César Santiago of the 82nd Airborne Division told National Post.

“As this matter is subject to ongoing legal proceedings we are unable to provide further information,” Santiago said.

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The 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army is a storied, hard-fighting unit specializing in forcible entry parachute assaults in hostile territory, formed during World War One. It has also been criticized by human rights groups over treatment of prisoners and civilians.

Vassey knew what awaited him in the United States.

“I could be in a military jail for up to two years, just for having spoke out. Not just going AWOL but also over being AWOL and speaking out against my government,” he said in his 2012 video interview.

Under U.S. military law, desertion is defined as being absent from military duties without authority, with intent to remain away permanently.

The reason for his surrender is not yet known. Vassey could not be reached for comment; neither could his last known lawyer of record.

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