Updated: Sat. Feb. 21 2004
11:23 PM ET
A Vietnam War-era deserter is supporting an American paratrooper who fled for Canada rather than ship out for Iraq.
"It's hard for people to understand, unless you go back to Vietnam and understand what we went through, it's the same situation," Bill King said of Jeremy Hinzman.
In the Vietnam era, an estimated 30,000 young Americans
fled to Canada rather than be drafted for likely service in Vietnam.
The peak of that conflict was 1965 to 1973. 
Unlike that era, there is no clear asylum policy for Americans.
Of the 268 U.S. citizens who applied for refugee status last year, none were granted it by Canadian immigration authorities.
Hinzman, 25, would like to buck that trend.
He joined the army in 2001 and trained as a paratrooper. He is assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division.
It turned out to be a mistake.
"Unless you're a sociopath or psychotic you just can't kill without thinking about it and in the army you're trained to do it as a reflex," Hinzman said.
He did serve in Afghanistan, but in a non-combat role as his application to become a conscientious objector was processed.
When he got his orders to ship out to Iraq, "it was just a kettle boiling and it started to whistle, and I couldn't do it anymore," the practicing Buddhist turned Quaker said.
"I signed up to defend the country from all enemies, foreign and domestic -- not carry out acts of aggression."
So he packed his wife Nga Nguyen and young son Liam in the car and fled to Canada from his unit's base in North Carolina.
As far as the U.S. Army is concerned, Hinzman is absent without leave -- a deserter.
While stopping short of saying Hinzman would be jailed if he returned to the U.S., Army officials told CTV News he would be court-martialed, saying: "We want accountability for all our soldiers."
Government officials have said if Hinzman doesn't qualify as a refugee, there may be other ways he could be allowed to stay in Canada.
King would like to see that happen, saying he believes Canada values those seeking peace.
It's certainly not a step he regrets taking: "I think of the joy it is. Here it is -- what, 30 to 40 years since -- and life is rich, it's whatever I chose to make it."
Over 55,000 Americans died in the Vietnam conflict.
Another 547 have died to date in Iraq.
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