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SGT Bowe Bergdahl Freed

waveshaper

By waveshaper
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HerkFE Gray Beard

HerkFE

Posted
Posted (edited)

Okay okay, maybe I jumped off the deep end fellas. I'm a bit sleep deprived and on edge right now. I wish I could blame it on being drunk. I'm just pissed at all of the calls to let this guy off with "time served" and "he has suffered enough" when we lost some true heroes trying to rescue this POS when he created the situation. Didn't mean to ruffle everyone's feathers. I just had to vent. I actually have faith in our military leaders to handle the situation properly. What I am concerned about is the political leaders stepping in and overriding them. Carry on bros.

Edited by HerkFE
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Learjetter
Learjetter

I'm glad he's back. I'm very unhappy that in doing so, we just validated that we will, in fact, negotiate with terrorists, and in doing so we put a price on every American's head.

M2
M2

I understand your logic, and agree this will turn into a giant monkey fuck; but those who died trying to find Bergdahl after he deserted and their families earned the right for a tribunal to examine B

Lawman
Lawman

He's back. And to those thinking we don't negotiate with terrorists or anybody else it's a movie line not a reality. The state department does it under the table all the time. We did it for Durant in

Dupe Gray Beard

Dupe

Posted
Posted

...Bowe concluded his e-mail with what, in another context, might read as a suicide note. "I am sorry for everything," he wrote. "The horror that is america is disgusting." Then he signed off with a final message to his mother and father. "There are a few more boxes coming to you guys," he said, referring to his uniform and books, which he had already packed up and shipped off. "Feel free to open them, and use them."

Perhaps a fourth possibility is that Bowe tried to commit suicide by Taliban, failed, and became a pawn instead.

Homestar Gray Beard

Homestar

Posted
Posted

Bringing Bergdahl home isn't about Bowe Bergdahl.

Dempsey wrote "“The questions about this particular soldier’s conduct are separate from our effort to recover ANY U.S. service member in enemy captivity. This was likely the last, best opportunity to free him"

  • Upvote 5
Warrior Flight Lead

Warrior

Posted
Posted

Bringing Bergdahl home isn't about Bowe Bergdahl.

Dempsey wrote "“The questions about this particular soldier’s conduct are separate from our effort to recover ANY U.S. service member in enemy captivity. This was likely the last, best opportunity to free him"

Dempsey is right.

Bergdahl may be a tard, but he's our tard to deal with.

  • Upvote 3
M2 Gray Beard

M2

Posted
Posted

I don't think anyone's disputing our efforts to get Bergdahl back no matter what the circumstances of his departure.

However, if Charles Robert Jenkins can be tried 40 years after he deserted to North Korea during that way; so can Bergdahl. In 2004, Jenkins pled guilty to charges of desertion and aiding the enemy, but denied making disloyal or seditious statements – the latter charges were dropped. He was sentenced to 30 days' confinement, received a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and benefits and was reduced in rank to E-1 private (the lowest rank in the US Army). He was released six days early, on November 27, 2004, for good behavior.

Although dishonorably discharged from military service (meaning that Jenkins is ineligible to display U.S. military awards, request replacements from the Army, or purchase them on his own), Jenkins' years of status as a deserter technically qualified him for several automatic military decorations which he displayed at the time of his court martial.During his years as a deserter, Jenkins was "carried on the rolls" of the U.S. Army in a desertion status meaning that he was not discharged but classified as an active duty soldier under "Time Lost" due to his AWOL status. When Jenkins surrendered himself as a deserter, the U.S. Army placed him back on the active duty rolls as a "deserter returned to military control". He was credited with 14,494 days time lost as a deserter and, by default, became eligible for all automatic service medals which had been created during his long period of absence. This included all automatic awards created for soldiers serving in Korea as well as active duty awards for service after the September 11 attacks in 2001. At his court martial in November 2004, Jenkins appeared wearing the following awards on his Army uniform: the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Korea Defense Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon. (Thanks Wikipedia!)

It'll be interesting to see what deal they cut Bergdahl if he is found guilty of desertion. I suspect it will be something similar.

What I am most interested in is when he's going to run his first marathon! :thumbsup:

  • Upvote 2
M2 Gray Beard

M2

Posted
Posted

I'm glad to see there are still folks that can find humor in any situation!

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pintail21 Crew Dawg

pintail21

Posted
Posted

State Department doesn't seem as urgent in getting back the Marine Reservist who is being held in a Mexican prison...I'm sure there is someone in our custody who Mexico would like to have back?

https://nation.foxnews.com/2014/06/03/if-us-can-spring-bergdahl-why-not-us-marine-reservist-mexico

You're right. A POW held by a terrorist group who might say it and cut his head off is exactly the same as a former military member who is being held in jail by a legitimate government awaiting trial for a crime he certainly, although accidentally committed.

hispeed7721 Gray Beard

hispeed7721

Posted
Posted

A POW held by a terrorist group

Not to split hairs...but this is a contradicting statement. And honestly I'm sick of hearing how he was a POW. He wasn't. A terrorist group by definition can't take POW's, they take hostages. So either he was being held by a legitimate state actor as a POW, or he was being held by a terrorist organization as a hostage

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Fuzz Gray Beard

Fuzz

Posted
Posted

While I disagree that this trade should have been made, if we had a chance with a low risk of casualties we should have taken it however, risking highly trained assests in a high risk operation to bring home a guy who said "fuck you" to his unit I believe is a poor use of resources. He may be one of us but even we all understand that there is (was) a standing policy not to negotiate with terrorists. Also I believe the idea of we won't leave you/me behind is also dependent on the person's circumstances that lead to capture, if I was doing my duty as a member of the military and end up in enemy hands then spare no expense, however, if I purposefully abadon my duty then we should not risk our people to recover a person who made that choice. (Not arm chair quarterbacking circumstances but purposefully leaving your unit, I see akin to not heeding an evacuation order and then requiring the fire department to risk their lives to come get you).

All this aside, after watching the video today of Bergdahl's handover to U.S. Forces, it doesn't seem like his health was in any sort of critical danger. This story and reasons continue to stink.

ForgotPassword Crew Dawg

ForgotPassword

Posted
Posted

All this aside, after watching the video today of Bergdahl's handover to U.S. Forces, it doesn't seem like his health was in any sort of critical danger. This story and reasons continue to stink.

I was just thinking how interesting it will be to see what kind of severe illnesses "they" fabricate for him.

StoleIt Gray Beard

StoleIt

Posted
Posted

I was just thinking how interesting it will be to see what kind of severe illnesses "they" fabricate for him.

I'd wager Stockholm Syndrome is somewhere in there...

MD Flight Lead

MD

Posted
Posted

This keeps getting better. One of the 5 released was responsible for the offensive in the late 90s that forces 300,000 afghans to flee. Just as we're packing up to leave we leave them with a nice little fuck you with a bow tag on top.

https://online.wsj.com/articles/release-of-taliban-detainees-rattles-afghan-villagers-1401924687

Not surprising. Mission has been half-assed there overall for quite a number of years now. Leaving with this kind of how-do-you-do, is just the standard US cred we've seen in a number of historical examples in the recent past.

busdriver Gray Beard

busdriver

Posted
Posted

And as was said, this is bigger than Bowe Bergdahl. Until we actually debrief him we don't really know what was going through his head when he decided to walk off post. My guess is he was a disillusioned, naive and sheltered young man who thought he was somehow going to go pull a Rory Stewart (The Places In Between) and be amongst the people and do something something.

At the end of the day he deserves due process, that can't happen if he's stuck with the Taliban. Those that died searching for him and those that put themselves at risk to bring him home were supporting the American sense of justice. That is worth supporting regardless of Bergdahl's actions.

At the end of the day, bad shit happens in war, sometimes due to stupidity, sometimes shitty situations, sometimes crappy training and sometimes crappy leadership but everyone one of us knows that we'll bring you home no matter what, at least you'll be answering for your actions from American soil or buried in it. As a PR guy, I'm willing to risk my life to honor that contract.

  • Upvote 5
pawnman Gray Beard

pawnman

Posted
Posted

While I disagree that this trade should have been made, if we had a chance with a low risk of casualties we should have taken it however, risking highly trained assests in a high risk operation to bring home a guy who said "fuck you" to his unit I believe is a poor use of resources. He may be one of us but even we all understand that there is (was) a standing policy not to negotiate with terrorists. Also I believe the idea of we won't leave you/me behind is also dependent on the person's circumstances that lead to capture, if I was doing my duty as a member of the military and end up in enemy hands then spare no expense, however, if I purposefully abadon my duty then we should not risk our people to recover a person who made that choice. (Not arm chair quarterbacking circumstances but purposefully leaving your unit, I see akin to not heeding an evacuation order and then requiring the fire department to risk their lives to come get you).

All this aside, after watching the video today of Bergdahl's handover to U.S. Forces, it doesn't seem like his health was in any sort of critical danger. This story and reasons continue to stink.

I keep seeing this idea that "we don't negotiate with terrorists". I'm pretty sure we've been negotiating with the Taliban to halt the fighting for the last several years. Hell, they have their own embassy in Qatar to make negotiations easier.

Learjetter Gray Beard

Learjetter

Posted
Posted

https://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/06/04/leave-no-soldier-behind-no-exceptions/

"...Regardless, commitments matter. When we send our troops in harm’s way for any purpose they have to be confident that their country will try to get them home.

Yes, a real price might be paid for Bergdahl’s release; upholding values is not cheap. Yet as Americans we simply cannot toss aside the cherished military ethos of leaving no one behind."

'Nuff said.

  • Upvote 2
Homestar Gray Beard

Homestar

Posted
Posted

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/05/exclusive-bergdahl-declared-jihad-in-2010-secret-documents-show/

U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl at one point during his captivity converted to Islam, fraternized openly with his captors and declared himself a "mujahid," or warrior for Islam, according to secret documents prepared on the basis of a purported eyewitness account and obtained by Fox News.

The reports indicate that Bergdahl's relations with his Haqqani captors morphed over time, from periods of hostility, where he was treated very much like a hostage, to periods where, as one source told Fox News, "he became much more of an accepted fellow" than is popularly understood. He even reportedly was allowed to carry a gun at times.

The documents show that Bergdahl at one point escaped his captors for five days and was kept, upon his re-capture, in a metal cage, like an animal. In addition, the reports detail discussions of prisoner swaps and other attempts at a negotiated resolution to the case that appear to have commenced as early as the fall of 2009.

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