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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBowe Bergdahl and the Pathologizing of Dissent
http://www.thenation.com/blog/180216/bowe-bergdahl-and-pathologizing-dissent[W]e are nothing but camping boy [scouts], Bowe Bergdahl wrote sometime in the year before he wandered away from a remote Army post in eastern Afghanistan with a knife, a camera and a diary, and was captured by the Taliban. Hiding from children behind our heavy armored trucks and our c-wire and sand bagged operating post, we tell our selves that we are not cowards.
Coward is precisely the accusation that right-wing politicians and pundits have leveled against Bergdahl since news broke that the Obama administration had freed five Taliban commanders detained at Guantánamo Bay in exchange for his release. After previously criticizing Obama for not doing enough to bring Bergdahl home, the right immediately launched a grimy campaign to prove that Bergdahl wasnt worthy of the swap; that he was the wrong kind of soldier, a deserter.
On Wednesday The Washington Post published excerpts from his journals, e-mails and other writings that complicate the rights depiction of Bergdahl, who is still hospitalized in Germany. They paint a portrait of a deeply complicated and fragile young man struggling to maintain his mental stability, the Post wrote. The documents were provided by Kim Harrison, reportedly a close friend to Bergdahl who said she was concerned by the way the media had portrayed him. The report also revealed that before joining the Army, Bergdahl received an uncharacterized discharge from the Coast Guard before completing basic training. Harrison and another friend told the Post the discharge was related to psychological issues.
The excerpts in the Post dont answer the question of why he walked off base, an act for which the military justice system may still discipline him. It does suggest that the circumstances surrounding his disappearance are more complicated than what those accusing him of calculated desertion present. But the Post account has ignited a new sort of speculation, about whether Bergdahl was mentally fit for service to begin with. In 2008, the year he enlisted, the Army was so desperate to sign up new recruits that it issued waivers for criminal records, health issues and other problems to one out of every five recruits. Though its not clear whether Bergdahl received a waiver, in his 2012 profile of Bergdahl, Michael Hastings connected relaxed recruitment standards with the discipline problems endemic in Bergdahls unit.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)I am not sure that he thought it was going to be the way he thought it was going to be. He joined the Coast Guard but left after a few months and then joined the Army. Hopefully he gets the help he needs. It seems that the Secretary of Defense is going to make sure he gets the help he needs. They are not giving him his promotion that he is eligible for this month which kind of sucks.
mylye2222
(2,992 posts)I wish the best recovery to Bergdahl. Do you think he might be called ti testify befire Congress? I have the intuition this man has a lot to say and teach to us.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)He is a very junior enlisted and it would be a crime to see Senators and Reps yelling at him. Officers are different.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)and implying that his diagnosis is reason to consider his actions to disclose the abuse of power by our own government against us as "erratic" or untrustworthy.
Thank you for this thread.