Today an Army judge sentenced convicted deserter Bowe Bergdahl to a dishonorable discharge, and reduction in rank. He gets no jail time and walks away with $300,000 in back pay.
As an Army vet (who did not serve in a combat theater), I and disgusted by this verdict. Keep in mind that several soldiers died trying to find this man after he left his post in Afghanistan and walked into the hands of the Taliban. This is the man that the Obama administration swapped 5 Gitmo terrorists for-significant figures.
It was Obama who posed in the Rose Garden with Bergdahl's parents when the swap was announced. It was as if we had finally gained the release of the hostages in Iran. Susan Rice said that Bergdahl served "with honor and distinction".
Honor and distinction?
There was a time when desertion in a theater of war was punished either by the death penalty or life in prison. Now a deserter walks into the sunset with $300,000 in back pay. I also recall that the Army promoted Bergdahl to sergeant based on service time -while he was in the hands of the Taliban.
We may never know what political pressure was brought to bear on the Army behind the scenes while Obama was in office. President Trump is outraged, but he is still plagued by Obama holdovers in places like the State Department and Justice Department. I am not saying that Trump should have tried to influence the sentence, but I have to suspect that the Army was under pressure from somebody to go easy on Bergdahl. Maybe there was sensitive material that the Army and government did not want divulged. I don't know, but it all stinks. Military justice has just got a big black eye.
I would like to think that Bergdahl will spend the rest of his life in shame because that what a dishonorable discharged has traditionally meant. But in this day and age, who knows anymore? For all I know, Bergdahl could wind up as a talking head with his own show on MSNBC.
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