Welcome Home, Bowe

The United States may still choose to press charges against the American soldier released this week from Taliban custody after five years in captivity, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday.

At the center of the debate is whether Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 28, deserted the US Army before he was captured in Afghanistan in 2009

  RT

Because being a POW for five years isn’t punishment enough?

Former colleagues of Bergdahl have said in the days since that the soldier talked openly about leaving the Army ahead of his disappearance, and believe he had willingly deserted the service when he was caught in 2009. According to some, no fewer than six US troops died in the days after Bergdahl’s disappearance as a result of search efforts aimed at recovering the missing soldier. As RT reported earlier this week, some of those soldiers who’ve put the blame on Bergdahl are hoping the Pentagon opens a probe into the matter.

Adding to the GOP’s disapproval for negotiating (with terrorists) the trade in the first place.

“As for the circumstances of his capture, when he is able to provide them, we’ll learn the facts,” Gen. Dempsey told the Associated Press. “Like any American, he is innocent until proven guilty.”

Only technically.

“Regardless of the circumstances, whatever those circumstances may turn out to be, we still get an American soldier back if he’s held in captivity. Period. Full stop. We don’t condition that,” Pres. Obama added during an address in Warsaw, Poland on Tuesday.

Regardless. He still gets a feather in his cap.

A little background reminder from a lengthy Rolling Stone article spelling out the known details and responses to Bergdahl’s disappearance in 2009:

On June 27th, he sent what would be his final e-mail¬ to his parents. It was a lengthy message documenting his complete disillusionment with the war effort.

[...]

"The future is too good to waste on lies," Bowe wrote. "And life is way too short to care for the damnation of others, as well as to spend it helping fools with their ideas that are wrong. I have seen their ideas and I am ashamed to even be american. The horror of the self-righteous arrogance that they thrive in. It is all revolting."

[...]

The e-mail went on to list a series of complaints: Three good sergeants, Bowe said, had been forced to move to another company, and "one of the biggest shit bags is being put in charge of the team." His battalion commander was a "conceited old fool." The military system itself was broken: "In the US army you are cut down for being honest... but if you are a conceited brown nosing shit bag you will be allowed to do what ever you want, and you will be handed your higher rank... The system is wrong. I am ashamed to be an american. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools." The soldiers he actually admired were planning on leaving: "The US army is the biggest joke the world has to laugh at. It is the army of liars, backstabbers, fools, and bullies. The few good SGTs are getting out as soon as they can, and they are telling us privates to do the same."

[...]

"I am sorry for everything here," Bowe told his parents. "These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid, that they have no idea how to live." He then referred to what his parents believe may have been a formative, possibly traumatic event: seeing an Afghan child run over by an MRAP. "We don't even care when we hear each other talk about running their children down in the dirt streets with our armored trucks... We make fun of them in front of their faces, and laugh at them for not understanding we are insulting them."

[...]

On June 27th, at 10:43 p.m., Bob Bergdahl responded to his son's final message not long after he received it. His subject line was titled: OBEY YOUR CONSCIENCE!

[...]

In the early-morning hours of June 30th, according to soldiers in the unit, Bowe approached his team leader not long after he got off guard duty and asked his superior a simple question: If I were to leave the base, would it cause problems if I took my sensitive equipment?

Yes, his team leader responded – if you took your rifle and night-vision goggles, that would cause problems.

Bowe returned to his barracks, a roughly built bunker of plywood and sandbags. He gathered up water, a knife, his digital camera and his diary. Then he slipped off the outpost.

[...]

According to officials familiar with the internal debate, there are those in both Congress and the Pentagon who view Bowe as a deserter, and perhaps even a traitor.

  Rolling Stone

Interesting article not only for the information about Bergdahl, but about the total SNAFU that was his unit in Afghanistan.

 UPDATE:

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's hometown abruptly canceled plans Wednesday for a welcome-home celebration, citing security concerns over the prospect of big crowds — both for and against the former prisoner of war.

[...]

Organizers of the canceled homecoming event in Hailey, Idaho, said they lacked the resources to safely manage the thousands of supporters and protesters who were expected to converge on the small mountain community.

  alJazeera