Posted on Oct 13, 2015
SFC Everett Oliver
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Posted in these groups: 46ac8fde Bergdahl
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SGT Patrick Reno
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He left his weapon and his battle buddies and walked away. A lot of effort went into looking for him. He deserves the harshest punishment available.
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
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That's not what is being tried.

You have the act, and you have the "scope of the act."

Think of it like a spectrum. There is no doubt he committed AWOL/UA. That's not up for debate. That's been admitted to. That has statutory penalties.

Beyond that is Desertion. That requires the "intent not to return." That's debatable, as we have Gen. Dahl saying he was trying to make his way to the next camp over (20~ miles) to report issues in his own camp. That can potentially take Desertion off the table.

Then we have Misbehavior before the Enemy. This is the tricky argument from the prosecutions' side, as it can be said it's just a pumped up Desertion charge, which means they are trying to charge him twice for the same crime. It would be like charging him for AWOL and Desertion. It's "one or the other" is the Defense's stance. There's more to the charge than that, but there's layers, and this is a "major" layer.
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
10 y
CMSgt James Nolan This goes back to your comment "it needs to be looked at from "the reasonable person" standpoint, which surely a Military Hearing will do." which then dovestails into "he's nuts," part.

I hate to say it so bluntly but crazy people don't do reasonable things, which makes it so hard to make a legal assessment of this. "if" he was nuts when all this went down, how do we treat him. It's not that he wasn't responsible, but now you have "sick" instead of bad-judgement, or ill-intent. Can-o-worms.
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CMSgt James Nolan
CMSgt James Nolan
10 y
Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS Yep, however, the great thing is that I am pretty sure the General is not a shrink, and while we might all agree that the actions were "crazy", that does not translate to a clinical diagnosis. We see people do crazy crap every day, but that does not make them "crazy", just nuts LOL.
It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
10 y
CMSgt James Nolan The General used terms like "overly idealistic of his capabilities." I (Aaron), used the term, "nuts," which is far from clinical and not intended to be. Merely used to expand the discussion.
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CMSgt James Nolan
CMSgt James Nolan
10 y
Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS Oh. I thought he did. Changes that a little. LOL
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MSgt James Mullis
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Edited 10 y ago
Not at all he did it, everyone knows it, and the evidence is there to prove it in court . He is just lucky that the current "command climate" is in his favor. If this happened 20 years ago he would already be serving a life sentence at Ft Leavenworth and everyone know that as well.
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Is there anyone who thinks that Bergdahl did not walk away from his post?
CSM Michael J. Uhlig
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He deliberately planned and walked away....I don't believe the fact that he left can be disputed....his ass was not there, he left!
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SrA Matthew Knight
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He heard the Eagle caw and knew there was a village in need of liberty and justice so he took advice from the great military hero Rambo and went on his own to free them. Unfortunately the Taliban menace found him before he made it.

Seriously though, I don't know why it's even a question anymore as to whether he walked away or not. He left his post, cost the military both money and lives in the efforts to rescue him and was ultimately traded for by freeing terrorists who I think we all know most likely went back and joined up with their old Jihadi buddies. He needs to face charges plain and simple. Regardless of how he was treated by them while in captivity he needs to face justice back here in the States for his screw ups.
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SFC Everett Oliver
SFC Everett Oliver
10 y
It's still a question because people are trying to make it not the question....If that makes any sense..
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MCPO Roger Collins
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I believe he admitted that he did. If he gets away with it there will be more
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MSG Intermediate Care Technician
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Just based on your wording of the question and the details that did emerge...........yes, he walked away from his post. That has been admitted to. Now, if you want to get deeper into the issue, then the question will need to be reworded.
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PO3 Electrician's Mate
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... ... I got a gut feeling that he may walk free from this ... ...
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SFC Everett Oliver
SFC Everett Oliver
10 y
I know a lot of veterans who will demand a different outcome.
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MSgt James Mullis
MSgt James Mullis
10 y
SFC Everett Oliver - I doubt he'll be attending any VFW meetings in the future.
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SFC Everett Oliver
SFC Everett Oliver
10 y
MSgt James Mullis - I can promise you that he will not attend any American Legion Post 247 meetings...
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SFC Michael Hasbun
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He may have picked up a light jog at some points...
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Sgt Tom Cunnally
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Yea I don't think he walked away from his post but rather Bergdahl ran as fast as he could & when the Taliban caught him..he said "Thnax for rescuing me from that horrible US Army"....He is a deserter who may have provided the Taliban with everything they wanted to know about Bergdahl's Infantry Company..
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