Last American POW in Afghanistan: tragedy or traitor?

Rolling Stone recently published a riveting feature article, The last American Prisoner of War. It has reignited a heated debate over the price of patriotism. The writer chronicles the controversial story of American soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, who walked off his post three years ago in Afghanistan, now a POW held captive by the Taliban. This is a must read, not unbiased and littered with unnecessary expletives in traditional Rolling Stone fashion, but encompasses the full sense of who this man is and the circumstances surrounding the polarizing situation. If you’re like me, you’ll be left holding a mixed bag of emotions. On one hand, we have a disgruntled soldier, very likely a deserter, some claim traitor, although there’s almost no evidence to support that. However, he did express anti-American sentiments in personal letters to his family, abandoned his post in a time of war, through his own gross negligence was captured by the enemy, and is now begging to be rescued from the enemy he sympathized with. He has put the lives of his fellow soldiers in danger, the very ones he turned his back on, as they attempted to search for and rescue him. In enemy hands, he has become an instrument of anti-American propaganda and a valuable bargaining chip for the Taliban. The United States now will very likely have to negotiate with terrorists in a prisoner exchange and release many dangerous enemy combatants to secure Bergdahl’s freedom. Many have suggested that his actions are inexcusable, and because he committed a crime against his country by deserting and put himself in this deadly situation, he should be left to suffer the consequences. One Fox News military analyst, Lt. Col. Ralph Peterson, went to so far as to suggest the Taliban would do us a favor if they execute

This was on FB. Unsure of the origin but interesting.

“From someone who was there:
“We were at OP Mest, Paktika Province, Afghanistan.
It was a small outpost where B Co 1-501st INF (Airbone) ran operations out of, just an Infantry platoon and ANA counterparts there.

The place was an Afghan graveyard. Bergdahl had been acting a little strange, telling people he wanted to “walk the earth” and kept a little journal talking about how he was meant for better things. No one thought anything about it. He was a little “out there”.
Next morning he’s gone. We search everywhere, and can’t find him. He left his weapon, his kit, and other sensitive items. He only took some water, a compass and a knife. We find some afghan kids shortly after who saw an american walking north asking about where the taliban are.

We get hits on our voice intercepter that Taliban has him, and we were close. We come to realize that the kid deserted his post, snuck out of camp and sought out Taliban… to join them.

We were in a defensive position at OP Mest, where your focus is to keep people out. He knew where the blind spots were to slip out and that’s what he did. It was supposed to be a 4-day mission but turned into several months of active searching. Everyone was spun up to find this guy.
News outlets all over the country were putting out false information. It was hard to see, especially when we knew the truth about what happened and we lost good men trying to find him.
PFC Matthew Michael Martinek, Staff Sgt. Kurt Robert Curtiss, SSG Clayton Bowen, PFC Morris Walker, SSG Michael Murphrey, 2LT Darryn Andrews, were all KIA from our unit who died looking for Bergdahl. Many others from various units were wounded or killed while actively looking for Bergdahl.

Fighting Increased. IEDs and enemy ambushes increased.
The Taliban knew that we were looking for him in high numbers and our movements were predictable.
Because of Bergdahl, more men were out in danger, and more attacks on friendly camps and positions were conducted while we were out looking for him.

His actions impacted the region more than anyone wants to admit. There is also no way to know what he told the Taliban: Our movements, locations, tactics, weak points on vehicles and other things for the enemy to exploit are just a few possibilities.

The Government knows full well that he deserted. It looks bad and is a good propaganda piece for the Taliban. They refuse to acknowledge it.
Hell they even promoted him to Sergeant which makes me sick.
I feel for his family who only want their son/brother back.
They don’t know the truth, or refuse to acknowledge it as well.
What he did affected his family and his whole town back home, who don’t know the truth.
Either way what matters is that good men died because of him.
He has been lying on all those Taliban videos about everything since his “capture”.
If he ever returns, he should be tried under the UCMJ for being a deserter and judged for what he did.
Bergdahl is not a hero, he is not a soldier or an Infantryman.
He failed his brothers.
Now, sons and daughters are growing up without their fathers who died looking for him and he will have to face that truth someday.”

I knew Obama was a muslim from the very beginning—when he first appeared on the scene to run for President, while he was campaigning, and of course, especially after he took office. The “red flags” were more like giant banners that were popping up around him, with every word he spoke, every gesture he made, the places he went, the people he associated with, the revelations of his history, and the list goes on. From beginning to present, both the scale and the alarm of the events that have taken place since I first found out about him, and his presence in the Office of President, have never amazed me. Again, I have known he was a muslim all along, and everything our country has experienced and will experience (to our horror) will be a direct result of such an evil and pervasive presence, such as his is.

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