Stitch Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Here’s a possible solution: The Army offers and Bergdahl cops a plea for desertion; reduction to E zero, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, forfeiture of VA benefits, credit for “time served” while in Talaban Land and cut him lose. Saves the DoD a shit ton of money and aggravation with not having to deal with a what would become a Scope’s Monkey trial. He departs military service with nothing from the government but wasn’t that his plan in the first place anyway; when he, in effect, tried to walk home from Afghanistan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Majestik Møøse Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 He'll be ok, he's still got some of the Taliban VSP money left. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learjetter Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 If his accusers are right, Americans died looking for him. You don't walk away from that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warrior Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 If his accusers are right, Americans died looking for him. You don't walk away from that. You do under this administration when this is going to turn into a full blown circus no matter how it plays out. Letting him walk might be the least offensive option. Not saying I agree, just saying … Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeHavilland Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 He needs to serve time. And not time served in Afg. He walked, so his time there was self-induced. Put him in the same cell with Chelsea Manning, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dead Last Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 He will probably get a presidential pardon because of some stupid reason fearless leader will make up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sky_king Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 http://www.duffelblog.com/2014/11/taliban-bowe-bergdahl-desertion/ The Duffel Blog is 'reporting' that he's also being charged with desertion by the Taliban. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Napoleon_Tanerite Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 The case must be pretty air tight if they're willing to weather the political fecal fusilade that this trial is sure to cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuggyU2 Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 Intereting look at the world of deserters... http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/02/american-military-deserters-canada.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deaddebate Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/02/american-military-deserters-canada.html To desert in a time of war carries a maximum penalty of death. The military has not actually executed a soldier for desertion since 1945, but for the young men and women preparing to go AWOL in the early aughts, it was difficult to gauge what the true penalty might be. [...] Although two-thirds of [Canada's] citizens supported the U.S. deserters in a 2008 poll, and the legislature has voted twice to grant them permanent residence, the election of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party in 2006 [...] has consistently opposed the American deserters and his immigration department has worked assiduously to deport them. [...] Many of them have already been deported from Canada and imprisoned in the United States. [...] Long received a dishonorable discharge and spent 15 months in military prison. The judge expressed disappointment that prosecutors did not insist on a longer sentence. [...] Kim Rivera [...] was sentenced to 14 months in military prison. [...] Today, fewer than a dozen outspoken U.S. deserters remain in Canada. The Harper administration has denied many of them permits to work, cut off their access to the national health-care system [...] if anyone other than Harper wins the election, the deserters will be allowed to stay in Canada. [...] But as the election approaches, Harper has begun a final purge. Nearly all of the deserters who remain in Canada have received a deportation order in the past four months. Many of them could be in American prisons by the time a new Canadian government offers them relief. [...] American military commanders rarely seek out deserters and even more rarely punish them. At the height of the Iraq War, fewer than 5 percent of deserters received a court-martial, and fewer than one percent served prison time. [...] the only deserters who have consistently been punished by the American military are those who went to Canada. [...] The decision to prosecute is typically made at the unit level, and the heightened punishment for those in Canada may reveal nothing more than a military culture that castigates insubordination. [...] the military is making a special example of those who fled north and spoke out; and that the Obama administration, in picking its battles with military culture, has decided not to pick this one. [...] in the European Union, a refugee can file for asylum only in the country he first reaches; since Glass had been through several other countries, he could not file in Germany unless he left the Continent for at least three months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lensatic Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Intereting look at the world of deserters...http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/02/american-military-deserters-canada.html This Walcott dude enlisted in 1999 then high-tailed it to Canada in 2006. He had to have re-enlisted at some point, Did a re-up bonus grubstake his desertion? LS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JarheadBoom Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Intereting look at the world of deserters...http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/02/american-military-deserters-canada.html This guy is interesting... ...served 17 years in the military before deploying to the Persian Gulf in 2006 as a nuclear engineer on an aircraft carrier, where he became concerned by the tactics used by the ship’s aircraft in civilian areas of Iraq. Those streams typically do not cross. I have a relative who was a Navy nuke officer in the early-mid '80s; he told me long ago that he (and the majority of his peers) really didn't give a shit about what went on with the Air Wing, as long as they didn't drop the mail bags during VERTREP or let the Russians blow the boat up. I can't imagine that attitude changing so drastically that nuke officers would find themselves balls-deep in the Air Wing's TTPs, to the point where one in the twilight of his career would turn away from the light at the end of the tunnel and desert over what he had seen... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrndPndr Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 This guy is interesting... Those streams typically do not cross. I have a relative who was a Navy nuke officer in the early-mid '80s; he told me long ago that he (and the majority of his peers) really didn't give a shit about what went on with the Air Wing, as long as they didn't drop the mail bags during VERTREP or let the Russians blow the boat up. I can't imagine that attitude changing so drastically that nuke officers would find themselves balls-deep in the Air Wing's TTPs, to the point where one in the twilight of his career would turn away from the light at the end of the tunnel and desert over what he had seen... "2" It always amazes me when I'm aboard any CVN, that many O's and most E's who have functions below the flight deck rarely if ever are permitted to get on the flight deck (or hanger deck for that matter). By the same token, everyone always seems pretty focused on their own stuff. When I start talking about something going on up there, they usually respond with something like, "I might get up there on our next dependent's day cruise." So how much do they stick their collective noses in other's business? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pawnman Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 This guy is interesting... Those streams typically do not cross. I have a relative who was a Navy nuke officer in the early-mid '80s; he told me long ago that he (and the majority of his peers) really didn't give a shit about what went on with the Air Wing, as long as they didn't drop the mail bags during VERTREP or let the Russians blow the boat up. I can't imagine that attitude changing so drastically that nuke officers would find themselves balls-deep in the Air Wing's TTPs, to the point where one in the twilight of his career would turn away from the light at the end of the tunnel and desert over what he had seen... Was it because he was actually involved, or because he was reading jihadi press releases in his down time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M2 Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Here’s a possible solution: The Army offers and Bergdahl cops a plea for desertion; reduction to E zero, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, forfeiture of VA benefits, credit for “time served” while in Talaban Land and cut him lose. Saves the DoD a shit ton of money and aggravation with not having to deal with a what would become a Scope’s Monkey trial. He departs military service with nothing from the government but wasn’t that his plan in the first place anyway; when he, in effect, tried to walk home from Afghanistan? I understand your logic, and agree this will turn into a giant monkey fuck; but those who died trying to find Bergdahl after he deserted and their families earned the right for a tribunal to examine Bergdahl's actions. Bergdahl intentional left his post and likely aided the enemy. At least six of his comrades of the 1/501 PIR died during the frantic search to find him. Letting him off scot free should not be an option... 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Napoleon_Tanerite Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 (edited) Edited March 28, 2015 by Napoleon_Tanerite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panchbarnes Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 I wonder if Army CID will verify the below claims from 2010. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305184/Bowe-Bergdahl-Taliban-claim-captured-U-S-solider-teaching-fighters-bomb-making-skills.html A captured American soldier is training Taliban fighters bomb-making and ambush skills, according to one of his captors and Afghan intelligence officials. Private Bowe Bergdahl disappeared in June 2009 while based in eastern Afghanistan and is thought to be the only U.S. serviceman in captivity. The 24-year-old has converted to Islam and now has the Muslim name Abdullah, one of his captors told The Sunday Times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintail21 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 I wonder if Army CID will verify the below claims from 2010. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305184/Bowe-Bergdahl-Taliban-claim-captured-U-S-solider-teaching-fighters-bomb-making-skills.html If the ISS falls out of the sky tomorrow the Taliban would try to take credit for it. I also don't know where he would have learned bomb making, or why the Taliban would need an outsider to teach them bomb making when they were pretty skilled with IED's after fighting us for 8+ years so it's pretty obvious that those claims are just propaganda. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JarheadBoom Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Was it because he was actually involved, or because he was reading jihadi press releases in his down time? The next sentence of the article, after I ended my original quote: Over the past eight years, Wiley has steadfastly refused to reveal the classified details of what he saw, which could lead to an even greater penalty than desertion itself. He says (or implies) classified. Who knows what he actually means... he could have been surfing Al Jazeera for all we know. My point is that Navy nuclear engineering officers - the guys who run the nuclear reactors that power the boat - don't normally get involved in Air Wing business, especially business that would likely take place in a SCIF (or what passes for a SCIF on the boat). Just doesn't add up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I understand your logic, and agree this will turn into a giant monkey fuck; but those who died trying to find Bergdahl after he deserted and their families earned the right for a tribunal to examine Bergdahl's actions. Bergdahl intentional left his post and likely aided the enemy. At least six of his comrades of the 1/501 PIR died during the frantic search to find him. Letting him off scot free should not be an option... And I see your point and agree 100% regarding the troops who fell searching for their team mate I hadn't considered that angle. In that case, charge em up and go for max punishment. My only point was to prevent the defense trying to turn the trial into some three-ring circus show soapbox r.e. "unjust war", alleged indiscriminate killings of civilians, etc, etc, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M2 Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Charged with "Misbehavior Before The Enemy" (UCMJ Article 99)...http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/09/08/to-hold-bergdahl-accountable-military-selects-section-military-code-rarely-used/Cheers! M2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeloDude Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Looks like the Army made the right choice. From the evidence/testimony that has been discussed/released in the media, I don't see how he doesn't get convicted of desertion. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/12/14/army-says-bergdahl-face-court-martial-desertion/77304602/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xaarman Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 If you haven't heard, Serial's second season is on Bowe Bergdahl... Listened to the first episode, it's very good. Highly recommend you check it out. https://serialpodcast.org 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeloDude Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 I'm suprised this topic hasn't been mentioned on here lately... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooseAg03 Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 His statement about how the Taliban are better than US forces just goes to show where his loyalties lie. He should rot in prison for the rest of his life. Considering the punishment in Article 85 for desertion in wartime is up to death, I think he would be getting off easy (sts) with life in prison. What a piece of garbage. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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