Just a hypothetical here, but try this one on.
Suppose that “Poor Bowe” deserted because he believed his old man’s propaganda. He went off as an idyllic “True Believer” and found in the Taliban the primitive savagery that we all know resides in the Moslem Heart of Darkness.
Now he’s between a rock and a hard place. He knows the vision of the Holy Warrior of Islam is empty, but he’s also quite aware that he has deserted and by rights should face a firing squad (for which I would readily volunteer.)
Think of the inner resentment and hatred he holds for the father who led him so far astray.
I could buy that with no problem at all. Look how many of the helicopter/liberal/participation trophy/play-date parents destroy their kids daily in far lesser ways.
This could quickly spin out of control when one of the destroyed kids meets the real and brutal world of a military at war. Back here, screwed kid loses a job or gets his Facebook friends de-friending him. Over there, the results are a bit more ‘real’ and would cause one to reassess things because they cannot simply fall back on their self-reinforcing delusions.
Not that I think this ‘is’ what happened with the POS. Just that I could easily see it.