Bergdahl

[Goodman]

This started out as a reply to another thread but I realized it was so far off topic that it needed its own thread. This link is to the local newspaper in Hailey. It may give some insight to what people are thinking on a level somewhat removed from the national frenzy. It is a weekly paper, so new material not be up for some time. Tuesday is 'paper day'.
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2007152392

My personal experience w Bergdahls is very limited but has been echoed by many others. His Dad, Bob, was a UPS driver and seemed like a totally fine guy. He knocked on my door many times and my wife dealt with him daily for several years at her job. After Bowe's capture Bob started growing his beard and as time went on started learning to speak Pashtun or whatever language it is he now speaks. It was a gradual evolution into the rough looking guy you see today. UPS doesn't put up with much nonsense and he was as clean cut as any of us 5 years ago.
Was his family a bunch of far right loons? No. There is a liberal leaning in Hailey but nothing too extreme. I can't speak to how his parents may be now, but they were fairly well known and they were not freaks. That said, after 5 years of having your kid in prison overseas, well, who knows what might happen to a person.
I'm not trying to defend anyone's actions, but with all the hype and demonization of the Bergdahls that is going on I thought MAYbe some perspective would be of value.

So-
Is Bowe a traitor or deserter or something similarly rotten? Maybe. The way things sound....probably. But I'm still gonna wait and see before I pillory the guy.

[1 Patriot-of-many]

BLAH BLAH BLAH. He's a traitor and a Muslim POS along with being a deserter. I'll take the word of the guys that served with him rather than Obama(muslim), and the guys father(muslim symp at the least.)

[Schuetzenman]

He may be crazy to a degree. The US Coast Guard discharged him for mental reasons. Sounds like the boy isn't warped too tight.

[Silentkilla01]

He may be crazy to a degree. The US Coast Guard discharged him for mental reasons. Sounds like the boy isn't warped too tight.

Mental???? Well shit give the guy a "assault rifle" and turn him loose at a school......

[Ruskiegunlover]

I'd like to see people who know the family comment on the disgusting writings of his father BEFORE he deserted his unit (which he obviously did based on EVERY SINGLE GUY in his unit). I don't need to see them or get to know them to believe they are worthless. The son is VERY likely a traitor, the father a crazy.

Really? Your son is 'captured (see DESERTED)', so that drives you to learn the language of his capters? Thats bullshit. How many parents of Vietnam War POW's who were in captivity learned Vietnamese in America, waiting on the return of their sons? Thats right. Guy AND his son are worthless.

Few things as bad to me in the military as abandoning your post IN A COMBAT ZONE and leaving your brothers.

And just because you appear 'normal' on your job doesn't say much about you outside of work. I have known plenty of people who were different creatures at home. Think he could outwardly sympathize with terrorists and muslims while delivering packages for UPS? No. He would have lost his job had he acted like that, or been outwardly crazy. So he saved it for home.

[FunkyPertwee]

Bergdal and his family are muzzie sympathizers and thats the only reason he got to come home.

[l921428x]

the guy may have been a spy. there had to be a reason the muslims kept him and there had to be a reason for 5 days in Germany and a reason for the trade.

[Goodman]

Like I said, I'm not defending anyone's actions- just waiting to see how it plays out. And I'm not gonna argue about who is what or when they became that way, because God knows the TV is gonna give us a totally fair and objective story so we won't have to think for ourselves. /purple

[ltorlo64]

the guy may have been a spy. there had to be a reason the muslims kept him and there had to be a reason for 5 days in Germany and a reason for the trade.

I am not sure that 5 days of medical/psychiatric evaluation and intelligence debriefing before coming back to the states is out of line whether he left is post voluntarily or not. I also don't think the amount of time he was kept by the terrorist means much. They could have kept him because they thought he would do just what he did, become a bargaining chip to allow them to get back terrorist that were very important to them. I am not defending him, I just think that we should not read too much into these things.

[ltorlo64]

Like I said, I'm not defending anyone's actions- just waiting to see how it plays out. And I'm not gonna argue about who is what or when they became that way, because God knows the TV is gonna give us a totally fair and objective story so we won't have to think for ourselves. /purple

I too agree that we need to see how any administrative action plays out. I find it very damning though for his unit to say he abandoned his post, that the military took this into account in trying to recover him, and that upon his release he was not promoted. Based on these things my opinion of him is not very high, but I will wait to see what any investigations show before I totally condemn him. I am hoping, thought, that the President's actions do not make giving him a fair shot (at guilt as well as innocence) during any subsequent investigation. I can see this as a huge slap to the President if it were proven and written in official findings that he was a deserter which makes me wonder if there will not be a lot of pressure to "just let bygones be bygones."

[5.56NATO]

Things keep getting better;

"fear of Bowe Bergdahl's 'stalker' father who was caught 'peeping into their windows while they were in the shower'
Lacey and Allie Hillman, 31-year-old twin sisters from Hailey, Idaho, went to police after a series of harassing incidents involving Robert (Bob) Bergdahl in 2011
They claim that Bergdahl, a UPS driver, drove by their home 'several times a day' even though he had nothing to pick up or deliver and left 'creepy' notes

Allie claims that he once banged on her door and accused her of cheating on him, saying 'What are you two-timing me b****,' even though they never dated or were even friends
The sisters claim Bergdahl took a small gnome from their garden and later approached Lacey to ask her if 'something was missing' from their yard
She later notice that the gnome was indeed gone, only to have it reappear days later
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2657068/EXCLUSIVE-Revealed-Twin-sisters-lived-fear-Bowe-Bergdahls-stalker-father-caught-peeping-windows-shower.html#ixzz34ilUK3Wy

[Silentkilla01]

Things keep getting better;

"fear of Bowe Bergdahl's 'stalker' father who was caught 'peeping into their windows while they were in the shower'
Lacey and Allie Hillman, 31-year-old twin sisters from Hailey, Idaho, went to police after a series of harassing incidents involving Robert (Bob) Bergdahl in 2011
They claim that Bergdahl, a UPS driver, drove by their home 'several times a day' even though he had nothing to pick up or deliver and left 'creepy' notes

Allie claims that he once banged on her door and accused her of cheating on him, saying 'What are you two-timing me b****,' even though they never dated or were even friends
The sisters claim Bergdahl took a small gnome from their garden and later approached Lacey to ask her if 'something was missing' from their yard
She later notice that the gnome was indeed gone, only to have it reappear days later
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2657068/EXCLUSIVE-Revealed-Twin-sisters-lived-fear-Bowe-Bergdahls-stalker-father-caught-peeping-windows-shower.html#ixzz34ilUK3Wy
WTF!!!

[Schuetzenman]

Sounds like crazy is genetic in that bunch!

[5.56NATO]

The roommate of released U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl testified Wednesday about the freed soldier’s questionable mental state and demanded that Bergdahl be prosecuted as a deserter for the “ultimate betrayal” of allegedly leaving his post in Afghanistan and endangering fellow U.S. troops.

Retired Spc. Cody Full, who served with Berdgahl in the Blackfoot Company and was his roommate, declared that Bergdahl’s “desertion was premeditated” and that the released U.S. soldier “should not be characterized as serving with honor and distinction,” as Obama administration officials have maintained.

“The facts tell me that Bergdahl’s desertion was premeditated,” Full told lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “It is clear to me that he had a plan and executed it.”

Full outlined a litany of charges that he said should be leveled on Bergdahl and also described the soldier as having a questionable mental state, which included expressing a desire to “kill as many Taliban as he could.”

Full claimed that Berdgahl’s disappearance was a premeditated act of desertion.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/bergdahl-roommate-bergdahl-a-deserter-who-should-be-prosecuted/

[CigarGuy]

He may be crazy to a degree. The US Coast Guard discharged him for mental reasons. Sounds like the boy isn't warped too tight.

I had "heard" the same thing. IF true, why would the Army take him? Lower threshold of mental disorder for enlistment then the Coast Guard?

[5.56NATO]

Army Clears Bergdahl of Any Misconduct During Captivity

As the Army continues to investigate whether Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is guilty of deserting his unit, this afternoon they said there is no reason to believe that Bergdahl engaged in any misconduct during his five years in captivity.

In fact, that's all that the Army said:


We have no reason to believe that he engaged in any misconduct."

Bergdahl electrified the national discourse last month after he was freed in a prisoner swap involving five members of the Taliban held at Guantanamo Bay. As charges against his character emerged, the narrative quickly shifted from Bergdahl as POW to Bergdahl as despicable deserter, unworthy bargaining chip, unwitting endangerer of America, and worse.
http://news.yahoo.com/army-clears-bergdahl-misconduct-during-captivity-204211047.html


I am geussing the cic told the army to say that.