At the end, he leaves the army. However, you can't just leave the army because you are sick of it (at least not in the USA). How can he just leave? My impression is that he wasn't deserting. Did they let him out?
shareNo, not a deserter.
In UK, squaddies can leave with credible reasons. Given his proven, and recorded traumas, would have thought it would have been routine that he would have been allowed to quit.
What's a squaddie? As apposed to a soldier. Officer? Non com? Enlisted soldier?
shareSquaddie is slang for an ordinary ranking soldier, eg, Private,a rookie, a soldier not yet reached NCO status.
shareMostly those not of officer-hood as NCOs can still be Squaddies, but even then Squaddie is more a state of mind than anything else.
Simply joining up is not enough. You're not a squaddie until you're settled into your new unit and have been accepted. Even after you've left the Army, you're not really a civillian, but an ex-Squaddie.