Showing posts with label Bergdahl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bergdahl. Show all posts

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Deserter Beau Bergdahl Escapes Prison


Army Sergeant Beau Bergdahl escaped a prison sentence. Prosecutors had asked for a 14-year sentence but an Army judge let him go free. The deserter walked away from his post in Afghanistan and was subsequently captured by the Taliban. He was a captive for five years until he was released in a negotiated exchange for five high-level Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo. The judge reduced his rank to private and gave him a dishonorable discharge. News reports say that six Soldiers died during efforts to search and rescue Bergdahl. In addition, many others were wounded - many seriously.

One of Bergdahl's attorneys wants the deserter to receive the POW medal. It appears that the defense team will also appeal the dishonorable discharge penalty. (Military.com, Nov 4, 2017).


Sunday, January 10, 2016

Bergdahl Update

The court martial for SGT Bergdahl is scheduled for August 2016. There will be several hearings between now and August. In the meantime, if interested, you can listen some podcasts about the whole incident that is airing on Task & Purpose Radio. Lauren Katzenberg of Task & Purpose describes her personal feelings toward the whole event - ranging from empathy for the struggles of Bergdahl during his five-year captivity to her feelings about why he might deserve some punishment after listening to Mike Waltz (an SF company commander) who had to divert his SFODAs from hitting Taliban targets to join the search for Bergdahl. Read "My Ongoing Personal Conflict With Serial's Bergdahl Coverage", Task & Purpose, January 7, 2016.

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Bergdahl to Face Court-Martial in Desertion

SGT Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. Army Soldier who deserted his post in Afghanistan, will face a general court-martial charges. He disappeared from his outpost in 2009, was shortly later captured by insurgents, and then held prisoner for five years. The Obama administration set free five high-level Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay for his release in May 2014. A arraignment hearing will be held in the future at Fort Bragg, N.C. The presiding general officer, General Abrams, is probably putting his career in jeopardy. Any consideration for command after this decision by him will be likely be looked at unkindly by the Obama administration. Bergdahl is currently still in the Army and assigned to Joint Base San Antonio, Texas at a desk job. Read more in "Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl to face most serious kind of court-martial in Army desertion case", The Washington Post, December 14, 2015.

A Shattered Life. One man who was severely injured during an attempt to find and rescue Bergdahl provides some background on just how costly the Army deserter's actions were to him. (Stars and Stripes, Dec 22, 2015).

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Bergdahl In the News Again

Beau Bergdahl - His Side of the Story. The U.S. Army deserter who was quickly captured by the Taliban within hours of leaving his outpost has been charged with desertion. He awaits his sentence which should be coming within months. In the meantime he has decided to tell his side of the story. Seems he wanted to be like Jason Bourne . . . ahhhh . . . that explains it all. "The Serial" - a podcast series - is his venue. The first episode was released this week. https://serialpodcast.org

House Report on Prisoner Swap. A recent report by the House of Representative's Armed Services Committee has concluded that the Obama administration broke the law in swapping five Taliban members for Army SGT Bowe Bergdahl and then went out of its way to hide the negotiations as they were happening. (The Hill Blog, Dec 10, 2015).

Analysis of Bergdahl Prisoner Swap. Shane Harris and Nancy Youssef take a look at the ramifications of the swap of Bowe Bergdahl (U.S. Army deserter) for five Taliban fighters imprisoned at Guantanamo. See "Congress: Bowe Bergdahl Swap Was FUBAR"The Daily Beast, December 7, 2015.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Beau Bergdahl Should Get Jail Time

Bergdahl Should Pay. A Special Forces commander who was in Afghanistan when Bergdahl went missing describes the effect his disappearance had on operations. The SF teams that he commanded were re-missioned to searching for Bergdahl instead of going after militants. Equipment was diverted, drones were reallocated, key missions were scrapped, and his men were sent into some of the most hostile areas of Afghanistan to conduct the search for the missing Soldier. The SF officer says Bergdahl is lucky - as he survived captivity and is back in the United States. However, "the soldiers who died looking for him never had the opportunity to return home". Read Michael Waltz's opinion piece in "Bergdahl should pay for betrayal: Opposing View"USA Today, March 26, 2015.

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Gen Milley, Bergdahl & Prosecution

The case of the Army deserter (Bergdahl) will soon be hitting the headlines. Bergdahl left his post in 2009 and was subsequently captured by the Taliban. His disappearance caused a major disruption of U.S. combat operations against the Taliban for a long period of time. The cost of his disappearance was immense in terms of time, money, energy, resources, and personnel. Combat units were pulled from their ongoing missions to search for Bergdahl in an attempt to rescue him. Scarce intelligence resources (SIGINT, drones, etc.) were diverted from ongoing and future missions to try and locate him. According to some sources - at least six members of the military died in combat conducting operations in search of Bergdahl.

The investigation of his disappearance and capture was conducted this past fall. A review of the investigation was conducted in November. The case has been referred to General Milley, the head of U.S. Forces Command located at Fort Bragg, NC; and he should be addressing it over the next few months. There are a surprising number of desertions that occur in the U.S. military. Since 2001 there have been over 1,900 cases of desertion prosecuted. Many of these cases are handled without going to court martial - Soldiers are administratively punished or medically discharged.

General Milley has wide discretion on how to handle this case. Milley, a former Special Forces detachment commander (in the early days of his military career), was recently the commander (as a three-star general) of the ISAF Joint Command (IJC) in 2013. Bergdahl is subject to court martial or lesser administrative action. He could be the recipient of actions that include counseling, reprimand, forfeiture of pay, reduction in rank, and / or separation from the Army. At stake for Bergdahl is avoiding imprisonment, losing almost $300,000 in pay, reduction in rank, and health care benefits. Read more in "Army deserters rarely face prosecution", PBS Newshour, December 24, 2014.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Bergdahl Investigation Complete

The final results of the Army's review of the investigation into the capture (desertion) of SGT Bowe Bergdahl is complete. The investigation, concluded in October, was to determine whether he had deserted his post prior to his capture by the Taliban in 2009. The Army has reviewed the investigation and should be briefing DoD (SECDEF?) soon. The investigation was conducted by MG Kenneth Dahl. (The Hill, December 19, 2014).

Monday, October 13, 2014

Bergdahl Investigation Concluded

Stars and Stripes reports (October 10, 2014) that the Bergdahl investigation has been completed. He disappeared from a base in Afghanistan five years ago and was captured by the Taliban. The next stage in the investigation is a lengthy review process. Bergdahl is currently assigned to U.S. Army North at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston. Read more in the article - "Bergdahl investigation finished".