Bowe Bergdahl freed by Taliban after five years of captivity

[gourimoko]

Can someone give me a tl;dr about Bowe Bergdahl? I know he was a prisoner in Afghanistan for years, was finally released, and is now facing life in prison? Can someone explain why? My knowledge of legal systems in the military is piss-poor.

The long story short is that Bergdahl deserted his unit in a warzone.

The Administration, in my opinion rightfully, sought and bargained for his release and in exchange we handed over several militants for this one man. It is arguable whether or not it makes sense to do such a trade if the end result is him being imprisoned for desertion.

I highly doubt he'll get life in prison, but he does deserve to be brought up on charges and he does deserve to go to jail for what he did.

While I can and do feel mercy for him, what he did cannot be excused. He took an oath, and it's one we expect those who make the decision to serve to uphold. If he really wanted to get out of the service, he could have gone about it a different way.

 

[Jordan]

The long story short is that Bergdahl deserted his unit in a warzone.

The Administration, in my opinion rightfully, sought and bargained for his release and in exchange we handed over several militants for this one man. It is arguable whether or not it makes sense to do such a trade if the end result is him being imprisoned for desertion.

I highly doubt he'll get life in prison, but he does deserve to be brought up on charges and he does deserve to go to jail for what he did.

While I can and do feel mercy for him, what he did cannot be excused. He took an oath, and it's one we expect those who make the decision to serve to uphold. If he really wanted to get out of the service, he could have gone about it a different way.

Sweet, yeah I did not realize he deserted his unit. Thanks! I suppose that is problematic enough to deserve jail time but I would be disappointed if he got life in prison.

 

[Marcus]

Sweet, yeah I did not realize he deserted his unit. Thanks! I suppose that is problematic enough to deserve jail time but I would be disappointed if he got life in prison.

His desertion and the search and rescue efforts in the months thereafter resulted in several other soldiers being killed. Attacks after he disappeared intensified in scale and quantity, leading many in his old platoon to wonder whether he was aiding the enemy with his knowledge of the base layout and unit combat tactics. All operations other than search and rescue operations were canceled in the area of operations while they tried to find him.

Life in prison would be too good for this shit bag, but I would be shocked if it happened. He will probably get busted down to E-3 (his grade at the time of his desertion) and get an other than honorable discharge.

Doesn't look good for the administration if trading the Gitmo 5 results in bringing back a deserter that you ultimately ended up bringing up on charges anyway.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

I'm sort of past caring how this makes the administration look. I just hope he gets slammed enough to ruin the taste of his book deal as much as possible.

I hate that the weaselly buddy fucker will probably profit from this.

 

[Soda]

I care much more about the perception of your duty to the country as a soldier than I do about how the Administration looks. Give this guy a slap on the wrist and he gets a book deal and you're talking about positive reinforcement for desertion.

 

[Sebastian]

Ten years at Leavenworth, minus time served as a guest of the Taliban.

 

[The Oi]

So this is basically the equivalent of the Cavs trading their starting lineup for Dion Waiters, then cutting Waiters a couple months later?

 

[DougHeil]

Frankly; this piece of scum doesn't deserve life in prison. That's too good a life for him. Should have left him there.

 

[Marcus]

Ten years at Leavenworth, minus time served as a guest of the Taliban.

Not liking this because I think that's what he deserves, but because I'm in agreement with that being the likely outcome.

An other than honorable discharge also takes the government off the hook from having to give him back pay for all the time he was MIA. Either way, there's no way he comes out of this with an honorable discharge (or even a general under honorable conditions), unless the people handling the case completely and totally fuck up.

Will probably have to forfeit his pay from that time period, get reduced back down to the rank he was at the time of his disappearance, and spend some time at Leavenworth with credit for time served.

Still irritates me that this worm is probably going to get a book deal when all is said and done.

 

[Sebastian]

Not liking this because I think that's what he deserves, but because I'm in agreement with that being the likely outcome.

An other than honorable discharge also takes the government off the hook from having to give him back pay for all the time he was MIA. Either way, there's no way he comes out of this with an honorable discharge (or even a general under honorable conditions), unless the people handling the case completely and totally fuck up.

Will probably have to forfeit his pay from that time period, get reduced back down to the rank he was at the time of his disappearance, and spend some time at Leavenworth with credit for time served.

Still irritates me that this worm is probably going to get a book deal when all is said and done.

He was probably sodomized nightly by the Taliban if that makes you feel any better.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Frankly; this piece of scum doesn't deserve life in prison. That's too good a life for him. Should have left him there.

I don't have a problem with getting him back. I have a problem with what we gave up, and when we did it. It's not like that war is over, or we've withdrawn all our other troops and are just cleaning up the loose ends and making sure everyone comes home before we close the books.

But leaving your buddies is just...the worst. You stay and stand because you know the guy next to you will do the same. That's the glue that has held armies together since the days of the phalanx and legion. And it wasn't even like he did it in momentary blast of terror, where he just lost his courage for a bit. He abandoned his comrades with calm forethought.

I wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire.

 

[The Oi]

So what's the logic in bringing him back in the first place?

 

[Marcus]

So what's the logic in bringing him back in the first place?

Just my personal opinion, but this exchange took place at the height of the VA scandal last year, and Benghazi was also still a very hot topic. I think this was a calculated risk that the administration took in an attempt to get some good press and deflect some attention away from those things by trumpeting it as the return of a hero, publicly putting his family out there, "we don't leave a man behind," etc. It was a risk that, if they were trying to garner some positive press, majorly backfired.

 

[The Oi]

Just my personal opinion, but this exchange took place at the height of the VA scandal last year, and Benghazi was also still a very hot topic. I think this was a calculated risk that the administration took in an attempt to get some good press and deflect some attention away from those things by trumpeting it as the return of a hero, publicly putting his family out there, "we don't leave a man behind," etc. It was a risk that, if they were trying to garner some positive press, majorly backfired.

If that's the case, Obama has some of the worst advisors of all time.

How hard could it have been for them to know what his background was on the base?

 

[Marcus]

If that's the case, Obama has some of the worst advisors of all time.

How hard could it have been for them to know what his background was on the base?

I'm on mobile so I can't paste the link, but there is currently a retired major general saying that the White House knew of his suspected desertion before they ever made the swap. According to him, there was an investigation that took place with personnel in Afghanistan who determined that Bergdahl had deserted. I'm not sure how viable it is, but the comments took place on MSNBC and the story was run by the Washington Free Beacon.