Posted on 06/07/2014 10:52:58 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Agreed.
The outing of the station chief was one of those odd things when it happened, since no one outside of a VERY select few had clue one that Bergdahl was going to be traded at the time. He must have not been terribly happy with the idea and made the career ending (and potentially life ending) mistake of making his displeasure known.
Good to think there are still people in the CIA, as well as in the military, who take their oaths seriously. Just a pity he took a stand in front of the bus.
“So he left that, took water, a journal and something else...can’t remember...and basically just walked away.”
Knife. 2 days water. His journal. That’s the list I have seen.
Probably the usual bits and pieces you squirrel away as well, you know - condiments, some first aid gear, compass. Bit of paracord. lighter. Standard pocket stuff.
The journal thing really bugs me. It is not exactly a rational choice of kit for a walk away from base. It stands out as something odd in an already odd situation.
I think the Army will do a comprehensive impartial investigation of why Bergdahl left, and as much of a debriefing as possible about what he did in captivity.
I believe the loser-in-chief and Hagel will ensure that the results of any investigation say exactly what they want it to say.
Good to think there are still people in the CIA, as well as in the military, who take their oaths seriously. Just a pity he took a stand in front of the bus.
Knife. 2 days water. His journal. That’s the list I have seen.
Probably the usual bits and pieces you squirrel away as well, you know - condiments, some first aid gear, compass. Bit of paracord. lighter. Standard pocket stuff.
The journal thing really bugs me. It is not exactly a rational choice of kit for a walk away from base. It stands out as something odd in an already odd situation.
Just saw this in the Rolling Stone article and thanks for remembering the knife that I forgot!: In the early-morning hours of June 30th, according to soldiers in the unit, Bowe approached his team leader not long after he got off guard duty and asked his superior a simple question: If I were to leave the base, would it cause problems if I took my sensitive equipment?
Yes, his team leader responded – if you took your rifle and night-vision goggles, that would cause problems.
Bowe returned to his barracks, a roughly built bunker of plywood and sandbags. He gathered up water, a knife, his digital camera and his diary. Then he slipped off the outpost…
My list is Active Duty/Retiree, V.A. and Berdahl for now.
I will add you.
You give me a thought. Was he wearing his tags, or not?
Hopefully someone here had an embedded reporter in their unit who can clarify, but that sounds an awful lot like the sort of kit reporters carry. Camera. Something to write on and with. Everyone carries a knife, you eat with it if nothing else. Water is pretty much standard too, lot of places in Hell where you are not going to get a drink for a couple of days.
The thing that always bugged me about this is the Tali are not exactly known for leaving soldiers heads attached to their shoulders. They REALLY hate the allied forces, even more than they hate each other. So how in God’s name did Bergdahl last 5 years and is still breathing?
He had tags with him as the terrorists showed them in one of their videos of him. One tag was plain and the other had been colored red or pink with a marker, oddly enough. Don’t know if it was SOP to color a tag or not, but the magenta color was plain to see on the video.
Thank you. I wasn’t sure.
Thanks for this info!
Pinging this one out; was it a signal, or what?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3165060/posts?page=88#88
Thanks 2nddivisionvet!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3165060/posts?page=1#1
Pinging all y’all to this article posted by 2nddivisionvet!
I think they’re keeping the guy in Germany to get information from him...he won’t be coming home anytime soon...and that’s also why they aren’t letting him speak to his parents....
Bet the father is under investigation as well..and likely the mother.
If they already haven’t converted to Islam they were certainly in far enough to “snatch”.
Bergdahl’s father now under scrutiny himself
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3165210/posts
DougRoss:”Well, this is interesting: Looks like Bowe Bergdahl’s Father was in contact with Al Qaeda”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3165060/posts
Bergdahl’s Father Favorited Al-Qaeda Leader’s Rant “Why the World Hates America”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3166130/posts
I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t being sent out on a suicide mission, rather than the Taliban was going to take his life as was said by some.
Speculation of course..but even his tears once on the copter may have been because they told him they’d been looking for him for a long time.... he knew they finally “caught” him...rather than found him.
I think Ill take another look at the release from the perspective of someone who knows he’s been “caught” for deserting and aiding the Taliban....rather than found.
I would be surprised. He’s not the type, from what I read.
Note - I am in NO way justifying him deserting, which has gone from speculation to established fact. When your squad mates, including the medic, say you deserted - only a fool would bet the opposite way. Just trying to get my head around his way of thinking at the time. Habit, I guess. Bear with me here? Want to lay out my thoughts for you (or anyone else) to critique.
He specifically stated he joined the Army to help the Afghans. There were a quote from either one of his friends or one of his squad mates along the lines of “He was disappointed to find that his unit were not like the Peace Corps.
His previous attempt to go into service were the Coast Guard. Good people, solid, and they do spend about 99% of their time assisting those in trouble.
He was not hugely comfortable around people. Look at the constantly recurring words - loner, isolated, cold. Slept away from his squad mates. Probably slightly shy as well - though that info will have to wait until some of the people he went to school with speak up.
He is highly intelligent. This is more of an anecdotal bit of evidence, but people who keep journals/diaries do tend to score higher on the intelligence curve. Possibly helped him pass the psych eval during boot. Seen it happen before, and it will happen again. He did seem to have mental problems even before he were deployed, according to his friends.
He hated his life and wanted to make a difference. Not exactly uncommon now - a lot of youngsters feel that way. You see that pretty much everywhere.
A fair assessment of him? Any NCO, squaddie or hands on officer please weigh in! Especially anyone who dealt with units in similar situations, including Vietnam.
As to why I am bothering with the mind set of a deserter and possible traitor? I am more interested in ensuring it does not and can not happen again.
However, in the American military, enforced doctrines of political correctness, violations of personal space, privacy, Affirmative Action, Gay Rights etc. would be very likely to place anyone complaining about another team member in a bad light. It could go badly for the officer complained to, if he did not follow strict politically correct guidelines, as well.
This 'sleeping apart' nonsense could have been to cover Muslim prayer observance, BTW. Also BTW, I think this deserter should have been brought back, just not traded for terrorists. Instead of trumpeting this as some sort of negotiational triumph, the Magic Marxist Mulatto and his team of Affirmative Action Ani and their osculators just might have played it closer to the old waistcoat.
I can’t argue. You got everything bar one totally right, in my experience.
The one exception I take is privacy. It is pretty much the greatest gift you can give someone during active. Just some time on your own to think, read, watch the sunrise in peace. Everyone needs the odd bit of time to let their brain say “Hi, I’m you in better times. Remember me?”
If you read 5 articles about the boy and his sire, you will see that they are undoubtedly moslems. Sometimes a too open mind means truth falls out.
Check out the Walid Shoebat article about the father.
Just search for Shoebat Bergdahl and it will come up.
First way to keep this sort of things from happening again.
No moslems in government positions of any kind, nor in the military.
I would like on your Bergdahl list, thank you. If you have one just for that.
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