I think that Bergdahl should be hung by the neck.
But this guy has to be punished. When you sign up, you sign up all the way. He should have known that.
I admire his willingness to fight, but...desertion or AWOL is desertion or AWOL.
Yes, mixed feelings about this dude as well. My gut feeling is that he should have stayed in France and became a citizen. Clearly he was not content to exercise his duties here as an American.
I agree with you. He probably is a good soldier but no army can allow desertion as it would destroy it.
I remember a 60 minutes story about the French Foreign Legion. They interviewed a veteran who had been in quite a few hot spots. One question they asked him was what he thought of American special forces. He said elite soldiers were pretty much the same all over the world.
They told him that it was illegal to hit a soldier in the American army. He replied that it was illegal not to hit a soldier in the Foreign Legion.
They could punish him with a general discharge and a fine or something else. Remember Erin Watada? He outright refused to deploy to a combat zone and was quietly let out of the Army after his trial. No harm, no foul. This guy gets four years. That’s military “justice” for you.