Question on Bergdahl.

self | 10/10/2015 | Vanity

[pnut22]

I really have only posted about 3 vanities in 10 years, so forgive me. I was wondering if it would be possible for the family of a slain soldier to sue Bergdahl for wrongful death? Not so much for the money, but to get the facts out.

[dp0622]

Even though it is obvious to us, it may be hard to prove cause and effect.

Also, hazardous duty is inherent in their job, it would be argued, regardless of the cause of the mission.

Maybe he’ll meet some fellow ex soldiers walking down an alley one day.

[luvbach1]

My layman's opinion is that you (if you knew how to file, otherwise a lawyer could)file a suit against anyone. It would be up to a judge whether or not it was declared frivolous.

[ConorMacNessa]

I regret to say, the answer is no.

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces guarding our country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[robowombat]

Yes, the Feres Doctrine which holds the US military or its agents harmless from tort action. The practical effect is that the Feres doctrine effectively bars service members from collecting damages from the United States Government for personal injuries experienced in the performance of their duties. It also bars families of service members from filing wrongful death or loss of consortium actions when a service member is killed or injured. Berghdahl was a member of the US armed forces , whether he was trying to desert or not, at the time these casualties were incurred.

[JimSEA]

Bergdahl seems home free because of a likeminded president.

[sarasmom]

The executive powers of any CINC isn’t supposed to trump the higher constraints of the UCMJ.

Lock and load people.

[pepsionice]

Enough laws exist to prevent that type of court situation. If they didn’t exist...there would be literally thousands of such lawsuits per year for injury or death. Just food poisoning via the chow hall could be taken as a legal action.

What you have is a nutcase who should have been identified in basic training and routed out. The Coast Guard episode with Bergdahl lasted only 26 days, and they washed him out....never saying much except he couldn’t make it. That should have been evidence enough for the Army recruiter to bar the guy from entering service.

His mental side is so fragile, that the real question is...if he doesn’t get a medical discharge and some pension...what exactly does he doe for the rest of his life?

Let’s say the court wraps up the action, and of the two charges...they can only convict on the lesser charge, and decide six months in the stockade is sufficient...then release him.

Mentally, he can’t handle stress. Other than working at Burger King or running a shoe-shine stand...I don’t think he can take any more stress than that. Even the front desk of a hotel, or a tire-changer job...would be too stressful.

[pnut22]

How about down the line, when he has written a book, or had a real writer do it for him?

[taxcontrol]

Filing a lawsuit is easy enough. Winning a lawsuit is a different mater altogether. It would require proving to the court that he was the cause of their harm/loss. That is a difficult task for a soldier on the battlefield.

[rdcbn]

A much better approach would be the Judicial Watch approach

File a freedom og information request requesting. Any and all information pertaining to Bregsdls deserion and specificslly any informtion tha Brgdahl defected to The Taliban or that he faught for them

[pepsionice]

So, who wants to read a book about a fragile Army guy who just walks off from his post in search of the Taliban? Once you think about the scenario....it’s so comical that you’d think it was a witty fictional piece, and you can’t take it as a serious piece of non-fiction work. There are probably ghost-writers ready to take up the work, but I don’t see it selling more than a couple thousand copies. You can’t even make this into a realistic movie....because the public just won’t believe the Army took in some ultra-fragile guy with no sense of reality.