Putting the Bergdahl Courts-Martial in Perspective

[longknife]

I read this story and could not help but agree with just about every word of it. However, here is the part of it that hit me in the gut:



I want to give this punishment some context. A squad leader I am close friends with once made a huge error in judgment. He was our best squad leaders, but one day, in a safe province, he took 12 guys out on patrol, went about 600 meters from the base, and each man drank two beers. Someone told higher, and the staff sergeant faced a special court martial for it, and was reduced from E6 to E1, spent some time in a military prison, and then got a bad conduct discharge. Now, I won't defend what he did and say he deserved nothing, but no one got hurt, and no one even knew about it for about a week. That friend of mine is now going to apparently have served a longer prison sentence and harsher punishment than a guy who literally left his rifle behind and abandoned his troops



There is much more @ Understanding the Bergdahl Court Martial

 

[waltky]

Who is Bowe Bergdahl?...

Who is the controversial US soldier held captive by the Taliban after disappearing in Afghanistan
10 Dec.`15 - The American soldier has given his first media interview since being released last year

Bowe Bergdahl, the American soldier held captive by the Talban for five years after being kidnapped in Afghanistan, has given his first interview on his ordeal since being released. The 29-year-old, who could still face a court-martial for allegedly deserting his post before being captured, is the subject of the second series of the American podcast Serial. His return to the US was initially greeted with jubilation in May last year but the price – a prisoner swap with five Taliban members – generated controversy as questions surrounding his capture arose.

So who is Bowe Bergdahl?

Born in 1986 in Sun Valley, Idaho, Bergdahl was home-schooled by his devout Calvinist parents with his sister, but later received a General Educational Development certificate. He attempted to join the French Foreign Legion and later the US Coast Guard in 2006 but was discharged within a month. Two years afterwards, he enlisted in the US Army. After training at Fort Benning in Georgia, he was assigned to the 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. The Alaska-based unit was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 and posted to Mest-Malak on counter-insurgency operations in the ongoing war against the Taliban.

What happened in Afghanistan?

On 25 June that year, one of the members of his battalion was killed by a roadside bomb and two days later, he sent an email to his parents claiming the American army was the “biggest joke the world has to laugh at”, criticising his senior officers and their behaviour towards local civilians. On 30 June, five months after his deployment, Bergdahl disappeared.

Why did he leave?

 

[The Rabbi]

Why hasnt Bergdahl been shot for desertion? Then again why hasnt Obama been charged with treason?

 

[waltky]

The continuing saga of Bowe Bergdahl...

SEAL: How a Failed Mission to Rescue Bergdahl Caused Irreparable Loss
Dec 24, 2015 | The juxtaposition of two American military men who could stand in the same courtroom in the coming months couldn't be set in more stark relief.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl faces a general court-martial for walking off of his base in eastern Afghanistan in 2009. Bergdahl spent five years in Taliban captivity, where he was tormented, before being freed in a controversial prisoner exchange last year. Jimmy Hatch, a Navy SEAL senior chief who led a platoon into a fierce battle to try to rescue Bergdahl, was shot and badly wounded on that mission. Beside him, service dog Remco lay mortally wounded, after running through a hail of bullets at two Taliban fighters hiding in a ditch, exposing their whereabouts. Bergdahl is charged with not only desertion but also misbehavior before the enemy -- an archaic, rarely used charge that includes "endangering safety of a command, unit, place, ship, or military property" and has a maximum penalty of life in prison. It could help answer the question of whether Bergdahl betrayed his country intentionally or should be viewed as acting as a result of mental health problems.

Navy SEAL James Hatch with his dog Spike, a Belgian Malinois multi-purpose canine​

Military officials won't confirm or deny the 2009 mission was a search for Bergdahl. An Army spokesman said Tuesday that the service maintains the position stated by then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in 2014 that he did not know of any specific "circumstances or details of U.S. soldiers dying as a result of efforts to find and rescue Sgt. Bergdahl." An Army investigator and an officer who presided over Bergdahl's preliminary hearing earlier this year both recommended he be spared a general court-martial and prison time. But no one has denied servicemembers were hurt as a result of the search and an Army commander last week ruled against the investigator's recommendation and ordered Bergdahl face a general court-martial.

Hatch, his femur shattered, went through 18 surgeries in two years. He lost his military career and suffered from debilitating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He nearly took his own life. His fate inextricably tied to Bergdahl's, Hatch said he would readily testify if he is called upon. "I would tell them about the sacrifices of the group of individuals that went out with me on the night I was wounded," Hatch said. "About the risks they took on behalf of Mr. Bergdahl because of his decisions. "I would like Mr. Bergdahl and his family to hear what his decisions did to me and my family. I'd like to tell him about my injuries and about the difficulties my family and I continue to have."

The Rescue Mission

See also:

Some Military Discharges Mean No Benefits after Service Ends
Dec 24, 2015 -- No medical or mental health care. No subsidized college or work training. For many who leave the U.S. military with less-than-honorable discharges, including thousands who suffered injuries and anguish in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, standard veterans benefits are off limits.

The discharge serves as a scarlet letter of dishonor, and the effects can be severe: Ex-military members with mental health problems or post-traumatic stress disorder can't turn to Veterans Affairs hospitals or clinics; those who want to go to college aren't eligible for the GI Bill; the jobless get no assistance for career training; the homeless are excluded from vouchers. "It's an indelible mark of their service that follows them for the rest of their lives into the workforce, through background checks, social relationships, and it precludes them from getting the kind of support that most veterans enjoy," said Phil Carter, an Iraq War vet and senior fellow at the Center for A New American Security. The Department of Defense said of nearly 207,000 people who left the military last year, just 9 percent received what's referred to as "bad paper." Still, that's more than 18,000 people last year and more than 352,000 since 2000, Defense Department data shows.

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, a Colorado Republican who's on the House Armed Services Committee, believes many of those men and women suffered battle-related problems that affected their behavior, especially PTSD and traumatic brain injury. A 2005 study showed Marines deployed to combat who were diagnosed with PTSD were 11 times more likely to receive less-than-honorable discharges, said Brad Adams, an attorney who works with the San Francisco-based organization Swords to Plowshares. Varying levels of bad paper discharges exist. A general discharge is for those whose service was generally satisfactory, but who engaged in minor misconduct or received non-judicial punishment. Recipients are usually eligible for VA medical and dental services, VA home loans and burial in national cemeteries, but can't receive educational benefits through the GI Bill. Virtually no post-military benefits are available below that level.

Josh Redmyer, a former Marine who served three tours in Iraq, poses with Milo, who he calls his "therapy dog," in Oroville, Calif.​

An other-than-honorable discharge is an administrative action for those with behavior problems such as violence or use of illegal drugs. A bad conduct discharge is punishment for a military crime, and dishonorable discharges are for offenses such as murder or desertion. With those discharges, the VA doesn't consider the former service members veterans for the purposes of VA benefits. "There is a small percentage of folks who were court-martialed and convicted, and they have earned their bad paper," Carter said. "The vast majority of this population was discharged administratively, generally because of some minor misconduct."

Maj. Ben Sakrisson, a Defense Department spokesman, said there is "substantial due process" for all cases where people receive a less-than-honorable discharge. Its statistics show that last year, 4,143 service members received other-than-honorable discharges, 637 received bad conduct discharges and 157 were dishonorably discharged. Once people are discharged, the Department of Veterans Affairs can extend medical and mental health benefits on a case-by-case basis to those whose disabilities were service-connected, the VA said. But Adams said that recourse is help to very few. "The onus is on the veteran," he said. "The standards have imposed a very high burden."

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[jwoodie]

President Obama has knowingly endangered the lives of U.S. military personnel by releasing from custody enemy combatants who have rejoined the fight against American soldiers. By any objective standard, he should be impeached and removed from office. The fact that his Political Party supports these actions reveals them to be co-conspirators in treason against the United States.

 

[waltky]

Bergdahl was a biker...

Judge: Bergdahl Adventures Prior to Enlisting Cannot Be Used
Aug 22, 2016 | Accused deserter Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's attempt to join the French Foreign Legion and his time on a weapons range prior to enlisting cannot be used in his court-martial as evidence of his pursuits of adventure, an Army judge ruled Monday.

Those past experiences and stints working on fishing boats in the years before 2006 when Bergdahl enlisted in the Army are irrelevant to proving that he deserted his post, Col. Jeffery R. Nance, the military judge, said during a pre-trial motions hearing Monday at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Nance said introducing those acts as evidence would waste time during a court-martial already expected to last up to two weeks. Last year, the Army charged Bergdahl, 30, with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy after he spent five years in Taliban captivity. The more serious misbehavior charge could send the soldier to prison for the rest of his life. His court-martial is scheduled for February.

In the years before he enlisted, Bergdahl traveled to France in an unsuccessful bid to join the French Foreign Legion, worked on a Texas weapons range that trains special operations forces and worked on fishing boats in Alaska and on a trip between New York and Seattle. Maj. Jerrod Fussnecker, an Army prosecutor, argued Monday that those events showed Bergdahl's intent to constantly "seek adventure," saying the soldier retained the same mindset to "show he was a super soldier … like Jason Bourne" when he walked off Observation Post Mest in eastern Afghanistan in 2009. Bergdahl was captured by Taliban fighters shortly after he left the post.

A young Bowe Bergdahl sits on a motorcycle during a ride through central Idaho's back country.​

Nance called the prosecutors' argument a "big logical leap" and added they do not need to prove his motive for leaving. "You just have to prove he went absent without authority," the judge said. Bergdahl has admitted to Army investigators that he willingly left the post before he was captured, but he said he did not intend to desert the Army. Instead, he said he wanted to cause a disturbance that would place him in front of military brass to file complaints about his chain of command.

He was freed from captivity in May 2014 in an exchange for five senior Taliban leaders who had been held at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Bergdahl remains on active duty in a desk job at Joint Base San Antonio in Texas. He was arraigned on charges of "misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place" and "desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty" in December, but he has yet to enter a plea.

Judge: Bergdahl Adventures Prior to Enlisting Cannot Be Used | Military.com

See also:

Army's Handling of Bergdahl Case Highlights Upcoming Hearing
Aug 22, 2016 | Attorneys for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will try to convince a judge this week that the U.S. military has mishandled its prosecution of the soldier on charges that he deserted his post in Afghanistan.\

Among the issues being considered during pretrial hearings is whether Gen. Robert B. Abrams faced improper conflicts when he referred Bergdahl for a general court-martial rather than a lower-level prosecution. Defense attorneys argue that Abrams, the commanding general of U.S. Army Forces Command in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, should be disqualified from the case because of a prior role advising former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel during efforts to return Bergdahl from captivity. In a separate motion, the defense contends Abrams was influenced by negative comments about Bergdahl by Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

In September 2015, an officer who oversaw a preliminary hearing recommended the case be heard by a misdemeanor-level tribunal and said imprisonment wasn't warranted. However, the following month, McCain told a reporter his Senate committee would itself hold a hearing if Bergdahl weren't punished. In December, Abrams sent Bergdahl's case to a general court-martial, rejecting the hearing officer's recommendation. The defense argues the chain of events shows "impermissible meddling" by McCain and says either the charges should be thrown out, or Bergdahl should face no punishment if convicted. In their motion to disqualify Abrams, they argue for a reset in the case that would allow another commander to decide whether it warrants a general court-martial.

Bergdahl, who is from Hailey, Idaho, walked off his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and wound up as a captive of the Taliban and its allies until 2014. The Obama administration won his release by swapping him for Guantanamo Bay detainees. Bergdahl faces a court-martial on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. The latter charge carries up to a life sentence. Legal experts have described the defense motions — which will be heard starting Monday in a Fort Bragg courtroom — as longshots. But Eric Carpenter, a former Army lawyer who teaches at Florida International University, said testimony from Abrams could provide courtroom fireworks. "The military judge will likely need to hear from General Abrams himself, either in person or in writing, about whether Abrams was influenced by McCain's comments," he said, adding Abrams should be able to resolve the issue simply by saying that McCain's statement didn't affect him.

Prosecutors strongly deny the arguments pertaining to McCain and say the defense is asking the military judge to make an "unprecedented" decision. "The Defense motion seeks to have the Court boldly go where no court has gone before. There simply is no legal principle as Unlawful Congressional influence," Maj. Justin Oshana, a prosecutor, wrote. In a legal filing Friday, prosecutors also argue that Abrams' role in advising Hagel didn't amount to planning or participating in efforts to free Bergdahl from captivity.

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[longknife]

The defense is doing everything possible to keep it going until after the election. If Trump wins, they know Obama will pardon him. If Hillary wins, she'll shut them down. If Trump wins, they'll try to make a deal for Less than Honorable Discharge.