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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 06:39 AM Jun 2014

13 Things You Need to Know About Bowe Bergdahl

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/13-things-you-need-to-know-about-bowe-bergdahl-20140602



1) Bowe grew up near Hailey, Idaho, the son of California expats and ski bums Jani and Bob Bergdahl, who lived "nearly off the grid" on 40 acres, home-schooling Bowe and his sister Sky in a demanding curriculum:

Devout Calvinists, they taught the children for six hours a day, instructing them in religious thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine. "Ethics and morality would be constant verbiage in our conversations," his father recalls. "Bowe was definitely instilled with truth. He was very philosophical about perceiving ethics."

2) Obsessed with Bear Grylls and Man vs. Wild, Bowe sought at age 20 to join the French Foreign Legion.

He traveled to Paris and started to learn French, but his application was rejected. "He was absolutely devastated when the French Foreign Legion didn't take him," Bob says.

3) Seeking adventure, instead, in American uniform, Bergdahl enlisted in the Army in 2008. His intensity alienated fellow soldiers. A friend from his unit, Jason Fry, recalled Bowe's fierce independence and his prophetic warning:

"He wanted to be a mercenary, wanted to be a free gun," says Fry. "He had a notion he was a survivalist, claimed he knew how to survive with nothing because he grew up in Idaho…. Before we deployed… him and I were talking about what it would be like," Fry recalls. Bowe looked at his friend and made no bones about his plans. "If this deployment is lame," Bowe said, "I'm just going to walk off into the mountains of Pakistan."

4) Bergdahl's unit in Afghanistan — part of the Obama surge — was beset by deficits of leadership, "a collapse in unit morale and an almost complete breakdown of authority."

The unruly situation was captured by … a British documentary filmmaker [whose] footage shows a bunch of soldiers who no longer give a shit: breaking even the most basic rules of combat, like wearing baseball caps on patrol instead of helmets.



Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/13-things-you-need-to-know-about-bowe-bergdahl-20140602#ixzz33ZUbit1I
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13 Things You Need to Know About Bowe Bergdahl (Original Post) xchrom Jun 2014 OP
Bookmarked underpants Jun 2014 #1
... xchrom Jun 2014 #2
Should have traded John McCain Cotopaxi Jun 2014 #3
Michael Hastings article linked at site looks like good read.... KoKo Jun 2014 #4
Good read - he walked away from his unit on his own - that makes him a deserter. Red State Rebel Jun 2014 #5
So you would rather let an American be tortured? JaneyVee Jun 2014 #8
I found this interesting. He could have been released earlier. octoberlib Jun 2014 #6
also interesting warrior1 Jun 2014 #7
Just because he apparently deserted does not mean he wished to be captured. Jenoch Jun 2014 #11
kicking for later frylock Jun 2014 #9
Yikes some very interesting reading...... a kennedy Jun 2014 #10
I'd like to see that British documentary footage n/t deutsey Jun 2014 #12

Cotopaxi

(4 posts)
3. Should have traded John McCain
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 09:16 AM
Jun 2014

Thanks for posting this. I for one am glad Bowe is coming back home. The President did the right thing. Only wish we could have traded John McCain for Bowe.

KoKo

(84,711 posts)
4. Michael Hastings article linked at site looks like good read....
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 09:23 AM
Jun 2014

but, it's long so, bookmarked for later.

Recommend...

Red State Rebel

(2,903 posts)
5. Good read - he walked away from his unit on his own - that makes him a deserter.
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 09:27 AM
Jun 2014

Regardless of the excuses of a "deficit of leadership", etc. you take an oath when you join and you abide by that oath. He joined knowing he was going into war - I guess he didn't understand it wasn't like a Hollywood movie.

To have 5 dangerous terrorists returned to continue their work in exchange for this guy doesn't make me happy.

octoberlib

(14,971 posts)
6. I found this interesting. He could have been released earlier.
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 10:10 AM
Jun 2014

1) But the swap didn't have the backing of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Pentagon chief Leon Panetta, who weren't ready to negotiate an end to the war, preferring the bloody path of counterinsurgency operations.

...Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are very wary about making a swap for Bowe. "Panetta and Hillary don't give a shit about getting him home," says one senior U.S. official involved in the negotiations. "They want to be able to say they COINed their way out of Afghanistan, or whatever, so it doesn't look like they are cutting and running."



Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/13-things-you-need-to-know-about-bowe-bergdahl-20140602#ixzz33aLOEAsh

warrior1

(12,325 posts)
7. also interesting
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 10:14 AM
Jun 2014

that he had escaped and was recaptured. That doesn't sound like someone who just walked away.

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