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Peacetrain

(22,836 posts)
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 10:59 AM Jun 2014

Bergdahl, compassion, lack of it, duplicity

I do not even know where to start with this op..

No one I know of yet, has the first idea why Bergdahl walked off base. We are getting stories from fellow military that he was naive, disconnected etc.

Suddenly the right have a new person to focus their hate on. Bergdahl

He is a traitor they say..

I have to be honest here, this sounds like a young man suffering from PTDS. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posttraumatic_stress_disorder If his fellow soldiers are to be believed he disconnected and thought he could walk out and stop the war.

Where is the compassion for this man? Where is the compassion for his family? God only knows what I would do if my son were in the same situation. Tear down the walls to begin with.. you can take that one to the bank.

Are we not in the middle of a VA crisis spawned by cuts by the right wing who now want to paint that blame on the President.

My family is active military. They are truly heroes in my heart. They go when called voluntarily

If they disconnected in any way shape of form, I would expect my goverment to rescue them.. not use them as a political football.

Who knows what happened? no one!!

And as for those 5 detainees.. they could be a huge headache on the battlefield.. but you have to be out of your mind to think that they are not a huge headache before.. inspiring terrorists.

I am just venting.. but I am so sick and tired of selective outrage for political gain.

Thank you Mr President for bringing that young man home. What the conclusion of his actions or reasons for it are yet to be understood.

But I will not be part of a all out wild dog attack on a man held prisoner for 5 years..

Thanks for letting me get it out of my system..

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yeoman6987

(14,449 posts)
1. After 24 years in the Navy,
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 11:03 AM
Jun 2014

I don't know of anyone who speaks well of someone who would leave their post especially during war. Heck we had a guy "break out" of Great Lakes Boot Camp when I was there and they said all kinds of negative things.......even during basic training. Bergdahl is getting the same treatment and criticism that all military personnel would get in the same situation. He is not being treated any worse or better than anyone else in the situation.

sabrina 1

(62,325 posts)
6. Maybe that needs to be changed. Troops are returning from those horrors Bush/Cheney sent them to,
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 11:22 AM
Jun 2014

mostly for profit, certainly based on lies, and committing suicide at alarming rates, as many as, a couple of years ago, 22 a day. Now down to around 18 a day. Many are homeless, unable to function anymore after what they have experienced. I wish all of them had simply walked away.

There was no justification for those wars other than they enriched a small segment of the population, mostly those who themselves would never join the military, they just view them as THEIR army to take resources from others.

The military in this country should rarely be called on to go through what these troops have been through. ONLY WHEN this country is facing attack. Terror attacks have occurred from the beginning of time and should be handled as they are in every country, much more effectively, without going all over the world making even more enemies, killing innocents, torturing people etc.

Those who used the military based on lies are the ones who should be facing, far more than criticism, they SHOULD be facing serious charges, if for nothing else, to deter future abuses by those who get into positions of power.

Until THEY are held accountable, I don't care if this guy walked off his base or not.

If I were running things, any 'leader' who wants to start a war would have to be on the front lines leading the troops. Such a rule would have ended any notion Bush/Cheney had about sending troops to Iraq and/or Afghanistan.

 

yeoman6987

(14,449 posts)
8. I don't know
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 11:28 AM
Jun 2014

I think it would be nice to have it the way you mentioned, but in reality, military personnel are not looked kindly for leaving their job. I guess it would be nice to have it so that everyone could just walk away but especially at the time that was not realistic. I especially am not as sympathetic to this young Soldier because he signed up AFTER the war started and not after 9/11 out of patriotic reasons. He singed up to fight in the war that was currently going on.

sabrina 1

(62,325 posts)
10. I think a lot of people signed up after the war started. But many realized after getting there
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 12:05 PM
Jun 2014

that it wasn't the glorious, justifiable war they were led to believe. That doesn't take away from their initial patriotism, but it must be terrible to realize that you have been lied to about something so serious.

Also, he may have been pretty messed up by the time he walked away.

Peacetrain

(22,836 posts)
11. That is what I am reading .. he was in trouble
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 06:43 PM
Jun 2014

If he was in the states, we would hopefully get help for him..but since he was in the thick of it.. apparently there was nothing forthcoming..

JNelson6563

(28,151 posts)
2. This blood for sport stuff is draining.
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 11:05 AM
Jun 2014

Like you my thoughts go to "what if he were my son?". Who knows what may have happened to him? All this judgemental supposition, stirring up hate, I am rather disgusted by it all.

Julie

Peacetrain

(22,836 posts)
4. I am numb right now just thinking about it
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 11:12 AM
Jun 2014

And sick to heart watching this be used as a football for political gain and for media numbers.. there is no balance in the reporting.. just foaming rabid attacks..

mcar

(42,210 posts)
3. Compassion, indeed, Peacetrain
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 11:05 AM
Jun 2014

I don't know why I am so surprised, but it is amazing and sickening to me how little simple human compassion is being shown to this young man and his family.

All this conjecture and speculation, all this vitriol, even here on this board. It makes me wonder what we've become. Let the poor man recover. Let him come home to his family. Yes, we need to find out what happened to him and why. But why contribute to the feeding frenzy?

Up until Saturday, the right, the left, "patriots" all were happily participating in "Bring Bowe Home" activities. I've seen them and the accompanying bumper stickers, here in my little town in Florida. Now it's happened and suddenly he's a traitor, a pariah? How did these people expect him to be freed?

Let's take some time and give the family some space. Geez.

Peacetrain

(22,836 posts)
5. mcar, I still think about Michael "Scott" Speicher
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 11:18 AM
Jun 2014

I remember like it was yesterday, Cheney who was in the first Bush administration.. (can't remember this office right now) but he is holding a press conference, and is asked about the downed plane.. and it had not been 24 hours I think since the plane went down, he proclaimed Speicher dead.. no one knew where the plane was, where Speicher was.. I was just flabbergasted by that..

So who knows, who knows..what happened.. and all this speculation without knowledge just rips at my heart..just like Speicher.. political expedience on the part of some at the expense of those who serve..

Just heartbreaking to me

sabrina 1

(62,325 posts)
7. This is how I feel about it, when the War Criminals who led these troops into these horrors they
Tue Jun 3, 2014, 11:27 AM
Jun 2014

lied to the people about, are charged and convicted for their crimes against humanity, then we can talk about a soldier reacting to the horrors s/he experienced and they would then be able to use in their defense, the lies that became apparent, see Tillman and many others, after they got there.

Until we restore the rule of law, the focus will be on the victims of the liars and war criminals. To me, this soldier is just one more victim of the crimes that have unpunished so far.

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