Bo Bergdahl

[JoseCuervo]

I can tell you from direct knowledge that he DID leave of his own volition and that servicemembers lost their lives in operations DIRECTLY focused on recovering his useless ass. There have been a TON of other resources ( human, equipment and analysis assets) spent as well. Period. No desertion = no operations with loss of life and assets to try and recover said deserter.

Again, the term "directly" has a specific meaning.

Do you have a credible link, or are you referring to the Faux News talking point where they lumped 5 (or 6) guys who were killed in the region that may or may not have been related to efforts of finding him?

Since last weekend’s prisoner exchange in which Afghan insurgents turned over Sergeant Bergdahl after five years of captivity, a number of the men who served with him have called him a deserter. Some have gone further, blaming him for the deaths of six to eight soldiers.

That second claim is hardening into a news media narrative. CNN has reported in scrolling headlines that six soldiers died looking for Sergeant Bergdahl after senior American military officials say he wandered off his base. The Daily Beast published an essay by a former member of Sergeant Bergdahl’s battalion, Nathan Bradley Bethea, who linked the search to the deaths of eight soldiers whom he named. “He has finally returned,” Mr. Bethea wrote. “Those men will never have the opportunity.”


But a review of casualty reports and contemporaneous military logs from the Afghanistan war shows that the facts surrounding the eight deaths are far murkier than definitive — even as critics of Sergeant Bergdahl contend that every American combat death in Paktika Province in the months after he disappeared, from July to September 2009, was his fault.

Again, the word "directly" has a specific meaning.

Mr. Bethea, the soldier who wrote the essay in The Daily Beast, said the company executive officer for the unit at Zerok believed that “the attack would not have happened had his company received its normal complement of intelligence aircraft: drones, planes, and the like. Instead, every intelligence aircraft available in theater had received new instructions: find Bergdahl. My friend blames Bergdahl for his soldiers’ deaths.”

and so on and so on....

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

Again, the term "directly" has a specific meaning.

Do you have a credible link, or are you referring to the Faux News talking point where they lumped 5 (or 6) guys who were killed in the region that may or may not have been related to efforts of finding him?




Again, the word "directly" has a specific meaning.


and so on and so on....

I think he means he was physically present on the ground during said operations, or drinks beer with someone who was.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Screw the Kid who wanted to finger paint IEDs with the Taiban. It just sets up a whole new set of problems for the U.S. having to barter when they step up the kidnapping of Americans or U.S. Servicemen. Copy and Paste @ 11:00. John

 

[SFC B]

I think he means he was physically present on the ground during said operations, or drinks beer with someone who was.

>>>This plus the REAL intel.....no "news" needed

 

[noharleyyet]

Just to be clear he was never listed as a POW by our government.

Yet that is the very term the prez used during his double down no apology presser I watched at noon..

 

[belly-deep]

This is a moot point regarding how he should be treated. It is one of the few perks of the job, your brother will die trying to recover you regardless the circumstances

I disagree. If you leave to go join the other side, nobody has any duty to bring your dumb ass back.

 

[Southwind]

Do you have a credible link to that claim?

That Faux News talking point was kind of getting rebutted, last time I checked.

And do you have a credible link to your claim?

 

[JoseCuervo]

And do you have a credible link to your claim?

Sure, they are all over, and I even copied some excerpts. You can easily go read the entire context.

Hell, you can even go read the official transcripts of the Sec of Defense and his comments.

Are you aware of any people DIRECTLY killed because of the search for Bergdahl?

 

[Southwind]

Sure, they are all over, and I even copied some excerpts. You can easily go read the entire context.

Hell, you can even go read the official transcripts of the Sec of Defense and his comments.

Are you aware of any people DIRECTLY killed because of the search for Bergdahl?

So in reality then you don't as normal.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

I disagree. If you leave to go join the other side, nobody has any duty to bring your dumb ass back.

You are welcome to that opinion, but that is not the deal. I have personally risked my life to recover all kinds of folks, some of whom a reasonable person would argue didn't deserve it, and were not fans of the US military, but we do it because it is our mission and it is a key part of our martial culture. It is not easy to see the Soldiers that you command lie bleeding on a stretcher, who got there rescuing someone who has, and will despise your presense every other day of their life, except the day when you snatched them out of the fire, but that is our duty.

My opinion, based on 14 years of experience, is that you recover your personnel, bottom line. Even if it is because you wanted to mitigate the damage they could cause us, and you want to see him held accountable.

 

[JoseCuervo]

So in reality then you don't as normal.

You want me to prove that a false claim on Faux News is false?

Gotcha...

And, not surprised that you weren't aware of any that were DIRECTLY killed. As usual.


Hell, I would be willing to think that the Army would have better info than Faux News.

"I don't know of circumstances or details of U.S. soldiers dying as a result of efforts to find and rescue Sgt. Bergdahl," said Mr. Hagel.

The U.S. Army said Tuesday it will conduct an investigation into the circumstances of Sgt. Bergdahl's disappearance.

 

[Southwind]

I didn't make a claim on either of those, but I can with 100% certainty claim that I can't think of a less credible source than you. But so much for wrestling the pig as they say.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

What's wrong with pigs.........

 

[SFC B]

You want me to prove that a false claim on Faux News is false?

Gotcha...

And, not surprised that you weren't aware of any that were DIRECTLY killed. As usual.


Hell, I would be willing to think that the Army would have better info than Faux News.

Let's get this shit straight....Hagel IS NOT the Army and he (along with ALL political appointees) say exactly what they are TOLD to say and that which is sanitized for the dumb-assed public who will take it at face value. You can discount what I have said if you want to and I won't/can't engage in the names/places game. Swallowing what ANY bunch of the media give you is a losing game. If you are hitching your wagon to some ill conceived belief that there were no costs paid due to this ass-hats desertion you must have an interesting view of reality. I guess you also believe that the "investigation" wasn't done immediately following his desertion? And that they are just now trying to "find the facts"......

 

[schmalts]

not [/B]at war with. Furthermore, Mexico is actively trying to deal with gun smuggling, which is basically what the Marine did, accidentally or not. We don't put our citizens above other country's laws, but if appropriate we do try to get them back. He appears to be getting more attention that other people have in the past. It has been about 60 days and you guys are wondering why we haven't busted him out, even though doing so would be a violation of a friendly nation's sovereignty.

So you said this guy is a gun smuggler, and then also act like you care about a countries sovereignty when that country absolutely hates when we try to be one ourselves. My opinion is they have some real big nads to enforce their border laws, and our president has very little to not threaten to do the same to get back one of our guys who made a mistake. Or do you believe that GI's really want to sneak into Mexico with guns to find a better way of life?

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

Hell, I would be willing to think that the Army would have better info than Faux News.

They do, they just don't flap their gums about it on any media outlet.

Just like the SEALs never told the Pres who specifically put UBL down, because the people who operate out in the field understand that disclosing operational details gets their buddies killed.

The difference between reality and politics, is you are never exposed to the circumstances brought on by your words.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Let's get this shit straight....Hagel IS NOT the Army
.

Hmmmmm...... let me see what I called Hagel......

"Sec of Defense and his comments"

Gosh, doesn't look like I ever called Hagel THE Army.... Prettty sure He was the person I referred to as "Sec of Defense", and, that is why I went and got you his actual comments. Please don't falsely claim that I said Hagel was the Army.

and he (along with ALL political appointees) say exactly what they are TOLD to say .

Can you tell me the ranks in the Army where people don't do exactly what they are told to do and say?

and that which is sanitized for the dumb-assed public who will take it at face value.

Sure looks like a lot of the "dumb-assed public" is going with the whole "6 (or 5 or 8) guys were "DIRECTLY" killed because of Bergdahl. You are correct, they will take what they hear on Faux News at "face value".

You can discount what I have said if you want to and I won't/can't engage in the names/places game. .

Well, not sure what else you can add that the guy who wrote the piece for the Daily Beast left out for names and places. He listed everyone who was killed in the area for the next 90 days and attributed them all "DIRECTLY" to the search for Bergdahl, including guys who were killed when a outpost was overran. Just to clarify, are the guys you are referring to that were "DIRECTLY" killed the same guys at the Daily Beast guys?

(If you can't share, that is understandable.)

Swallowing what ANY bunch of the media give you is a losing game. .

Exactly, and, if you read my posts in this thread, I have tried to understand if the guys you were saying that were "DIRECTLY" killed because of Bergdahl were the same guys that the Faux News stories were plastering pictures, and were then having the stories/claims discredited.

If you are hitching your wagon to some ill conceived belief that there were no costs paid due to this ass-hats desertion you must have an interesting view of reality. .

I never claimed there were "no costs paid due to this ass-hats desertion", so please don't create false positions on my part.

On the other hand, I don't see the purpose of attributing false costs to the Bergdahl story. Is there some benefit to attributing every death in the region to Bergdahl? Who would that serve to benefit?

I guess you also believe that the "investigation" wasn't done immediately following his desertion? And that they are just now trying to "find the facts"......

I believe the "investigation" that is being discussed was the investigation into which of the 6 (or 5 or 8) deaths in the region in the following 90 days were attributable to the search for Bergdahl.

I don't live far from Bergdahl's hometown, I have seen plenty of Yellow Ribbons, Billboards, and biker parades supporting Bergdahl and I never once felt like he was a "hero", or even someone who deserved to be rescued. The information was quickly out that he was a deserter. I had no particular interest in his story, or his cause, or his release. I just don't see the benefit of falsely attributing deaths to his cause, for any political purpose. I got no dog in this fight, just don't see any reason to create false issues.

Kinda funny that the pressure on Obama to secure his release came from the "hawks" like McCain, Graham, Ayotte,and similar, and, then when his release was secured, they have to criticize.


I do kind of chuckle at the conservative flip flopping on Bergdahl and Obama's efforts...
(read this guy's tweets from the bottom up)....

 

[JohnCushman]

Let's look at it this way... When the Taliban has captured people before, they have been more than happy to post videos of executions and beheadings, even putting a bounty on American servicemen. Why did they allow Bowe to live so long? Why were there suddenly more direct attacks on the positions near his disappearance?

 

[TLC]

josie, no one needs to " create false positions on my part." you do fine at it all by yourself. nothing more than your typical BS. I'll believe the military people on here before you any day.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Let's look at it this way... When the Taliban has captured people before, they have been more than happy to post videos of executions and beheadings, even putting a bounty on American servicemen. Why did they allow Bowe to live so long? Why were there suddenly more direct attacks on the positions near his disappearance?

Were there?