Bowe Bergdahl To Be Charged With Desertion

[regexcellent]

No. Fear of disciplinary action for desertion might be necessary to make a conscript military fight and die but it is irrelevant for our all-volunteer military. In other words, military discipline isn't what causes 'anyone to put their lives at risk in a foreign war' in the 21st century US military.

There are plenty of volunteer armies which have evaporated under pressure. It's happened pretty recently actually. In any case what Bergdahl did goes beyond just desertion. Plus a bunch of people were killed trying to get him back.

[SlowwHand]

They need to shoot him. The rules are clear.

[DinoDoc]

Plus a bunch of people were killed trying to get him back.

Georgia family wants Berghdahl held accountable
LOGANVILLE, GA (WXIA) – Once hailed a military hero, US Army Sergeant Bowe Berghdahl could now face life in prison.

Nine months after he was freed in a controversial prisoner swap, Berghdahl is charged with desertion and endangering fellow soldiers.

Soldiers from Georgia, from the National Guard's 48th Infantry Brigade, risked their lives searching for Bergdahl when they thought he was an unwilling captive of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Master Sgt. Mark Allen of Loganville was among them; he risked his life during the search and he will never be the same.

He cannot speak for himself now. He is paralyzed and needs constant care because he was shot in the head by an enemy sniper in Afghanistan.

Allen was wounded while he and his fellow Georgia National Guard soldiers were trying to find and rescue Bergdahl soon after he disappeared in 2009.

Allen's wife, Shannon Allen, was not aware of the circumstances when she and the community welcomed her wounded husband home in December, 2011.

But now, many blame Bergdahl -- not only for Master Sgt. Allen's brain injuries and paralysis, but also for the deaths of at least six other soldiers who also helped search for Bergdahl.

They could never have known, then, that Bergdahl would be charged with desertion.

This past June when the U.S. traded Bergdahl for five Taliban prisoners and brought Bergdahl home, Shannon Allen unleashed her fury in a Facebook post that shot around the world --

"Meet my husband," she wrote, "injuries directly brought to you by the actions of this traitor," Bergdahl.

On the phone with 11Alive News on Wednesday, Ms. Allen said she would not comment now on the decision to charge Bergdahl with desertion.

But last June she was quoted in the Walton Tribune [subscription required], saying, "I wish [Bergdahl] no ill will. I am glad he is no longer a prisoner... People lost their lives - even Mark, who no longer has the life he had before. I just think [Bergdahl] needs to face the consequences. He still needs to be held accountable for what he did."

One of the two charges against Bergdahl -- endangering the lives of fellow soldiers -- carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

http://www.cbs19.tv/story/28627525/g...ld-accountable

[PLATO]

No. Fear of disciplinary action for desertion might be necessary to make a conscript military fight and die but it is irrelevant for our all-volunteer military. In other words, military discipline isn't what causes 'anyone to put their lives at risk in a foreign war' in the 21st century US military.

According to this article, the Army has prosecuted less than 10% of deserters and there have been 20,000 deserters since 2001. Do you think harsher consequences would have changed this or do you believe that the all-voluntary military would see the same numbers if "fear of disciplinary action" was more instilled? Not judging...just curious on your thoughts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Army has prosecuted about 1,900 cases of desertion since 2001, despite tens of thousands of soldiers fleeing the service in the face of deadly combat, long and multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and strains on military families.

The data reflects how rarely the military takes desertion cases to court. And it underscores the complexities of such cases as a top military commander reviews the investigation of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who left his Afghanistan post in 2009 and was captured and held by the Taliban for five years.

More than 20,000 soldiers have been dropped from the rolls as deserters since 2006, Army data show. Totals for earlier years weren’t available, but likely include thousands more.

In trial cases over the last 13 years, about half the soldiers pleaded guilty to deserting their post. Another 78 were tried and convicted of desertion.

Desertion is relatively easy to prove, former Army lawyer Greg Rinckey said, but circumstances such as post-traumatic stress or family problems are also taken into account.

“A lot of deserters suffered from PTSD or other mental health issues, or they were on their second or third deployment,” said Rinckey. Numbers spiked as soldiers began returning to the battlefront, sometimes for up to 15 month deployments.

Some disappearances involved divorce issues or sick children, he said. In other cases, soldiers deserted bases in the United States. Many are of these are handled without going to court martial, with soldiers administratively punished or sometimes medically discharged.

Soldiers who avoid deployment or leave posts in combat zones are more serious cases, particularly if the deserter is responsible for standing guard or protecting others in dangerous places.

“Those are looked at very harshly,” said Rinckey, now a partner with the Washington law firm Tully Rinckey, “because commanders have a unit of other people who are looking at that soldier and saying, ‘I don’t want to go either,’ so obviously there has to be an example made.”

Rinckey and other military officials say the Bergdahl case will be difficult. It’s now in the hands of Gen. Mark Milley, head of U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Even if Milley concludes Bergdahl deserted his post, he may consider mitigating circumstances while weighing whether to charge the soldier with desertion or being absent without leave (AWOL). He may also handle the matter administratively.

Milley has broad discretion, Army spokesman Wayne Hall said. Beyond court martial, possible actions include counseling, a reprimand, forfeiture of pay, reduction in rank or involuntary separation from the military.

Bergdahl could receive an honorable, general or other than honorable discharge. That decision can determine whether he gets as much as $300,000 in back pay and other benefits, including continued health care.

Bergdahl deliberately walked away, an initial U.S. military investigation found in 2009 based on available evidence. Since his release, some who served with him have called him a deserter and said he should be held accountable for leaving his post. Others have said troops were put in danger, and even killed, as they searched for Bergdahl.

The maximum punishment for desertion during a time of war is death. That outcome is highly unlikely. Only one service member, Pvt. Eddie Slovik, was executed for desertion since the Civil War. Slovik, 24, was shot by a firing squad in January 1945. His execution, approved by then-Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, was kept secret by the Army until nine years later.

Bergdahl was handed over to U.S. special forces in Afghanistan in May in an exchange for five top Taliban commanders who were imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/army-deserters-rarely-face-prosecution/

[PLATO]

It isn't hard to do

It's easy if you try.

[regexcellent]

I wonder if that 20,000 counts no-shows from DEP.

[Lonestar]

Can someone explain why we traded 5 prisoners for a deserter.

Because, like it or not, we weren't entirely sure as to why he disappeared.

And we never abandon our own.

[DinoDoc]

Because, like it or not, we weren't entirely sure as to why he disappeared.

Bull****.

[Lonestar]

Bull****.

We really weren't.

Sorry, but "he was a weird ******* who didn't like being there" isn't exactly compelling state evidence that he deserted.

[Jon Miller]

And we never abandon our own.

Exactly, it isn't like he joined the enemy.

JM

[DinoDoc]

We really weren't.

There's been nothing uncovered since the 2010 investigation that came to the conclusion that he willfully walked away from his post.

[Lonestar]

There's been nothing uncovered since the 2010 investigation that came to the conclusion that he willfully walked away from his post.

Yeah I guess the Army didn't interview him about it after the fact to see what his story was.

Again, "he was a weird ******* who didn't want to be there" isn't exactly State evidence, certainly not enough to write off a uniformed member of the US Armed Forces.

I strongly suspect they lack enough to get a conviction in this case too, the most we're gonna see is a big chicken dinner and forfeiture of pay