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Posted

Wow.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl freed in Afghanistan

After nearly five years in captivity, the last unaccounted for service member from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been freed in exchange for five Guantanamo Bay detainees who will be transferred to Qatar, which helped facilitate the deal.

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 28, is now under the care of the U.S. military after being handed over by his captors in Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said in a statement. The resident of Hailey, Idaho, was serving in a parachute infantry regiment of the the Army's 25th Infantry Division, when he was captured in Afghanistan on June 30, 2009.

"On behalf of the American people I was honored to call his parents to express our joy that they can expect his safe return," President Obama said in a statement distributed by the White House. (Full story at link)

Posted

Unfortunately I think as more of the story of his alleged capture comes out it's going to take a distinct downward trajectory...

Irrelevant--we'll never hear about it. I'm still waiting to hear what happened with ol' Jill Metzger...anyone?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-sgt-bowe-bergdahl-a-hero-or-a-deserter/

I won't comment on the media released specifics of negotiating for his release...5 years after being captured. ln the the end, I'm glad he is back and gets to be with his family again.

War is ugly.

Posted

M2, can you merge the comments about this in the "leaving Afghanistan thread to here? I think it will need its own topic.

Posted

M2, can you merge the comments about this in the "leaving Afghanistan thread to here? I think it will need its own topic.

Done.

I did a search before posting; but no hits showed from that thread. I will let DFRESH know in the AFTO-781 section of the forum, we may be having issues with the search function.

Cheers! M2

Posted

Glad to have him home, but it's a slippery slope.

Not really, prisoner swaps are about as old as war itself. Presumably we've gotten all the intel we're going to get out of the 5 we released, so getting Bergdahl back is playing our cards well. Hopefully this is a leading indicator that the Obama administration is serious about getting us the fuck out of Afghanistan.

  • Upvote 1
Posted

As an American, I'm glad he's home, but I think this could get very bad for the young SGT

I'm very interested to see what happens. The majority of Americans know nothing about the allegations regarding his disappearance.

Posted

As an American, I'm glad he's home, but I think this could get very bad for the young SGT

Nothing negative will happen to him...even if he did indeed desert/mess something up royally. If it turns out he was a deserter or at fault, then it will be an embarrassment for the military and the administration to allow the information to come out, especially when we let 5 bad guys go to get him back.

As I said before, I'm glad he's back...especially happy for his family.

Posted

I'm very interested to see what happens. The majority of Americans know nothing about the allegations regarding his disappearance.

There’s always an Arquillian Battle Cruiser, or a Corillian Death Ray, or an intergalactic plague that is about to wipe out all life on this miserable little planet, and the only way these people can get on with their happy lives is that they Do… Not… Know about it!

  • Upvote 1
Posted

Not really, prisoner swaps are about as old as war itself. Presumably we've gotten all the intel we're going to get out of the 5 we released, so getting Bergdahl back is playing our cards well. Hopefully this is a leading indicator that the Obama administration is serious about getting us the ###### out of Afghanistan.

Um, I'm not sure you understand the actual concern. It's not a question of whether the scales balance out between the value of the 5 that were released in exchange for 1 in return...

Anyway, regardless of whether it was the right or wrong decision to swap prisoners, it was a bold move on the part of the administration. Now I'm curious to see if they're bold enough to bring Bergdahl up on charges when he's through with his re-integration. I doubt it.

Posted

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.

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Posted

Despite what he allegedly did that ended up with his capture, I'm glad he's back. He's still an American, and if he did indeed desert/attempt to that needs to be handled by Americans, not throw him to the Taliban.

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