"And like I said in another post, if desertion was reason not to supply a headstone, half the Confederate Army would be ineligible for deserting at one time or another,"

I've never heard or read that before. Do you have a source ?

So a Confederate soldier that was identified by the enemy as a deserter, not a battle captive, then takes an oath pledging allegiance to the Union almost a year before
the war ended in April 1865, still gets a V.A. marker denoting his service to the Confederacy. In my eyes that person not only abandoned his country, but his state and
comrades, and does not merit a taxpayer-funded marker Perhaps the laws governing issuance of V.A. markers need to be changed.

Just my opinion.