An Army chief warrant officer, who argued his health problems should have prevented him from going to war, has been convicted of failing to deploy to Iraq and disobeying an order, according to a USA Today report.

Adisa "A.J." Aiyetoro — a 19-year veteran who has active tuberculosis and suffers from back injuries — was sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to forfeit $1,300 a month for the next six months after his conviction at a court-martial this week in Fort Richardson, Alaska, USA Today reported Thursday.

Aiyetoro, an armament maintenance technician, began developing chronic, debilitating back pain after a previous deployment, according to an earlier USA Today report.

An Army surgeon classified him as non-deployable on Aug. 25, 2007, saying Aiyetoro was unable to wear his body armor. But a revised evaluation a few days later found that he could wear body armor but "only during mission-essential movements," USA Today reported.

Since then, doctors have changed Aiyetoro’s medical status, again. In February, doctors concluded that Aiyetoro needed more tests on his back and he needs additional tests to determine whether his tuberculosis is active, according to court records.

Aiyetoro told USA Today that commanders cared more about filling their ranks than about him getting better when they ordered him to deploy in September.

The command offered to allow him to resign, but Aiyetoro chose a court-martial instead, according to the USA Today report.

Migrated