Chris Parks Says He Was Mistaken For An Army Deserter

July 28, 2009 — -- It took a few minutes for Chris Parks to realize that when he was taken aside by Homeland Security at the Charlotte, N.C., airport it wasn't just another airport security check. It was when the officer told Parks that he had deserted from the Army a decade ago that the 27-year-old Washington contractor realized he had fallen into bureaucratic hell.

Within days, Parks' head was shaved boot camp style and he was wearing Army issued fatigues, pulling weeds and collecting trash at Fort Knox.

"When I got to Charlotte, N.C., I was really happy to finally being going home," said Parks, who remembers being especially anxious to go home from his South American trip because of the hives he had developed while backpacking.

"The customs officials put an X on my forms and asked me to stand to the side. I thought it was a routine search," said Parks.

But Parks told ABCNews.com that he quickly learned there was nothing routine about what was happening to him when Homeland Security told him that he was going to be held in custody.

"The official told me that it appears I've deserted the Army and at that point I still don't even know what he's talking about," said Parks. "I thought it had to be a joke or a big mix-up."

Calls made by ABCNews.com to the Army about Parks' case were not immediately returned.

"I kept thinking that there had to be a mistake," recalls Parks. "I've had a speeding ticket and I've gone back and forth to Canada and have been in no way hiding. I was on the grid 100 percent. There was no reason that someone looking for me wouldn't be able to find me."

Parks said that it took him about five minutes to realize where the confusion may have stemmed from. In 2000, when Parks had just graduated high school and was 18 years old, he enlisted in the army in Spokane only to decide later that no longer wanted to serve.