Posted on Dec 10, 2015
Bergdahl Says He Left Base To Expose 'Leadership Failure'. Was It Really Worth It?
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In a Recent Armyimes Article
BOISE, Idaho — Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl says he walked off his base in Afghanistan to cause a crisis that would catch the attention of military brass.
He wanted to warn them about what he believed were serious problems with leadership in his unit. And he wanted to prove himself as a real-life action hero, like someone out of a movie.
Bergdahl hasn't spoken publicly about his decision or his subsequent five-year imprisonment by the Taliban and the prisoner swap that secured his return to the United States. But over the past several months he spoke extensively with screenwriter Mark Boal, who shared about 25 hours of the recorded interviews with Sarah Koenig for her popular podcast, "Serial."
"As a private first-class, nobody is going to listen to me," Bergdahl says in the first episode of the podcast, released Thursday. "No one is going to take me serious that an investigation needs to be put underway."
Bergdahl, of Hailey, Idaho, was charged in March with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. He faces up to life in prison, though an Army officer has recommended that Bergdahl's case be moved to a special misdemeanor-level military court.
His attorney Eugene Fidell says politicians and would-be politicians have been using Bergdahl as a talking point to push their own agendas for months, a situation he described as creating "gale-force political winds."
The more the public can hear Bergdahl's own words, the better, Fidell told The Associated Press.
"Some of the information that is going to come out is inevitably not going to be what we would have preferred in a perfect universe, but net-net, we'll take it and allow people in our democratic society to form their own opinions," Fidell said.
Bergdahl's interview is another coup for makers of "Serial," which established podcasts as a viable outlet when the first season was downloaded more than 100 million times. Makers wouldn't say how long the new season would last; the first one was 12 separate episodes.
In the episode, Bergdahl says he wanted to expose the "leadership failure" he experienced in Afghanistan. The episode does not elaborate on what that failure was, but he says he believed at the time his disappearance and his plan to reappear at another location would give him access to top officials. After leaving the base after midnight, he worries about the reception he'll get once he reappears, and decides to try to get information on who was planting bombs in the area. That information will help smooth things over with angry military officials, he figures.
Sarah Koenig, the host and executive producer of "Serial," describes Bergdahl as a "radical, idiosyncratic" man in the episode. She says Bergdahl shipped his personal items home, bought local attire and pulled out $300 in U.S. dollars and Afghanis ahead of leaving the base.
Bergdahl acknowledges his motives weren't entirely idealistic.
"I was trying to prove to myself, I was trying to prove to the world, to anybody who used to know me ... I was capable of being what I appeared to be," Bergdahl says. "Doing what I did was me saying I am like Jason Bourne. I had this fantastic idea that I was going to prove to the world I was the real thing."
He says after the sun came up, a group of men on motorcycles captured him as he walked through nearby flatland desert.
He also discusses the psychological torment of being held captive for years.
"It's like how do I explain to a person that just standing in an empty dark room hurts?" Bergdahl recounts. "It's like well, a person asked me, 'Why does it hurt? Does your body hurt?' Yes, your body hurts but it's more than that. It's mental, like, almost confused. ... I would wake up not even remembering what I was."
He adds: "It's like you're standing there, screaming in your mind."
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/2015/12/10/bergdahl-says-he-left-base-expose-leadership-failure/77117432/
BOISE, Idaho — Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl says he walked off his base in Afghanistan to cause a crisis that would catch the attention of military brass.
He wanted to warn them about what he believed were serious problems with leadership in his unit. And he wanted to prove himself as a real-life action hero, like someone out of a movie.
Bergdahl hasn't spoken publicly about his decision or his subsequent five-year imprisonment by the Taliban and the prisoner swap that secured his return to the United States. But over the past several months he spoke extensively with screenwriter Mark Boal, who shared about 25 hours of the recorded interviews with Sarah Koenig for her popular podcast, "Serial."
"As a private first-class, nobody is going to listen to me," Bergdahl says in the first episode of the podcast, released Thursday. "No one is going to take me serious that an investigation needs to be put underway."
Bergdahl, of Hailey, Idaho, was charged in March with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. He faces up to life in prison, though an Army officer has recommended that Bergdahl's case be moved to a special misdemeanor-level military court.
His attorney Eugene Fidell says politicians and would-be politicians have been using Bergdahl as a talking point to push their own agendas for months, a situation he described as creating "gale-force political winds."
The more the public can hear Bergdahl's own words, the better, Fidell told The Associated Press.
"Some of the information that is going to come out is inevitably not going to be what we would have preferred in a perfect universe, but net-net, we'll take it and allow people in our democratic society to form their own opinions," Fidell said.
Bergdahl's interview is another coup for makers of "Serial," which established podcasts as a viable outlet when the first season was downloaded more than 100 million times. Makers wouldn't say how long the new season would last; the first one was 12 separate episodes.
In the episode, Bergdahl says he wanted to expose the "leadership failure" he experienced in Afghanistan. The episode does not elaborate on what that failure was, but he says he believed at the time his disappearance and his plan to reappear at another location would give him access to top officials. After leaving the base after midnight, he worries about the reception he'll get once he reappears, and decides to try to get information on who was planting bombs in the area. That information will help smooth things over with angry military officials, he figures.
Sarah Koenig, the host and executive producer of "Serial," describes Bergdahl as a "radical, idiosyncratic" man in the episode. She says Bergdahl shipped his personal items home, bought local attire and pulled out $300 in U.S. dollars and Afghanis ahead of leaving the base.
Bergdahl acknowledges his motives weren't entirely idealistic.
"I was trying to prove to myself, I was trying to prove to the world, to anybody who used to know me ... I was capable of being what I appeared to be," Bergdahl says. "Doing what I did was me saying I am like Jason Bourne. I had this fantastic idea that I was going to prove to the world I was the real thing."
He says after the sun came up, a group of men on motorcycles captured him as he walked through nearby flatland desert.
He also discusses the psychological torment of being held captive for years.
"It's like how do I explain to a person that just standing in an empty dark room hurts?" Bergdahl recounts. "It's like well, a person asked me, 'Why does it hurt? Does your body hurt?' Yes, your body hurts but it's more than that. It's mental, like, almost confused. ... I would wake up not even remembering what I was."
He adds: "It's like you're standing there, screaming in your mind."
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/2015/12/10/bergdahl-says-he-left-base-expose-leadership-failure/77117432/
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
LTC Paul Labrador I must agree, it was a serious National Security violation.
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WHY is this guy not in pretrial confinement? Why is he allowed to do a podcast? You think they'd learn after he got in trouble (later released and not charged) in California...
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He will get exactly what he deserves, which in ANY case of UCMJ violation is a fair trial and then either a finding of guilt and just punishment, or an acquittal.
It doesn't matter if we are talking about a parking violation of mass murder, everyone is innocent until proven guilty.
It doesn't matter if we are talking about a parking violation of mass murder, everyone is innocent until proven guilty.
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SGT (Join to see)
Isn't that amazing? I bet they didn't know they had a hero in their midst named Jason Bourne. If he hadn't gotten captured, he could have won that war, I bet. LOL
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CPT (Join to see)
SGT (Join to see) -
Jason Bourne didn't get captured. :-) Maybe BB didn't know that.
Jason Bourne didn't get captured. :-) Maybe BB didn't know that.
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SGT (Join to see)
CPT (Join to see), LOL. He probably didn't. He didn't know leaving his post was not something to do. He thought he was saving Private Ryan.
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This guy is a peace of work. Should have been shipped home, when someone saw he was a liability.
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SGT Francis Wright
No more like a common sense problem on his part. Also the other soldiers in his squad should have reported it.
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... I thought military court is different than civilian court ... ...
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He could have got a court martial a lot easier than spending five years as the guest of the Taliban. Just refuse to gear up and go on the next mission. Failure to obey a lawful order, Art. 90 UCMJ. Then he would have his day in court to air his grievances against the unit and face the consequences of his behavior. This is a level of accountability that people like Edward Snowden, who ran off to Russia, instead of facing a jury of peers, fail to grasp.
During WWII there were a number of GI's who refused to fight, and or deserted and were court martial-ed. Only one that I am aware of was executed for desertion during war time, like Berghdahl, Private Eddie Slovick. Big mistake to execute Slovik. Makes the Army look stupid and erodes support for the draft. He should have got some prison time, and then his DD. Plus even a cursory background check, should have classified Slovik as unfit for the draft with his criminal behavior. His poor service behavior was to some extent predictable.
I assert the same thing, to some extent, that Berghdahl's behavior given his prior service in the Coast Gaurd (some kind of psych based discharge during initial training-Entry level Discharge- UN-characterized type of separation), made him a poor candidate for a combat MOS like the Army Infantry, 11B MOS, and to serve as an infantryman, especially in complicated war like Iraq or Afghanistan, which has not had universal support by the American people. I think Berghdahl's Parents in their public statements have opposed our involvement in both wars. They definitely opposed their son's enlistment in the US Army, and I am sure that caused him some internal conflict about what he was doing when he got to Afghanistan and whatever idealism he had about what he was doing there, met the reality that is Afghanistan.
Even the most motivated and strongest minded of our war fighters have seen and experienced things in Afghanistan that have made them question the mission or its execution (or the ridiculous ROEs) or the Child Molesters that we are being told to work with, like the now infamous Afghan Police Commander who had a run in with Special Forces Captain Dan Quinn and SFC Charles Martland who let him know with their fists and feet that they would not ignore his child molestation, and who were then subsequently relieved and transferred for their actions in curbing his criminal child molestation behavior.
From Slovik's Wikipedia page:
"The 28th Division was scheduled to begin an attack in the Hurtgen Forest. The coming attack was common knowledge in the unit, and casualty rates were expected to be high, as the prolonged combat in the area had been unusually grueling. The Germans were determined to hold, and terrain and weather greatly reduced the usual American advantages in armor and air support. A small minority of soldiers (less than 0.5%) indicated they preferred to be imprisoned rather than remain in combat, and the rates of desertion and other crimes had begun to rise.
Slovik was charged with desertion to avoid hazardous duty and tried by court martial on 11 November 1944. Slovik had to be tried by a court martial composed of staff officers from other U.S. Army divisions, because all combat officers from the 28th Infantry Division were fighting on the front lines."
From:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Slovik
During WWII there were a number of GI's who refused to fight, and or deserted and were court martial-ed. Only one that I am aware of was executed for desertion during war time, like Berghdahl, Private Eddie Slovick. Big mistake to execute Slovik. Makes the Army look stupid and erodes support for the draft. He should have got some prison time, and then his DD. Plus even a cursory background check, should have classified Slovik as unfit for the draft with his criminal behavior. His poor service behavior was to some extent predictable.
I assert the same thing, to some extent, that Berghdahl's behavior given his prior service in the Coast Gaurd (some kind of psych based discharge during initial training-Entry level Discharge- UN-characterized type of separation), made him a poor candidate for a combat MOS like the Army Infantry, 11B MOS, and to serve as an infantryman, especially in complicated war like Iraq or Afghanistan, which has not had universal support by the American people. I think Berghdahl's Parents in their public statements have opposed our involvement in both wars. They definitely opposed their son's enlistment in the US Army, and I am sure that caused him some internal conflict about what he was doing when he got to Afghanistan and whatever idealism he had about what he was doing there, met the reality that is Afghanistan.
Even the most motivated and strongest minded of our war fighters have seen and experienced things in Afghanistan that have made them question the mission or its execution (or the ridiculous ROEs) or the Child Molesters that we are being told to work with, like the now infamous Afghan Police Commander who had a run in with Special Forces Captain Dan Quinn and SFC Charles Martland who let him know with their fists and feet that they would not ignore his child molestation, and who were then subsequently relieved and transferred for their actions in curbing his criminal child molestation behavior.
From Slovik's Wikipedia page:
"The 28th Division was scheduled to begin an attack in the Hurtgen Forest. The coming attack was common knowledge in the unit, and casualty rates were expected to be high, as the prolonged combat in the area had been unusually grueling. The Germans were determined to hold, and terrain and weather greatly reduced the usual American advantages in armor and air support. A small minority of soldiers (less than 0.5%) indicated they preferred to be imprisoned rather than remain in combat, and the rates of desertion and other crimes had begun to rise.
Slovik was charged with desertion to avoid hazardous duty and tried by court martial on 11 November 1944. Slovik had to be tried by a court martial composed of staff officers from other U.S. Army divisions, because all combat officers from the 28th Infantry Division were fighting on the front lines."
From:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Slovik
Eddie Slovik - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edward Donald "Eddie" Slovik (February 18, 1920– January 31, 1945) was a United States Army soldier during World War II and the only American soldier to be court-martialled and executed for desertion since the American Civil War.[1][2]
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
Capt Lance Gallardo thanks for the historical perspective from a WWII perspective. Thanks for the compare and contrast. What a travesty on behalf of Berghdahl.
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Capt Lance Gallardo
There are many folks here and elsewhere who just want to string up Bergdahl from the closest tree, but when you look at the Army's track record of executing Soldiers for desertion from WWII on, it is not a pretty picture. That is why we have JAGS and a comprehensive criminal justice system in the military. The Convening Authority has a tough call in deciding with his SJA what charges (if any) can the government prove at trial. I have always thought that there was some breakdown in Leadership in Bergdahl's command either at the company commander level or in his platoon. Why wouldn't the Company commander identify a cancer like Bergdahl in the platoon and get him out of there before he either gets himself hurt or someone else. I reviewed at the request of the family, a death investigation of an infantryman who killed himself, after stepping outside of the wire, after being in Afghanistan for a short time. The unit did an exhaustive report and concluded that no one in his squad or platoon saw it coming, and failed to get him the psychological/psychiatric help he needed. He got a dear john letter from his first serious girlfriend while he was deployed, and despite everyone asking him if he was OK, he hid his depression and committed suicide with his rifle.
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Capt Lance Gallardo
No doubt it is very difficult to separate the shirkers from the truly unfit to serve.
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I am a bit tired about hearing about this guy. DOD confirmed no one died because of him so why are we going to continue to expend resources on him? Right now as he has not been convicted of anything, is still drawing full pay and benefits at tax payer expense. As a tax payer, I really don't want to feed, house and clothe this guy for the rest of his life. Discharge in lieu of court martial, strip his benefits and punt him out the door. We need to stop wasting resources on him.
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