Baghdad
A U.S. soldier in Iraq is being kicked out of the Army for sneaking away from patrol duty to marry an Iraqi woman, his lawyer said this week. Florida National Guardsman Sgt. Sean Blackwell, 27, converted to Islam before marrying his bride, who is a doctor. He is to be discharged because he divulged the time and location of his patrol to the woman and to the Iraqi judge who performed the ceremony. His mother, Vickie McKee, said her son was a victim of his emotions. “I’d hate for him to get a dishonorable discharge because he fell in love,” she said. Another guardsman in Blackwell’s unit, Cpl. Brett Dagen, 37, also converted to Islam and married an Iraqi doctor in the same August ceremony. There’s no word yet on whether he will be similarly censured.
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