A soldier assigned to Fort Bliss has been found guilty of desertion and sentenced to military prison.

Minnesota native Melanie McPherson, 28, deserted her Army unit on the eve of deployment to Kuwait.

McPherson will serve three months in prison, have her rank reduced to Private and will receive a bad conduct discharge after her prison term.

Trained as a military photojournalist, McPherson said she left because she was afraid she would eventually be deployed to Iraq as a truck driver or military police officer.

She said both are jobs she was not trained to do.