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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If he's serious, he needs to be prepared to take responsibility for his decision and its rippling repercussions. Time at Leavenworth is certainly one of those ripples. A prime example of someone dealing with this and strength of character / convictions was Cassius Clay aka Muhammad Ali. When notified of his draft status during the Viet Nam war, Ali declared that he would refuse to serve in the Army and publicly considered himself a conscientious objector due to religious convictions. He was prepared to go to jail rather than comply or dodge the draft. In fact, the case got to the Supreme Court before it was all said and done. Bergdahl seems weak in both character and conviction in comparison. He needs to shoulder responsibility for his choices and take the consequences.
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Capt Lance Gallardo
And he will. Unlike the traitor Snowden who ran off to Russia with a bunch of classified materials (AKA our Government's Secrets) on a thumb drive.
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Capt Lance Gallardo
Sir, he might be convicted of desertion, but that is a very high legal standard to prove at Court Martial. The Government has to prove that he intended to stay away permanently from the Army. As to being Bergdahl being a traitor, I think that is matter of opinion. I clearly think that idiot Snowden was a traitor, and I believe his disclosures of classified materials, got some of my fellow Californians killed by those ISIS Terrorists here in San Bernardino, CA. I am really looking forward to Bergdahl's Military trial, and I think it took to long for the CA to make up his mind to go forward with charges on Bergdahl. My guess is when Bergdahl started making public statements, the CA said enough already he is getting his General Courts Martial now. I say good. May the truth come out at trial for the Army and Bergdahl. If Snowden ever gets arrested, I definitely want him to look at a very long time or life imprisonment for what he has done and the damage to National Security, or if warranted, the Death Penalty. I heard through the grapevine, that the Detestable Oliver Stone is making a movie to make Snowden look like some kind of whistle blower hero. I am sick hearing that. He should be making a movie about those beautiful Americans who were slaughtered in part due to Snowden's traitorous acts. Stone is just another propagandist with a left wing axe to grind, like Michael Moore, trying to claim legitimacy as a movie producer/director. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/11/paris-attack-isis-snowden-michael-morell-interview-cia-213373
‘It’s All Back in Snowden’s Lap’
Michael Morell: ‘It’s All Back in Snowden’s Lap’
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Time for both the Army and Bergdahl to go in front of a General Courts Martial, and let the Truth Prevail (though the truth is usually an accidental byproduct of the American Criminal Justice system)! Under the Professional Rules of Conduct, an Army Prosecutor is not supposed to bring charges that he or she does not reasonably believe can be proven at trial. AR-27-26. So supposedly Gen. Abrahms' SJA advised the general that the Army could prove the more serious charges at a GCM instead of a misd. level Special Courts Martial as the Article 32 Officer recommended for the proper forum for Bergdahl's behavior. What should concern all of us here on RP is that we do not know how much pressure the general put on his SJA to tell him that a GCM was good to go on Bergdahl? We have seen recently with the shameful conduct of the former Marine Corps Commandant, General Amos with the Taliban Urination cases, that the pressure on the Convening Authority in high Publicity military criminal justice cases can and do amount to Unlawful Command Influence on CA's where they are told by people higher up the food chain that they want to see defendants like Bergdahl get "hammered." If Fidell gets even a wiff that the Army Chain of command above Gen. Abrams put any kind of pressure on him to "not let Bergdahl off the hook" in any way, you will see an ugly Unlawful Command Influence Motion filed against the Army and see that get litigated in front of the whole country.
Eugene Fidell says:
June 8, 2014 at 9:51 PM
Bergdahl's Attorney, Gene Fidell said this regarding the lack of a DOD Wide Code of Professional Responsibilities that covers all attorneys practicing before DOD Courts, civilian and Military:
It’s amazing that the services have been unable to agree on purple professional responsibility rules. This is a major failing on the part of a generation of TJAGs.
Also not much noted by the media, is that if Bergdahl gets a Punitve Discharge from a GCM he will not be eligible for any VA services, especially menat health treatment, for his five years of POW time as a guest of the Taliban:
"The discharge or dismissal by reason of the sentence of a general court-martial of any person from the Armed Forces . . . shall bar all rights of such person under laws administered by the Secretary [of Veterans Affairs] based upon the period of service from which discharged or dismissed, notwithstanding any action subsequent to the date of such discharge by a board established pursuant to section 1553 of title 10."
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/2015/12/14/sgt-bowe-bergdahl-face-court-martial-desertion-charge/77300686/
Eugene Fidell says:
June 8, 2014 at 9:51 PM
Bergdahl's Attorney, Gene Fidell said this regarding the lack of a DOD Wide Code of Professional Responsibilities that covers all attorneys practicing before DOD Courts, civilian and Military:
It’s amazing that the services have been unable to agree on purple professional responsibility rules. This is a major failing on the part of a generation of TJAGs.
Also not much noted by the media, is that if Bergdahl gets a Punitve Discharge from a GCM he will not be eligible for any VA services, especially menat health treatment, for his five years of POW time as a guest of the Taliban:
"The discharge or dismissal by reason of the sentence of a general court-martial of any person from the Armed Forces . . . shall bar all rights of such person under laws administered by the Secretary [of Veterans Affairs] based upon the period of service from which discharged or dismissed, notwithstanding any action subsequent to the date of such discharge by a board established pursuant to section 1553 of title 10."
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/2015/12/14/sgt-bowe-bergdahl-face-court-martial-desertion-charge/77300686/
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will face court-martial for desertion, misbehavior charges
The Army will court-martial Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier who wondered off his Afghanistan post in 2009.
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LTC Martin Metz
To keep things in perspective, we have yet to know how much political pressure was applied to the FORSCOM Commander to NOT go for a General Courts Martial. I am glad that the matter stays with in the military judicial rather than being spun out to civil court. Bergdahl will get his day in court to prove his side.
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Capt Lance Gallardo
Sir, I am fine with him going to a GCM. Like I said in my post, I hope the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the ugly truth comes out at trial. This provides justice for not just Bergdahl, but for the soldiers he left behind in his unit, and everyone he put at risk looking for his dumb ass.
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SAN ANTONIO — Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who faces a possible life sentence for endangering the soldiers who searched for him after he left his Afghanistan base in 2009, had a “severe mental disease or defect” at the time, one of his lawyers said Thursday.
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The diagnosis was made later by an independent Army psychiatry board, said the defense lawyer, Lt. Col. Franklin D. Rosenblatt of the Army. Because of his psychological problems, Sergeant Bergdahl washed out of Coast Guard basic training three years earlier, Colonel Rosenblatt said, and had to obtain a waiver to join the Army.
The revelations came during the first day of a hearing in which Army prosecutors hope to persuade a hearing officer to recommend that Sergeant Bergdahl, 29, be court-martialed on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.
Prosecutors say his decision to walk off his base prompted a seven-week manhunt involving thousands of troops who braved heat, improvised bombs, fatigue and filth as they conducted raids and other dangerous missions in a fruitless effort to find him.
Photo
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Credit US Army, via Associated Press
Colonel Rosenblatt’s statements — during questioning of Sergeant Bergdahl’s former platoon leader, Capt. John P. Billings — appeared to foreshadow a crucial element of the defense team’s strategy: to argue that the military indirectly shares blame for Sergeant Bergdahl’s decision to leave his remote outpost in the middle of the night because officials should have known that he was mentally unfit for combat.
See:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/us/bowe-bergdahl-had-severe-mental-disease-or-defect-lawyer-says.html?_r=0
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The diagnosis was made later by an independent Army psychiatry board, said the defense lawyer, Lt. Col. Franklin D. Rosenblatt of the Army. Because of his psychological problems, Sergeant Bergdahl washed out of Coast Guard basic training three years earlier, Colonel Rosenblatt said, and had to obtain a waiver to join the Army.
The revelations came during the first day of a hearing in which Army prosecutors hope to persuade a hearing officer to recommend that Sergeant Bergdahl, 29, be court-martialed on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.
Prosecutors say his decision to walk off his base prompted a seven-week manhunt involving thousands of troops who braved heat, improvised bombs, fatigue and filth as they conducted raids and other dangerous missions in a fruitless effort to find him.
Photo
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Credit US Army, via Associated Press
Colonel Rosenblatt’s statements — during questioning of Sergeant Bergdahl’s former platoon leader, Capt. John P. Billings — appeared to foreshadow a crucial element of the defense team’s strategy: to argue that the military indirectly shares blame for Sergeant Bergdahl’s decision to leave his remote outpost in the middle of the night because officials should have known that he was mentally unfit for combat.
See:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/us/bowe-bergdahl-had-severe-mental-disease-or-defect-lawyer-says.html?_r=0
Bowe Bergdahl Had ‘Severe Mental Disease or Defect,’ Lawyer Says
Officials should have known Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was unfit for combat when he left his Afghanistan base in 2009, the lawyer suggested at an Army hearing.
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Capt Lance Gallardo
Bergdahl was more than just your run of the mill fuck up. He was probably suffering from some kind of pre-Service mental illness, as evidenced by his psych wash-out from Coast Gaurd basic training. He could not make it through Coast Gaurd Basic training! Are you Fing kidding me? What fucktard thought he would make a good Infantryman in the US Army? Bergdahl was a hand grenade waiting to go off, with a 2 second fuse. If his case goes to trial, believe me it will not just be Bergdahl on trial, but a recruiting system that let him into the Army not as a cook or a laundryman, or some job where he would be a minimal risk for the crucible of combat . . . no Bergdahl was let into the army's most stressful and demanding MOS, 11Bravo, Infantry. On top of that, the trial would put the unit and the unit leadership on trial for failing to recognize that Bergdahl was unfit for duty and definitely should not have been forward deployed in combat with a front line Infantry unit. I am sure that General Abrahms is weighing all of this, and is trying to gauge whether to bring this bad publicity shit storm down on the US Army in the military's highest profile trial since the Sgt. Frank Wuterich USMC (alleged) GCM (re: Nov 19th, 2005 Civilian Iraqis Killed in Haditha, Iraq in a counterattack after an IED killed one of Wuterich's men while on patrol) The Trial ended badly for the government (Wutercih wasrepresented by my one time former mentor in the Marine Corps, Neal Puckett) Frank Wuterich was given an honorable discharge from the United States Marine Corps in February of 2012.
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Bergdahl should be in jail for desertion. I understand that there are things about our Leadership that you do not like/agree with but that does not give anyone the right to just up and walk away. His decision to do that cost the lives of his fellow Soldiers. As a Leader you will never make all the right calls or decisions that will please everyone but as Leaders we make the best decision with the information and experiences that we have gathered up to that point.
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Yeah I agree with most of the comments but I do think we need to take a look at the other failures. I don't think he should have been accepted in the first place and recruiters are faced with a lot of stress. He enlisted at a time where it seemed everyone could join...so let's ask ourselves where the RRAL problem lies. I am not defending him but let's not be so narrow minded and look at the big picture.
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Bergdahl is a POS who should be a PVT in a BRIG for life. But POTUS will never let that happen because he set terrorists free to get this POS back. That is the bottom line.
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Well all I can say for any lacking of leadership, is his unit Brigade much like so many other, were created as result of the Army being over-extended and brass not being able build new units before you add in the lack of time in creating them. With that said, he had 5 years in being held as their Prisoner. As PFC damn straight nobody is going to listen to you, if you want to make unit better, you do by doing your damn job. If you good, you earn promotions, as you doing your job, you gain experience that you can use as examples to get people to listen hopefully. Just some thoughts.
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This is crazy, didn't you just hear that he now is running with the story that he thought he was like 'Jason Borne'? Eff this guy, someone should put this effer under a rock somewhere...
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SSG (ret) William Martin
Maybe Bergdahl realizes the general public is ignorant so Jason Bourne with being a fictional character he thinks people will think of Bergdahl as a secret agent or something.
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POS needs to be hanged as a traitor. With the planning that went into this, I am convinced that he conspired with the enemy...or at least saw an opportunity to attempt to ingratiate himself to them.
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
SPC Troy Reynolds I have strong convictions he premeditated this traitor ordeal!
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