I think 5 years as captive of the Taliban is enough. He made his decision, a poor one, paid for it, and now has to live with his conscience forever.

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"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

Agree. Plus what he's been through since his return. A lot of worse crimes get a lot less punishment IMHO.

Agree

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who's smarter than you're? i'm!

     Five years in Leavenworth or the like. I don't think the judge will ignore the fact that other's lives were messed up:
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"Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Mark Allen was shot in the head July 8, 2009, while on a mission in Paktika province to find Bergdahl.
Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Jimmy Hatch, a Navy SEAL, was shot through the leg a day later on a special operations mission to locate the captured soldier. Their injuries left both men unable to continue their military careers; Allen remains wheelchair-bound, unable to communicate and entirely dependent on others."

http://taskandpurpose.com/...ahl-search-injuries/

He willfully walked over to pay the Taliban a visit. That's not punishment, that's self inflicted hardship as a result of extreme stupidity. He hasn't 'paid' for anything and has no conscience as far as I am concerned. 15-20 years in prison would be my expectation of an appropriate sentence. Depending on who you believe, there are numerous accounts of injuries and loss of life associated with the people that risked their lives to get him back because they were unaware he deserted. Lots of disagreement about that, but at the very least, a lot of people did put their lives at risk hunting for the guy.

Greg

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If you are a Canuck that engages in gratuitous bashing of the US, you are probably on my Iggy List. So, save your self a bunch of typing a response unless you also feel the need to gratuitously bash me. If so, have fun.
"Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f___ things up" - Barack Obama, 2020

I found Serial's season two podcast series about him very illuminating - it changed my view on the topic.

Spending 5 years as a poorly-treated Taliban/Haqqani pawn is enough punishment.

Let him get with his life at this point. Even a free man, all of this will forever dog him no matter where he goes.

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Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball

Shouldn't all of that be in pink?

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Agree completely. I'd be fine with "time served" at this point.

I don't know what the appropriate punishment is, but he deserves some punishment. And being held captive by the Taliban for 5 years isn't punishment. That would be natural consequences, but not punishment. There still needs to be some punishment.

X2. And I can't believe we traded five hardcore Taliban/Al-Qaeda terrorists just to free a deserter whose actions may have led to the death or permanent disablement of several Soldiers sent out to look for him.

This man (I won't give him the title "Soldier") hasn't come close to paying his debt to the US Army, the armed forces and the United States. He went over the hill, did the bugout boogie... whatever you want to call it. And he deserted his battle buddies. His absence in his OP (observation post) could have proved fatal to his unit if the Taliban had decided to attack and exploited that weakness in the perimeter defense. If I were his CO, I'd have had no problem writing him up and pushing for a referral to a general court martial for his actions.

This one isn't even a close call, really, and I don't suspect it will be for the military judge who'll pass sentence. He faces punishment for desertion, which is a five-year jolt. Misbehavior before the enemy is a far more serious crime, and no amount of ill treatment by the Taliban -- if that's indeed what actually happened to him -- can serve as a substitute for confinement in Leavenworth after imposition of sentence upon conviction of both charges.

My guess is the judge will go easier on him on the desertion charge -- because some servicemembers every year go AWOL and then end up deserting (many are sitting in Canada, from what I hear) -- than he will on his misbehavior before the enemy.

It's like this, I think: Bergdahl wouldn't suddenly be pleading guilty to both charges -- and in effect throwing himself on the mercy of the court -- if the Army didn't have rock-solid evidence of his perfidy in that regard. And if his attorneys think they'll be able to beat all this on appeal all the way up to the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, they're either deluded or think CAAF is a pushover. It isn't, unfortunately for Bergdahl. And I don't see the Supreme Court -- which can hear appeals, post-decision by CAAF -- getting involved in this one. Like I said: the question of his guilt isn't even really a question.

I very much doubt he'll get life imprisonment on that misbehavior charge, but I can see a 10 to 15-year total sentence under both charges and a dishonorable discharge, the most-severe of the punitive discharges that can be imposed upon conviction at a general court martial.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Firing squad or hang by the neck till dead.

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#WeAreTheForge #BlackGunsMatter

"Look, will you guys at leats accept that you are a bunch of dumb asses and just trust me on this one? Please?" BarryP 7/30/2012

Interesting... I listened to the podcast as well and it also changed my view. He was certainly poorly-treated by the Taliban but he brought that on himself. I'm not sure I consider his Taliban time as punishment for walking away from his post and service members being injured.

I don't know what's the right answer, I'd hate to be the judge.

If a Soldier or Sailor was drinking and driving, and crashed and injured himself, that injury wouldn't be considered punishment enough for his crime. Likewise, I don't view Bergdahl's time spent in captivity as punishment enough for his crimes. His captivity was a foreseeable consequence of his choices. Whatever penalties he receives from the Army are punishments for his UCMJ violations. Those are two distinct concepts.

I'm not sure what the precedent is for desertion or for the misbehavior charge, so it's difficult for me to say what the punishment should be. I would not, however, consider his time spent in Taliban captivity as constituting "time served," and I would hope his punishment is determined separate from any consideration for that time.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

Exactly, well stated.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

Afghanistan is this centuries Viet Nam. We are never going to win this war because we don't want too. Instead, we will keep sending our soldiers home in boxes when they should be home with their families. Those that keep sending the innocent to die ought to be tried, but that will happen when Kissinger is behind bars.

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"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

All of that is beside the point. This gentleman voluntarily swore an oath and then broke it, endangering his comrades in the process. The fact that he just admitted his guilt as to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy indicates he knew he had not a leg to stand on in this regard.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

We agree he was wrong. We disagree on the penalty. I'm fine with that.

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"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

It's not often that I come into a thread with one opinion, and get convinced that I'm wrong with one post, but this is one of those times. Thank you slowguy.

Obama certainly got a great photo op parading the event before the country and having his parents over at the WH. Didn't matter what the truth is...he needed to show how amazing he was, not.

All of that is beside the point, but it makes for some really great sounding hyperbole.

Greg

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If you are a Canuck that engages in gratuitous bashing of the US, you are probably on my Iggy List. So, save your self a bunch of typing a response unless you also feel the need to gratuitously bash me. If so, have fun.
"Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f___ things up" - Barack Obama, 2020

The content in bold is really sacred shit. In a threat environment the degree with which each person depends on the other has few parallels. You have to know with absolute certainty that no matter how unhappy, exhausted, bored, starving, thirsty, or angry, the other guy is, he will watch your 6. He wouldn't dream of punking you, he will carry out his responsibilities. That simple idea, that you can rely on the people around you, is the foundation of the military. Anyone that blithely disregards that responsibility needs to be punished severely. To suggest that punishment should be light is to say that the offense was minor.

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Books @ Amazon
"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart

Really? What's the point then? He deserted. He's guilty. He should be punished. End of story.

First of all, your comparison to Vietnam is just not valid. None of the circumstances surrounding the two wars are much alike. And why you bring Kissinger into this is beyond me (and, tangentially, why the vitriol against Kissinger? How about JFK, LBJ, McNamara, etc?)

Second, one of these two things is true: Either you don't really understand what Bergdahl did and why it matters to so many of us who have served, or you don't know the definition of the word "hyperbole."

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.