The key word here is comrade. Bergdahl ceased to be a comrade when he deserted.
You captured the crux of the matter.
Let’s be frank, here. Imagine the enemy saying, “I understand your motto is ‘leave no man behind’?” Well, we’ll give you the prisoner if you release 1,000 of our men from your prison.
Do we mindlessly say, “OK”?
If this was a captured general, I could see us doing the five for one swap. If he was one of the better generals, anyway. But a desrter? We should have offered to give them one of their guys if they gave us Bergdahl plus $500.