In July of last year, one of the stranger stories to come out of the American military in some time lit up the headlines. U.S. Army Private Travis King fled across the border into North Korea and surrendered to Kim Jong-un's military. The fact that he managed to do this without getting shot was fairly amazing, but his actions raised many questions. Was he a spy working for Pyongyang? Did he have access to any military or intelligence secrets that were now at risk of being compromised? The actual story turned out to be nothing of the sort and the North Koreans turned King back over to us a couple of months later. On September 20, Travis King will plead guilty to multiple charges at Fort Bliss, Texas. Among the most serious charges he will admit to is desertion. (NY Post)

The US Army private who bolted across the South Korean border into North Korea last year will plead guilty to desertion and assault as part of a plea deal, according to his lawyer.

Travis King will also cop to disobeying an officer, and assaulting a noncommissioned officer, his attorney Frank Rosenblatt told CNN Monday.

“US Army Private Travis King will take responsibility for his conduct and enter a guilty plea. He was charged by the Army with fourteen offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice,” Rosenblatt said in a statement. “He will plead guilty to five of those, including desertion.”

You don't need to look much further than the list of charges King is facing, both from the incident last July and previous run-ins with authorities to conclude that this guy wasn't some sort of super-spy or international man of intrigue. In reality, he sounds like kind of a dirtbag. While the desertion charge is drawing the most attention, he had already been charged with multiple counts of possession of child pornography. He'd been arrested for starting bar brawls and beating up his fellow soldiers. In short, he spent a lot of his time getting drunk and getting into trouble.

Of course, before North Korea released him back to us, they used King to get a bit of propaganda out into the media. They released a statement supposedly written by King himself, saying that he had fled to North Korea "because he was disillusioned with America." They further claimed that he "harbored ill feelings against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army and was disillusioned about the unequal US society." Maybe it's just me, but that sounds like some fairly deep, philosophical thinking for somebody who spends most of his time slamming beers and downloading kiddie porn. 

The punishment King can expect to receive depends largely on the mood of the officers and officials at his court-martial. Under Title 85 of the UCMJ, the penalties for desertion can be quite steep. Travis King is very fortunate indeed that we were not officially at war with North Korea when he pulled his stunt because desertion during a time of war carries the death penalty. In this case, he can expect to get up to two years of confinement, the forfeiture of all of his pay and benefits, and a dishonorable discharge from the service. The less serious charges he will plead guilty to all bring more minor penalties.

King's mother, Claudine Gates is standing by her son as most mothers are wont to do. She is suspicious about what may have happened to her son after enlisting in the Army. She claims that he never drank alcohol before entering the service and didn't have any notable disciplinary issues. She said that the Army assured her they are investigating what may have gone wrong, but they haven't shared anything with her yet. I'm willing to keep an open mind, but sometimes even the most well-behaved young man can go a little wild when he first reaches adulthood and is suddenly thrust into a military environment, finding themselves halfway around the world in a totally alien culture. That could be what happened with Travis King. I'm sure there are already people lining up to sign up King for a book deal, so perhaps we'll learn more in the months and years to come.