Breaking: Bowe Bergdahl to be charged with Desertion

[oldpink]

I'll believe we still have a real military, one where there are still consequences for misconduct, when a proper general court-martial is conducted, and the verdict and sentence (whatever they may be) are arrived at without interference from this most dubious of administrations.
I'm still betting that the flag officers will not exert their proper authority and will instead knuckle under to whatever their civilian masters tell them to do, no matter what the facts of this case.
My old senior chief must be spitting fire just thinking about this "deal."

 

[Kutnupe14]

Charles Robert Jenkins. Look him up. If this is the standard the U.S. Military is using, I don't see how one can justify slamming Bergdahl.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Charles Robert Jenkins. Look him up. If this is the standard the U.S. Military is using, I don't see how one can justify slamming Bergdahl.

How many men died looking for him?

Is there no distinction between an active combat theater vs 12 years after the shooting started?

 

[17 squirrel]

Not traditionally a crime that leads to the death penalty, and none of this was known for certain until we had him back.

That's correct generally its a not a death sentence... But it is well documented by many other soldiers that were assigned to that base, on what transpired when Bergdhal left his post...

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Apparently this story from the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/us/army-bowe-bergdahl-desertion-charges.html?smid=tw-bna&_r=0

had this little nugget of news in it when first published:


?Who the hell wrote that?? NYT?s hot take on Bergdahl is ?freaking unbelievable? | Twitchy

What!? What?! .....WHAT?!?! What parallel universe does the NYT live in?! How would they come up with this, this, this kind of mental flatulence?

It has since disappeared from the article without a trace. Back through the wormhole I guess.

But it still contains this little road apple:



Wunnerful. Just wunnerful.

If he is convicted of desertion, the MINIMUM that he'll get is Dishonorable Discharge, Reduction in Grade to Private (E1) and Loss of all Pay and Allowances.

 

[Alamo]

If he is convicted of desertion, the MINIMUM that he'll get is Dishonorable Discharge, Reduction in Grade to Private (E1) and Loss of all Pay and Allowances.

You realize my spluttering disbelief is that the NYT did not realize this and let the above snippet get published. Layers of editors and fact checkers...

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Gary Sinise can pound sand. The swap, was justified. In hindsight it's easy to say it was a bad swap, but given the limited Intel we had at the time, you don't abandon an American soldier based on what you "think" his intentions were. And the death penalty is beyond idiotic for consideration.

First of all, I'm not going to make any comment about your lack of military service; for the most part I don't think it as germane to this situation as some of my former brothers-in-arms. However, having said that, put yourself in the position of having a fellow police officer quit his job while you're both in the middle of a firefight with a couple gang members, thus endangering you and other officers involved. Then later on you find out he was spending time with the same gang that got into the gunfight with you, and was teaching them all about the tactics you were using for surveillance, warrant service, etc. Also, imagine that during the time he was hanging out with the gang members, several officers were ambushed and killed under circumstances which indicated that the killers were familiar with police procedures. What conclusions would you draw?


As for the prisoner swap, the allegations concerning Bergdahl were well-known at the time. There was absolutely NO justification for the prisoner swap - at least as far as what was "traded" to get him back; it was merely a way for the Administration to get rid of some troublesome internees at Guantanamo by way of a shaky excuse.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

You realize my spluttering disbelief is that the NYT did not realize this and let the above snippet get published. Layers of editors and fact checkers...

Sorry about that. A result of MY skimming.

 

[JeremiahJohnson]

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will be charged with desertion | On Air Videos | Fox News

Sounds like the Desertion gets up to 5 years,

Endangering could get up to life.

Didn't hear anything about death.

 

[Alamo]

Bergdahl's platoon mates knew he just didn't get lost or kidnapped, and everyone above them knew that. I don't care if he really didn't mean to go join the Taliban, even if he just wanted to go pick daisies in the country side it was a crime to leave his post in a combat zone and wander off.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

And to answer the rhetorical question (article) posted upthread: NO. It WASN'T punishment enough for him to have been "captured" and "held prisoner" by the Taliban. Desertion in a combat zone is a serious moral failure deserving of serious punishment.

 

[SSGSAD]

He should be found guilty, and SHOT ..... JMHO, YMMV .....

 

[flatlander]

Plug him
Plant him
Forget him

Bob

 

[Alamo]

We Lost Soldiers in the Hunt for Bergdahl, a Guy Who Walked Off in the Dead of Night - The Daily Beast

On July 4, 2009, a human wave of insurgents attacked the joint U.S./Afghan outpost at Zerok. It was in east Paktika province, the domain of our sister infantry battalion (3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry). Two Americans died and many more received wounds. Hundreds of insurgents attacked and were only repelled by teams of Apache helicopters. ...
...But, in his opinion, the attack would not have happened had his company received its normal complement of intelligence aircraft: drones, planes, and the like. Instead, every intelligence aircraft available in theater had received new instructions: find Bergdahl. ...

Though the 2009 Afghan presidential election slowed the search for Bergdahl, it did not stop it. Our battalion suffered six fatalities in a three-week period.

The writer, a member of the same battalion as Bergdahl, goes on to list the six soldiers killed while looking for Bergdahl. He also notes that upon redeployment to CONUS, each member of the unit received orders forbidding them to talk about Bergdahl. The writer says he personally forgives Bergdahl as his way of moving forward, but that an accounting is due.

Yes it is, and not just for Bergdahl.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

We Lost Soldiers in the Hunt for Bergdahl, a Guy Who Walked Off in the Dead of Night - The Daily Beast





The writer, a member of the same battalion as Bergdahl, goes on to list the six soldiers killed while looking for Bergdahl. He also notes that upon redeployment to CONUS, each member of the unit received orders forbidding them to talk about Bergdahl. The writer says he personally forgives Bergdahl as his way of moving forward, but that an accounting is due.

Yes it is, and not just for Bergdahl.

The people on the ground knew yet some how we're supposed to believe it's only known in hindsight. BS. It was well known then. I can't believe anyone is taking up for this.....person.

 

[actaeon277]

885. ARTICLE 85. DESERTION « UCMJ ? United States Code of Military Justice

(c) Any person found guilty of desertion or attempt to desert shall be punished, if the offense is committed in time of war, by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct, but if the desertion or attempt to desert occurs at any other time, by such punishment, other than death, as a court-martial may direct.

 

[KG1]

And to answer the rhetorical question (article) posted upthread: NO. It WASN'T punishment enough for him to have been "captured" and "held prisoner" by the Taliban. Desertion in a combat zone is a serious moral failure deserving of serious punishment.

Exactly. Other soldiers in his unit were punished far worse than that because of his actions. They lost their lives.

 

[MrSmitty]

Desertion during wartime, should be death penalty

 

[ModernGunner]

There is NO justification to keep this scumbag traitor fed and housed for the rest of his life.

Hanging would be appropriate.

As for the 'trade', it didn't seem so much a case of the Liar-In-Chief wanting to decrease the population at Gitmo as it was the Liar-In-Chief desiring to intentionally return 5 top terrorist 'generals' back to the war-front.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

There is NO justification to keep this scumbag traitor fed and housed for the rest of his life. Hanging would be appropriate. As for the 'trade', it didn't seem so much a case of the Liar-In-Chief wanting to decrease the population at Gitmo as it was the Liar-In-Chief desiring to intentionally return 5 top terrorist 'generals' back to the war-front.

I don't know that I'm willing to ascribe active malice of that extent to our C-in-C when just plain pig-headed ignorance and narcissism will adequately explain it.