Posted on 06/04/2014 3:48:58 AM PDT by xzins
Five years ago, I publicly raised questions about Bowe Bergdahl’s desertion from Blackfoot Company, 1-501 Infantry (Airborne), 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division. A few weeks after his so-called “capture” in late June 2009, three conflicting accounts surfaced: U.S. officials told the Associated Press Bergdahl had “walked off” the base with three Afghans; the Taliban claimed on its website that “a drunken American soldier had come out of his garrison” and into their arms; and Bergdahl claimed in his Taliban “hostage video” that he had “lagged behind a patrol” before being captured.
I asked on my blog: Were the AP’s sources mistaken? Or is the disturbing first account the right one? What about the “three Afghans” Pfc. Bergdahl reportedly “just walked off” with after his shift? Who are they? What’s going on? Five years ago, one of the brave soldiers who risked his life to search for Bergdahl answered my questions, and I published his statement on July 20, 2009:
“I know the story and the accounts that he was drunk or that he was lagging behind on patrol are not true — this soldier planned this move for a long time. He walked off the post with a day’s supply of water and had written down before that he wanted to live in the mountains. … He is an embarrassment to everyone who has worn the uniform.”
After news broke this weekend of President Obama’s trade of five high-level Taliban commanders at Gitmo for Bergdahl’s “freedom,” I heard from another soldier who served on the search team. “Many of my brothers died because of Bergdahl’s actions, and this has been a very hard day for all Geronimos,” he told me after documenting his proof of service.
Other journalists ignored his attempts to get the truth out. My source still holds a highly sensitive position, so you won’t see him all over the cable news shows. But he wants all of you to know the hell he and his comrades have been reliving: “I was assigned to 1st Platoon of Blackfoot Company,” based out of Forward Operating Base (FOB) Salerno in Khost, Afghanistan, he said. “Bowe’s platoon was assigned to conduct security and stability operations out of FOB Sharana and other locations in Paktika.
The untold background that led to Bowe’s situation involves an article and pictures published by Guardian reporter Sean Smith.” One of the battalion leaders punished soldiers, including Bergdahl (who had been photographed snoozing in his armored vehicle), with extra guard duty assignments for conducting operations in an unprofessional manner at Outpost MEST (OP MEST). “Bergdahl was already disenchanted with the war effort,” my source said, “and I think the extra duty was the last straw for him.”
On the morning of June 30, 2009, “Bergdahl completed a guard shift, removed his equipment, weapon and sensitive items, and left OP MEST with several Afghan security forces personnel. He took a compass, a couple bottles of water and two knives and his journal. His exact intentions may never be known, but he willingly walked off OP MEST and was secured by enemy forces not long after.”
My source, who had been up the previous night on a separate raid, was “shaken awake” on the afternoon Bergdahl disappeared. “We were told there was a DUSTWUN (Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown), and to pack for a three-hour assault. We received a brief that Bergdahl was missing, and we were going to get him. … Sometime after dark we boarded CH-47′s to assault an objective thought to contain Bergdahl. We never made it to the landing zone, as the helicopters took very heavy fire on approach to the objective and had to divert.”
The soldier’s Focused Targeting Force (FTF) platoon was not told that it was being diverted to OP MEST. When they landed, he said, “We thought we were in enemy territory, so I recall my friends and I screaming ‘Vehicles’ and preparing to engage with the LAW and SMAW-D rockets we carried. We soon realized the lights were from RG-31 and Maxpro MRAPs, friendly vehicles, and de-escalated the situation. The CH-47′s had dropped us off at OP MEST and did not relay that information.”
With that near-disaster over, the soldier recounted: “We averaged 18 to 22 kilometers a day on foot, clearing house to house, room to room looking for Bergdahl. … We even went as far as rappelling down wells and crawling through tunnels to look for him.”
The standard procedure for recapturing Bergdahl was not “normal,” the soldier noted. “He was very good with knives, and trained to throw and fight hand-to-hand with knives. We did not know the mental state of Bergdahl at the time. All we knew was he left on his own, he caused us lots of hardship, and if we entered a room and saw him, we would put him down because he could attack us.”
On the morning of July 4, 2009, the soldier recalled, “we assaulted several objectives looking for Bergdahl. … We executed the mission without incident and were waiting to be exfiltrated. Our aircraft were in sight when they turned and flew in the opposite direction. At the time we did not know why, but we were stranded. The enemy took advantage of Bergdahl’s capture and attacked numerous outposts that morning.” “Combat Outpost Zerok was almost overrun, multiple soldiers were wounded, and PFCs Justin Casillas and Aaron Fairbairn lost their lives fighting that day,” the soldier told me.
(I wrote about their deaths in my July 8, 2009, column, not knowing they were related to the Bergdahl mess.) My source continued: “We learned later that our exfiltration aircraft were diverted to support COP Zerok, and that the situation there was so dire that at one point there were two Apache gunships on station that went Winchester, meaning they expended all ordinance and ammunition, but they would not abandon the soldiers still fighting, so they resorted to low-level unarmed passes to distract the enemy.
Bergdahl’s actions undoubtedly caused these events. We spent the remainder of Independence Day walking in the desert … waiting for aircraft that did not come for many, many hours.” He continued: “A few days later, we (FTF) conducted a daylight raid on some tents looking for Bergdahl. We took heavy small arms and RPG fire on approach and ran off the CH-47s in contact. Our entire element engaged the enemy, who turned out to be a Taliban shadow governor and his bodyguards. … Multiple people died that day. … All of this happened because Bergdahl got tired of playing soldier. The remainder of that deployment was focused on recovery efforts. Countless members of the brigade were wounded, and we lost good friends, among them PFC Matthew Martinek and 2LT Darryn Andrews. I have no doubt these great men would be alive if Bergdahl did not leave.”
In addition to Andrews, Casillas, Fairbairn and Martinek, PFC Morriss Walker and Staff Sergeants Clayton Bowen, Kurt Curtiss and Michael Murphrey died as a result of Bergdahl’s abandonment.
That’s eight dead American soldiers (not six, as the rest of the media have reported) betrayed by selfish Bergdahl and reckless President Obama.
My source did not mince words: “The fact that our government negotiated with terrorists and our enemy is incomprehensible. The fact that they exchanged five war criminals for a traitor is sickening. The worst part for those of us that suffered through that time is that PFC Bergdahl is being hailed as some kind of hero. He was automatically promoted to Specialist and Sergeant, ranks he does not deserve and did not earn. I have no doubt he will receive back pay for these past five years, a substantial sum. There will be book deals, and his family are celebrities. I am glad he is safe, and happy for his family, but he should return home to face a court martial.”
Are you listening, Capitol Hill and America? The Bowe Bergdahl mess isn’t just a story about one deserter, but two.
There’s the muddle-headed lowlife who left his post and brothers behind. And there’s the corrupt commander in chief who has jeopardized more American soldiers’ lives to “rescue” Bergdahl by bowing to the Taliban, while snubbing the surviving heroes and the eight dead American soldiers who lost their lives because of him. This cannot stand.
Michelle Malkin is the author of “Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks and Cronies” (Regnery 2010). Her e-mail address is malkinblog@gmail.com. Also see, The Data-Mining Body Monitors in Our Schools
That’s eight dead American soldiers (not six, as the rest of the media have reported) betrayed by selfish Bergdahl and reckless President Obama.
In addition to Andrews, Casillas, Fairbairn and Martinek, PFC Morriss Walker and Staff Sergeants Clayton Bowen, Kurt Curtiss and Michael Murphrey died as a result of Bergdahl’s abandonment.
That’s eight dead American soldiers (not six, as the rest of the media have reported) betrayed by selfish Bergdahl and reckless President Obama.
Understand this, Obama has improved his personal Net worth, by only a few million dollars in the White House. He is setting himself up, for the billion dollar paychecks after he leaves office. Clinton did it, with a rash of pardons and deals in the last months of his Criminal presidency. Obama will do it too, but he is getting the pay off from the Jihadists in Qatar. Nobody has even asked the question yet: Why Qatar?
Remember, we are dealing with DEMOCRATS, who, with impunity, and in broad daylight, will sell missile secrets to the Chinese, for campaign donations. They regularly shake down every substantial industry in America, for protection money. Democrats hide behind class warfare, as they enrich themselves and their cronies.
the country is blind, willing to accept change because they dont know how fortunate they are,and on top of all the deception and lies, the truth is Obamma is an enemy in the white house..
“...had written down before that he wanted to live in the mountains.”
We HAVE mountains in America... he could have come home and lived in the mountains here if he wanted to!!
Plus no telling how many these five will kill in the next 30 years. Then add the morale boosting to the Taliban by this event, which will only embolden them.
The real math? Obama's reckless actions have set the war on terror back 20 years.
What has happened to our nation.
In my opinion, we turned from God and simultaneously stopped paying attention to the training of our children.
It was a matter of time.
Let’s not forget those who died capturing the five Taliban war criminals that O’Bammy released in exchange for our traitor.
Very good answer. I marvel at these surveys that say America is 89% Christian, or a similar statistic. They are all nonsense. Most are cultural Christians, or have zero faith. I put the percentage at between 10 to 15 percent, at best.
According to the State Dept , none of this evidence matters.
All that matters is Bergdahl’s version of what happened, the talking points of which are now being formulated by the same people in the White House that produced the Benghazi talking points and these talking points will be delivered to Bergdahl for rehearsal just as soon as they are completed
It just gets worse. With the revelation of two additional, the number killed because of this pussy now stands at 16!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3163372/posts
The Battle of Kamdesh, one of the most deadly military engagements during the U.S. war in Afghanistan, turned especially bloody – leaving eight Americans dead and 22 wounded – because troops and aircraft normally tasked to support U.S. fighting men and woman were diverted to search for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. The Oct. 3, 2009 battle at Combat Outpost Keating, near the town of Kamdesh in Nuristan province, lasted more than 12 hours and earned two Army staff sergeants the Medal of Honor, the highest award for bravery the Pentagon can bestow on a warrior.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3163370/posts?page=61#61
So Bergdahl got caught sleeping on watch and was disciplined. And then he got angry and went to join the enemy.
And this morning runs a headline from the Obama admin that only Bergdahl knows the circumstances of his capture.
Got it.
!
To a man, his entire unit, those closest to him, say that he deserted. He left.
No matter what excuse or explanation someone might come up with for that, the fact is that he left. He was supposed to be there, and he wasn’t there.
There is absolutely no denying that a desertion took place.
All the other evidence says he intentionally left. Like on a lawyer TV show, his only defense can be that he went crazy. I’ve heard he was weird, but no one yet has suggested he went insane.
Does he deserve a trial by court martial? Yes. There is absolutely no doubt. He should be court martialed and let the jurors sort out countless testimony that he just up and left. And then he should be punished. I don’t buy the notion that 5 years in captivity was brutal. The pictures I’ve seen of him since his return, he looked pretty capable to me.
Yes it will. He's the first black president, so who's going to stand up against him and his continued lawlessness? No one. This is only the beginning, before the POS is out of office there will be no terrorists in Guantanamo. Book it.
Desert your post to join the enemy. This is how rank is now earned in the Usurper's army. Not surprised at all.
Compare this to the treatment of Col. Lakin who was sent to Ft. Leavenworth for upholding his sworn oath to the Constitution.
Good point. I pray there will be a House Hearing on this matter and that your point is addressed. The photos of the fine men who died trying to find Bergdahl break my heart. Any one of them could be our sons. As much as I hold GW Bush to account for so much malfeasance, I know he would never have allowed this to happen.
The response from the White House is sickening. The characters of Bergdahl and his father are traitorous.
I am a single father of a young son in my full-time care. If I was not so responsible I would be in the Halls of Congress and its office buildings bellowing so strongly concerning this outrage as to provoke arrest. Why more Americans are not yet descended upon DC regarding this travesty confuses and disheartens me.
Got caught sleeping...There aren’t any of us who’ve been in the military who don’t realize that if you nod off you NEED to be gob-smacked. There are times you just can’t do that.
Even when driving down the road as a civilian here at home, if you start to nod, you want your wife or kid or someone to get direct and force you to pull over a switch drivers. It’s too dangerous a situation for you to be nodding off.
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