Posted on 06/15/2014 10:55:03 AM PDT by yoe
As an Army Veteran who was working as a contractor attached to the 25th Infantry Division (same Division as Bergdahl) in a nearby FOB when Bowe Bergdahl went missing, I feel the need to speak out on the situation (notice I don’t ascribe rank to him, I will address that later).
A few days ago, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel took the stage at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan and excitedly started with what he thought would be a big applause line. “We got him back!” he exclaimed.
Silence.
Not. Even. One. Clap.
Numerous White House leaks show that Obama and his team were convinced that Americans would greet the news of a returning POW with elation; that this would be the great moment in Obama’s second term. This shows just how clueless they are about the military. Let me clue them in.
You see, when Hagel took the stage, he expected joy at the announcement that one of their own was returned! However, you have to see inside a soldier’s mind to understand what was going on here. I believe I can provide a little insight.
When a soldier deserts his post, when he writes that he is ashamed to be an American, when he gives the enemy secrets (and he did), he is no longer “one of us”. He is a traitor. He is not a brother-in-arms. Soldiers risk their lives for each other every day on the battlefield, there is a trust and respect they have for each other. For Bowe Bergdahl to break that trust and the Secretary of Defense to announce a hero’s welcome instead of a court-martial is a huge let-down.
He isn't one of their own. He is one of them. He is the enemy.
That's not something to celebrate.
The message the White House is sending is that they value treason more than honorable service.
Read that last sentence again. Let it sink in. THIS is what every soldier is thinking.
In a soldier’s mind serving with honor means finishing your tour, even if you disagree with the way things are done. All bets are off if you serve with dishonor.
I do not refer to Bergdahl as a sergeant, even though he received “automatic” promotions while in the Taliban’s custody because according to law, after 30 days his rank and pay should have been stripped from him. Due to political pressure, his was not. In fact, he probably has over $200,000 in cash waiting in his bank account. In my opinion, this money should be given to the families of the soldiers who died in the aftermath of his desertion.
Bowe Bergdahl deserted his post. He served with dishonor. I know that firsthand. Our soldiers know that. They know they risk their lives every day. They don’t get a hero’s welcome from the White House, they get fewer meals (due to budget constraints) and less safety equipment (due to the drawdown).
Let me be perfectly clear. A Rose Garden Ceremony, a “hero’s welcome”, and automatic promotions to a person that deserted is nothing more than a slap in the face to every service member who has served honorably.
That, Mr. President and Mr. Hagel, is why soldiers aren’t clapping and applauding for you. That is why you have lost any remaining respect from the military community.
Nah, the left loves them, too. Those killers are useful tools in the leftscum’s quest to disarm us all.
Bergdahl ping.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
NASA..National Aclaim Sharia Agency?? thats how crazy That was!
See my #30.
“Officers are ranked, enlisted are rated.”
I spent some time in the Army as enlisted, my rank was E-6. We used rank for the enlisted people back in the 70s. Never heard of asking a soldier is rate.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
...and to those whom, disgraced this country, be it
soldier or chief executive, There's a special place
in HELL for you (cowards/traitors) and your ilk.
Bergdahl was never officially classified as a POW.
BOOM!
In the USAF and Army, it’s called grade. It is possible to have equivalent grades and different ranks. It also makes it easier to figure ranks structure between the services. Navy ranks confuse the rest of the world. :)
A Rose Garden Ceremony, a “hero’s welcome”, and automatic promotions to a person that deserted is nothing more than a slap in the face to every service member who has served honorably.
***
Oh, it is more than a slap in the face to our brave fighting men. See my tagline....
I agree with your analysis.
We talked about Bergdahl a bit during our last OPD. Two phrases that keep getting thrown around are really starting to grate on me: 1) “We never leave a man behind,” and 2) “We all volunteered.” Both of these blanket statements exist solely to shut down thought. As an officer, I completely reject that notion since our entire job is to think and bring order to chaos.
1) If Bergdahl was a straight-up case of separation from his unit and imprisonment by the enemy, then, yes, this fits. However, he did not. Men who served in his fire team on the same COP stated as much. Even if this was the case, does this justify the trade we made for him? Someone in the group brought up Vietnam POW Doug Hegdahl as an example of someone who made his entire period of capture a performance in order to get better treatment and, ultimately, release in order to aid his fellow captives (an amazing story if you’ve never heard of him).
Out of curiosity, I looked up what the North Vietnamese demanded in order to come to the table for peace talks. Apparently they wanted us to overthrow the president of South Vietnam (or allow him to be overthrown depending on who you ask). If we had said, “OK, we’ll overthrow him and hand South Vietnam over to you in exchange for our people b/c we don’t leave our people behind,” would that make the trade worth it? We gave up five evil, experienced men (and potentially millions of dollars) to the Taliban for this guy.
I don’t buy this “leave no man behind” argument for Bergdahl, b/c this is not some one-size-fits-all situation.
2) The notion that we all volunteered lends an air of nobility to the notion of being a service member in today’s military along with a certain level of expected professionalism. This does not mean that we’re authorized to be treated like scum beneath the NCA’s shoes. It doesn’t excuse the demands for actual honorable SMs to shutup and not talk about Bergdahl b/c we “don’t know what happened.” Hint: the GO who will do the investigation of Bergdahl’s desertion won’t know what happened either, yet his opinion based on the testimony of others will determine it just the same. It also doesn’t excuse our national-level chain-of-command’s insistence that Bergdahl is an honorable Soldier. I served with honorable Soldiers in combat. Know how I know? They all did their job, did it well, and watched each others’ backs. Bergdahl did not.
I don’t know if he’s a full-on traitor, but it seems rather odd that he managed to survive captivity among a notoriously take-no-prisoners kind of crew.
Anyway, all that crap was on my mind, so I figured I’d spew it out here. Carry on.
the administration only has 2.5 years to promote him to secretary of defense so they better do the 12 week cognitive therapy.
Go on facebook and post support to the military base pages or unit pages. We could actually do a campaign to tell them how much we love them and support them. Write to the guys on deployment.
You got that right. Both of you. A traitor deserves one thing, a post, a rope to tie his hands, a blind fold, and shoot his sorry, no account, good for nothing, traitor to the enemy, piece of garbage.
Unbelievable that Hagel expected applause.
He was in January 2014 before that he was missing/unaccounted for.
This WH values treason if it is against the USA. This WH values muslims. Look how nicely muslim veterans are treated at Gitmo. Look how USA veterans are treated by this administration.
Yes it does... but almost to be expected out of a President acting Treasonous too...
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