Captured US soldier's e-mails suggest he deserted in Afghanistan "I am ashamed to even be American"

NY Post ^ | June 8, 2012

[dead]

HAILEY, Idaho -- E-mails from a US soldier, sent before he was captured by the Taliban in 2009, suggest he was disillusioned with the military and considering deserting.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 26, told his parents in e-mails obtained by Rolling Stone magazine that he was disgusted with the US Army and ashamed to be American.

In one, which was not verified, he wrote, "I am sorry for everything here. These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid, that they have no idea how to live... I have seen their ideas and I am ashamed to even be American."

Bergdahl, then a private first class, went missing on June 30, 2009, sparking a manhunt that saw other military missions canceled or diverted.

According to the magazine, his e-mails to his family back home in Idaho began to take on a more somber tone when one of his close friends was killed in Afghanistan.

Initially military officials thought he was captured by the Taliban after walking away from his outpost near the Pakistani border....

[kabar]

I would have to read the emails, if they really exist. This could also be a ploy by the family and the military to keep him alive. He has been held for three years. Let the Taliban think that he identifies with their cause. They are using him as a bargaining chip to release some of their own people.

[jagusafr]

He did it for the education benefits, don’cha know. Never thought he’d have to go to war, his recruiter lied to him, his drill sergeant was mean to him, they made him cover up his self-expression tattoos, made him run (gasp) and carry heavy stuff (shocking).

KMA, Bowe.

[exit82]

Well, let’s hope so. Although the Taliban wants Gitmo guys in exchange, and that is not going to happen.

Besides, the Taliban doesn’t read Rolling Stone.

[PeteB570]

As you noted the State Dept. & TB had been in SECRET negotiations for around a year - sticking point was the release of TB members.

When negotiations broke down the parents came forward with the story on the negotiations.

It's been a month or so since then and now the folks are throwing out the e-mails.

I'm sure the folks would like their son back - and he would have been home almost three years ago if he would have just done his job.

[kabar]

I really don't know the facts of exactly how and why he was captured. Maybe he had an Afghan girlfriend and was caught while meeting with her. Do we really know that he was deserting? Maybe he just had some sort of mental breakdown caused by the loss of friends.

My point is that we should not draw conclusions until we get the facts. After the Treyvon Martin shooting, many posters claimed that Zimmerman was guilty of gunning down an unarmed teenager. They bought into the MSM racist stampede.

I will give the benefit of the doubt to someone who volunteered to serve putting his life on the line in defense of this country in a combat zone and being held as a prisoner for three years.

[Cowgirl of Justice]

Some of the things I would miss if I were held by the goat fornicators in the desert:

Freedom
Love
Air conditioning
Central heat (in the winter)
Ice cream
Fresh cut french fries
Fried chicken
Deviled Eggs
Mayonnaise
Peanut Butter and peach jelly sandwiches on homemade bread
Forks and spoons and napkins
A soft bed with crisp cotton sheets
A straight, clean man who uses deodorant and shaving cream
Vaginal sex
Central vacumning
Air conditioning
A car with air conditioning
Showering with hot and cold water
Soap
Toilet paper
Restaurants
Music
My dogs
My girlfriends
Air conditioning

I will bet he is now missing America and all things American.

Let him stay there.

[Buckeye McFrog]

There are always a few.

We had a handful of nutballs who defected to Communist China during the Korean War too.

[ColdSteelTalon]

I agree completely with your post. We have no business being over there.

[PeteB570]

I started reading you post and was going “Wonder if she lists Toilet Paper?” - And there it was.

But having traveled in the general area a good bit I learned when heading out make sure you have a couple of those MRE TP wraps in your pocket.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I suspect the reason that this has come to light now is because either he has been dispatched along with some Taliban in a drone strike, or they know where he is and do not intend that there will be a body.

So the Taliban, or the Paks, will announce that he was killed by a US air strike, and died a martyr to Islam, or whatever. Case closed.

[trubolotta]

I’m with you on this one. The left has an agenda for Afghanistan. It is still a Muslim country and is not going to accept that agenda. Could that be what he is talking about? Are we trying to force western values, and even worse, left wing western values on the Afghans? Could that be what the cause of his “shame?” I think the facts are too slim to judge.

[catman67]

Don’t forget BACON!!!

[SoldierDad]

Bergdahl, then a private first class, went missing on June 30, 2009, sparking a manhunt that saw other military missions canceled or diverted.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 26, told his parents in e-mails obtained by Rolling Stone magazine that he was disgusted with the US Army and ashamed to be American.

On June 30, 2009, when he went missing, Berghahl was a Private? But now, at age 26, he's a Sgt? How does that happen?

[SoldierDad]

Currently, I don't understand our mission in Iraq and Afghanistan . We would be safer in this country if we didn't import Muslims or other people that hate this country and quit trying to nation build other countries with borrowed money.

My son returned from Afghanistan the end of January. He stated to me many times during his deployment that he and his fellow soldiers didn't know what their mission was - that it didn't seem to them their was a true mission. I disagree with the notion that the U.S. has NO business being in Afghanistan. However, I'm of the opinion that, if our soldiers are deployed to Afghanistan (or anywhere else) without a clear mission, then the U.S. has NO business having boots on the ground being served up as human targets. War should only be fought as a war, with WWII style goals - complete and utter destruction of the enemy at ALL costs and damn the collateral damage.

[Taylor42]

Bring the troops home now. We should end most of our foreign troop deployments and place some of them on our southern border.

[angcat]

What is this fool going to do in the desert? Wait till they chop his head off.

[PeteB570]

For people like him in similar situations the military will promote them with their peer group.

In his case he has had to time to make E4/SPC and E5/SGT. They keep him much longer and he’ll make SSG.

His pay continues and when/if he’s released he’ll get all his back pay.

[2CAVTrooper]

AYE!

[Yorlik803]

Like all those morons who joined the National Guard for the cash then bitched when they were called up for the Iraq war. They never expected to fight in a war when they signed up for the military!!!! Hey,thats what the military does.
When you take the kings shilling,you do the kings bidding.
This douche should be hanged.....

[Lancey Howard]

Ironically, I’m ashamed of him, too.