Bowe Bergdahl Hearing: Squad Leader Calls Him ‘Quiet,’ ‘Introverted’
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s five years in Taliban captivity ranked among the worst treatment a prisoner-of-war has seen in 60 years.
Officials allege in June 30, 2009 Bergdahl intentionally walked off his outpost in eastern Afghanistan eventually ending up in extremists’ hands.
Bergdahl, who is facing a probable cause hearing on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, felt he needed to act immediately to address what he saw as a moral wrong, Major General Kenneth Dahl said at the proceeding. Bergdahl “unrealistically idealistic” about other people and remorseful for his actions.
He left at night and planned to run 19 miles (31 km) to a command post, believing that reports of him missing would help him win an audience with a general when he arrived, Dahl said.
The prosecutors told a preliminary court hearing that Bergdahl launched a plan that was weeks in the making and there is sufficient evidence to hold him for trial on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.
Allegations that he abandoned his post were well-known before his rescue became public, though they hadn’t yet been subject to the type of Army investigation that followed his return.
Either way, Bergdahl was captured and was held in prison for five years before the Obama administration brokered a deal for his release, trading five Taliban leaders for the captured American soldier. They now live in Qatar. It has a diversity of views about the Bergdahl situation.
“I do not believe that there is a jail sentence at the end of this process”, said Dahl, who led 22 people in the two-month investigation and interviewed Bergdahl for a day and a half.
Bergdahl’s Article 32 hearing ended Friday.
Gen. Dahl called Sgt.
Bergdahl, now 29, was described as an introvert who was fascinated by Asian culture-particularly the Samurai warrior code-and inspired by Ayn Rand’s character John Galt. He did it anyway, Dahl testified, because he was concerned that his platoon was in danger as a result of poor leadership. He said Bergdahl was frustrated with the training he went through and thought it lacked ideal standards.
Retired Senior Chief Petty Officer Jimmy Hatch, 48, who was awarded the Bronze Star, told The Boston Herald, “The guy should be held accountable”. He was shuttled between a number of insurgents that first day on motorcycles and in vehicles, while USA soldiers frantically searched for him.
“I didn’t really know what to say”. During the hearing, witnesses repeatedly said that no soldiers were killed during the frenetic search.
He said Bergdahl has muscular nerve damage in his lower legs, a degenerative disc in his lower back and an injury that has left him with limited movement in his shoulder – injuries that he said were caused by Bergdahl being kept in a crouched position for extended periods.
Others in the military make mistakes, said Full, and are punished for them, and Bergdahl “didn’t serve honorably overseas”. Should Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl now be sent to prison? Russell debriefed Bergdahl.