NY Times: Bergdahl Was in Unit Known for Its Troubles

The New York Times decides that the best way that they can save young Buck Sergeant Bergdahl (and so, the the Obama Administration) from the barbs that are coming his way from his unit is to criticize the unit.

The platoon was, an American military official would assert years later, “raggedy.”

On their tiny, remote base, in a restive sector of eastern Afghanistan at an increasingly violent time of the war, they were known to wear bandannas and cutoff T-shirts. Their crude observation post was inadequately secured, a military review later found. Their first platoon leader, and then their first platoon sergeant, were replaced relatively early in the deployment because of problems.

But the unit — Second Platoon, Blackfoot Company in the First Battalion, 501st Regiment — might well have remained indistinguishable from scores of other Army platoons in Afghanistan had it not been for one salient fact: This was the team from which Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl disappeared on June 30, 2009.

Oh, my goodness, they wore bandanas and cutoff T-shirts!!! I’ll bet they all had tattoos, too. I saw a number of platoon sergeants get relieved when they couldn’t make the transition from garrison duty and training to combat. So, that’s not new either. In fact, the platoon that I took over to take to Desert Storm had their platoon sergeant relieved right before I arrived. But, no one from my platoon deserted and went over to the Iraqis. In fact, if they’re going to use cut-off T-shirts and changes in leadership in the platoon for Bergdahl wandering off to the enemy camp, why didn’t more from the platoon follow him?

Further down the story, the Times blames President Bush, without saying his name;

At the time Sergeant Bergdahl disappeared, the platoon was straddling a moment of changing American military strategy and intensifying Taliban violence. The United States had fewer than 60,000 troops in the country at the time, with units like Blackfoot Company stretched across some of Afghanistan’s most dangerous and unforgiving terrain.

Luckily, along came President Obama who had the strategic expertise to change the conditions that drove Bergdahl over to the enemy;

By the end of 2009, Mr. Obama would acknowledge the shortcomings of the strategy and call for a “surge” in American forces that, by 2011, would number about 100,000.

Yeah, it was closer to 90,000, but I should probably remind the Times that Obama had to be dragged kicked and screaming into accepting the evaluation of the generals and the CIA and then, failed to fully staff the surge strategy that those generals and analysts said were required to win in Afghanistan. Evidenced by the fact that it took them over a year to move 30,000 into the battle. Less of a surge and more of a dribble.

But, there you go, expect more criticism of the troops who didn’t slip out of their base in the middle of the night, than the one who did. My exit question for the New York Times would be; Why didn’t the whole platoon desert if conditions were so bad that Bergdahl went over the hill? Or was Bergdahl the smartest one of the group, in your estimation?

Category: Terror War