The trade of five high level Taliban for one alleged Army deserter is emblematic of the entire Afghanistan campaign: an absurd and costly miscalculation. Make no mistake, US Person is absolutely adamant that the Guantanamo gulag should be closed; it should have been shut down a long time ago when the Current Occupant promised it would be. The disposal in Qatar of five Taliban leaders the military did not know what to do with--too dangerous to let go--should help speed the process of the gulag's closure. Guantanamo is a poster child for terror besides being the US Navy's Sebastopol.
Bowe Bergdahl's family must be relieved he is finally home after five years of captivity. However, the Current Occupant was not trading for a heroic fighter captured by a determined enemy in battle but as his former battalion team mate, Nathan Bethea, tells us Bergdahl deserted his post in the middle of the night. Bethea and other brigade members received orders not to talk about Bergdahl's capture in 2009. Now that Bergdahl is home, Bethea chooses to unburden himself of the truth.
Soldiers died during the hunt for Bergdahl who went missing from his post during the night at OP Mest, a small, improvised outpost two hours south of Sharana. The camp was not much more than armored vehicles parked in a circle. Soldiers slept under their ponchos on the ground or inside their vehicles. Bergdahl did not report for roll call one morning in July. He left his weapons, equipment and helmet in a squared away stack, but took his compass. He even left a goodbye note. Later it was argued in the press that Bergdahl lagged behind on a patrol and was seized, but Bethea adamantly says there was no patrol. Bergdahl was relieved of his sentry post and instead of going to sleep, decided to walk to India. This was a trek he talked with other soldiers about making. If he was trying to reach the border, he went the wrong way. Just days before the battalion had suffered its first fatality, a first lieutenant.
Bethea describes the extensive attempts to find Bergdahl in his article for the Daily Beast. He says there were daily search missions by helicopter, some lasting ten days. Often there was incoming rifle and mortar fire. Bethea also claims, not very persuasively, the casualties at combined outpost Zerok that was attacked by "hundreds" of insurgents can be attributed to the lack of resources siphoned off by the search for Bergdahl. But soldiers did die in search operations after Bergdahl's disappearance and were related to it claims Bethea. Bethea is understandably bitter about his "quixotic" war experience*, and especially by the hero's treatment afforded someone he is certain is a deserter. He says Bergdahl is alive only because of his propaganda and exchange value. Afghan collaborators captured by the Taliban are often beheaded.
The last prosecuted US deserter during war was Charles Robert Jenkins, who walked off while drunk during the Korean War. He spent forty years interned in North Korea. Despite his incredible hardship and after he was exchanged, the Army court-martialed him, sentenced him to thirty days imprisonment and dishonorably discharged him. Have Army accountability standards changed that much for Bergdahl to go free? Or are we so desperate for heros in this unpopular war that even a deserter will do? Reportedly, the Army is investigating the circumstances of Bergdahl's disappearance.
*Bergdahl wrote in an email later published by Rolling Stone magazine: "The US army is the biggest joke in the world has to laugh at [sic]. It is the army of liars, backstabbers, fools and bullies. In the US army you are cut down for being honest...but if you are a conceited brown-nosing shit bag you will be allowed to do whatever you want, and you will be handed your higher rank." Bergdahl is a marksman, educated, and was enamored of professional soldiering. He lost his romantic notions fast in Afghanistan. US Person knows that feeling.