Testimony of soldiers wounded during hunt for Bergdahl
That Bowe Bergdahl walked off his Afghanistan post in 2009 is not in dispute. His lawyers have claimed that no one was hurt as a result of the search for him. That’s not true, according to U.S. Air Force Major John Marx who testified that he was part of the hunt one day when he witnessed two casualties that resulted directly from Bergdahl’s actions;
U.S. Air Force Maj. John Marx testified about a firefight on July 8, 2009, when he and several other U.S. military members were seeking information on Bergdahl’s whereabouts, with members of the Afghan National Army. They were attacked after setting up a checkpoint near a town in Afghanistan.
One of the two wounded soldiers cited by prosecutors is U.S. Army National Guard Sergeant First Class Mark Allen. Prosecutors said he was shot in the head and suffered a traumatic brain injury that has left him in a wheel chair. Another soldier had hand injuries and required surgery because of a rocket-propelled grenade.
Marx, who said the mission’s sole purpose was to search for Bergdahl, testified that he was sitting next to Allen as bullets flew overhead.
“I looked at him, then I see a trickle of blood coming down his head,” Marx testified. Asked where Allen was wounded, Marx pointed at his temples and said: “Right through his head.”
Marx testified that he later carried Allen to the medevac helicopter, describing it as “probably one of the toughest things I’ve ever done in my life.”
Bergdahl’s attorneys countered that “Allen’s injuries were directly caused by the Taliban, not by SGT Bergdahl.” That’s only a little bit true. The US military prides itself on leaving no one behind, regardless of how the person contributed to the circumstances. If Bergdahl hadn’t gone off on his walkabout, SFC Allen wouldn’t have been in the place he was when he was shot.
Thanks to David for the link.
Category: Terror War
Should be taken out Slovak style.
Slovik*
I am a Slovak… please don’t shoot me!!
Bowe Berghdal should’ve been the exception to the “No man left behind” rule. I’m hoping for trial, conviction, revocation of US citizenship, and deportation whatever region of Afghanistan he prefers. 1 way ticket, do not pass go, do not collect $200.
I’m fully aware of the fact that this will not come to pass. A man can dream, though.
Well, it could come to pass in effect. But he’d have to voluntarily renounce his citizenship since he’s a citizen by birth vice naturalization.
He does that, I’ll kick in $250 to help pay his airfare back to Afghanistan.
COUNT ME IN for $100!
50 cents- faqqueem.
Death penalty for Bowe Bergdahl would be appropriate.
Staked out in the desert, or firing squad.
One round, through the head..seems appropriate!
He is the cause of the injuries, isn’t he? IF he had stayed at his post instead of deserting it, none of those people would have been hurt looking for him.
Blowing it off on those who would injured in the process of search & rescue is not just lame, it’s scrambling for an excuse.
‘would injured’ s/b ‘were injured’.
Not enough caffeine yet.
One word.
Scaphism
You are too kind.
Put him on the Tree of Woe. (Make sure he doesn’t have any archer friends around).
Why waste perfectly good honey? Also, those buzzards won’t feed themselves.
Their is Sooo Much I would love to say
But I’ve been advised to keep my mouth closed
Will fill in details when this is over
Oh, and I just wanted to say that seeing that photo of Bergdahl and “Abdul the Huge” Jonn posted with this article NEVER gets old – and always makes me smile.
Further proof that “Man Love Thursdays” can be enjoyed anytime!
I say that Bergdahl should title his book (you know he’s going to write one) “Endless Man-Love Thursday: My Five Years With the Taliban”.
The photo above would be perfect as the photo for the book’s cover.
And all proceeds from the book should go to SFC Mark Allen and those wounded looking for this fucking traitor.
Bergdahl was the “fat bottomed boy” for the Taliban while he was with them… probably loves himself some cockmeat sammiches, Taliban-style.
One last comment: Buck Fergdahl. Hanging would IMO be apropos for the bastard.
“We don’t leave men and women in uniform behind,” the President said. (Obama speech concerning Bergdahl)
Obama traded five “high Value” taliban prisoners for Bergdahl, but never lifted a finger to rescue Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone S. Woods, and Glen Doherty. He (and Hillary)had from 9:40pm to 4:00am to do something, but left them to die.
Bergdahl should be (at minimum)convicted, imprisoned, dishonorably discharged, back pay taken away, rank reduction, and not be able to receive any royalties/profits from any books, movies, etc; that may be produced or written.
Screw him!! (and Obama & Hillary)
Bergdahl is not only responsible for SFC Allen and another soldier getting severely wounded, but he’s also going to be responsible for whomever the five “high value” targets injure or kill going forward.
Nice work Bowe, you dildo.
Don’t forget, there was also a monetary payment made for Bergdahl as well.
It is and has been my hope that Bergdahl will be executed. For desertion in the face of the enemy and for the lives and wounds his desertion cost.
Eat shit and die…soon Bergdahl.
All, that’s been written above I agree with.
Treason, betrayal, death penalty.
Why not just abandon him somewhere in a remote desert? Buzzards and maggots have to eat.
Which will occur first before Obama leaves office?
1. Bowe Bergdahl – Pardoned
2. Bradley Manning – Sentence commuted
3. Hillary Clinton – Pardoned
4. RICO investigation of Clinton Foundation
None of the Above.
He won’t touch Bergdahl or Manning with all the hooplah about Snowden that occurred. His ego must maintain his legacy of having popularity and those memes of him n’ Uncle Joe just won’t cut it if he pardons people with poor favorability.
Giving Hillary a pardon will show he knew what she was doing, he knew she had intent and knew when he said she didn’t do anything wrong, he was lying. That won’t cut it for him.
Short of Hillary telling him she will flat out throw him under the bus and has the evidence to do it, she’s not getting a pardon.
I vote for RICO Investigation – after whoever suborned the Director of the FBI gets kicked out of Justice.
On the topic of shitty soldiers, remember that Reservist who stole a bunch of weapons from an Armory in Worcester, MA, last year? One of the unrecovered weapons was used in a Boston robbery the other day. http://worcesterherald.com/2016/11/one-of-16-guns-stolen-from-u-s-army-reserve-in-worcester-was-used-in-a-boston-robbery-prosecutors-say/
I’m not defending Bergdahl in any way, I’ve made my inclinations clear with respect to punishment.
But I do wonder if his case brings into question the concept of waivers for turds who wash out of other services just because the all volunteer Army was struggling for bodies in 2008/2009….if he couldn’t hack the fucking Coast Guard, what made anyone think he’d be a solid soldier?
Instead of pushing guys out who love the service we granted a waiver to a fucking halfwit, maybe we ought to ask the senior level officials just what the fuck they were thinking when the enacted the waiver policy to fill empty slots with morons and criminals….at some point with what less than 1% serving now the all volunteer concept is going to go belly up….unless something is done to make retention a priority and make the military an attractive career option. Keeping dipshits out would go a long way to making it seem more of a demanding career path.
Again I’m not defending Bergdahl, I’m questioning the piss poor reasoning behind a waiver program as a desperate means to fill slots when the resulting soldier quality is a guy like Bergdahl….
In 2011, I was a rear detachment 1SG and inherited a kid who was sent back from Iraq because he just couldn’t follow simple directions, keep track of his weapon, maintain simple hygiene, etc. Nice kid, tried really hard, things just didn’t quite engage somewhere. Turned out to have some pretty serious Asperger’s. Somehow this kid got passed all the way through Basic and AIT because we needed Soldiers. I’d like 10 minutes with his recruiter, Drill Sergeants, basic training and AIT commanders, and whatever quack of a doc passed him on his entry physical.
I agree. When I was on instructor duty at an USAF tech school, more than once I tried to have someone sent home. There was one Colonel who always disagreed; it was always the NCO’s fault when junior couldn’t make the grade. It was this attitude that caused my fellows in the field to get a box of rocks from the tech school from time to time. This Colonel’s reluctance to allow entry level discharge led to other officers calling him Santa Claus behind his back (shh, I’m not supposed to know that).
VOV — on this point I disagree with you. Coast Guard boot camp is supposed to be one of the harder ones these days, and he was very young when he went through. I’ve read Bergdahl’s interview with General Dahl and his Article 32 at the “Bergdahl Docket” website (which was put up by his defense attorneys, but the documents appear genuine). The story they tell is not of a half-wit washout. In fact, Bergdahl did very well in Army training–he was a PT stud and was hoping to go to the SF Q course, and the unit he deployed with (and had previously done pretty well with) was 4/25 (Airborne). I get the impression he thought he was “too good” to go on this deployment with these “lesser warriors,” and even after coming back from desertion, he seems to think of himself as a cut above the rest. (He loves talking about the Spartans and the Samurai, as if he himself were part of those traditions.) But apparently one day he and a bunch of other guys were doing some digging outside the wire without their IBA, contrary to orders. And the BC caught them, cussed them out, and gave them Article 15’s. And right after that happened, so it seems, Bergdahl came to his realization that he was ashamed to be an American, and that the title of U.S. Soldier was “just the life of fools,” and that “the horror that is America is disgusting.” (That’s what he wrote to his father at the time…nowadays he tells a cockeyed story that he wanted to draw attention to himself in the hopes of getting an interview with the CG so he could “expose” the bad leadership of the BC.) All of which is to say — I can accept that a guy who washes out of boot camp in his teens might come back, try again, and make a success of it when he’s a couple years more mature. Bergdahl’s decision to desert his unit and betray his country is in no part the fault of recruiters or regulations,… Read more »
If true what you say makes good sense, as I said I’m not defending or excusing his actions. I’m suggesting that washouts from another branch ought to be a dis-qualifier for service in a second branch. Period.
Why offer re-tries for someone who couldn’t last 30 days? Maybe you’ll find a few guys who benefit from that, but to my line of thinking you either make it through basic/ait or you don’t and if you don’t thank you very much have a great life but you’re done here.
Nothing you stated convince me otherwise, whatever he lacked for the Coast Guard turned out to be a problem later on as well because he didn’t conform and didn’t make it. We’re not talking about him not being able to make the rescue swimmer class, we’re talking about him not lasting 27 fucking days because he was sent home after 26….that’s a seriously fucked up individual.
While I’ve not much of an issue with offering second chances under certain circumstances in civilian enterprises that I’ve operated, I’m not convinced that the military is the appropriate place to test these theories.
whatever he lacked for the Coast Guard turned out to be a problem later on as well because he didn’t conform and didn’t make it.
No, it was a completely separate thing. In the Coast Guard he got stressed, as kids sometimes do. (He was diagnosed with “adjustment disorder” and nothing else at that time.) We’ve been letting in people with much worse backgrounds than that for a long time.
In the Army he got through all the stress just fine…but his moral fiber proved to be lacking. (He was diagnosed with a personality disorder after he got back.)
People with worse backgrounds are let in all the time….ouch….
I realize not everyone is going to be a choir boy, but you’ve got me wondering how often that happens and what’s the over/under on the success rate that warrants such a program….it seems you have some knowledge of this topic at a fairly in depth level and I thank you for the perspective. I’d be interested in reading the data results of allowing those with worse backgrounds in to meet recruiting quotas…
As always thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and offer an articulate response. I appreciate the education I get here.
So are you saying, VOV, that if I had gone down to the recruiting office in 2005 or thereabouts, I might have been able to go back on AD because they needed people? If I’d known that, I’d have run down there.
You’d have gotten a waiver. Then embarassed some troops at BCT and AIT to be sure.
Well, now I’m sorry I didn’t go. I missed out on all the action. Rats.
I came back via the NG after a nine year break in service and did two ME tours myself, I frequently left a lot of twenty-somethings eating my dust on ruck marches and runs as well.
Bergdahl’s attorneys countered that “Allen’s injuries were directly caused by the Taliban, not by SGT Bergdahl.”
If the prosecutor didn’t immediately stand up and counter that with, “They wouldn’t have been there if not for him taking a walk” then there’s a problem.
That’s as dumb an argument as any. Let alone his own platoon members said attacks in their area went up substantially after he went walkabout. He’s to blame for their injuries and there is direct correlation for that in this testimony.
That’s like a robber suing a business owner because while he was robbing the place he got shot. If he hadn’t been robbing the store, he wouldn’t have gotten shot, but he’s blaming the store owner for getting shot by his actions.
Is this an Army lawyer? If so, shouldn’t he know better? Or are some JAG officers as dumb and douchey as civilian lawyers?
Eugene Fidell, Bergdahl’s lead counsel, is a former Coast Guard lawyer and knows military law very well indeed. The prosecutors are Army lawyers, and from what I have seen of them, they are good ones.
But in any case, this is not the trial. This is a preliminary hearing about whether evidence of these injuries will be allowed a trial.
That means the parties have already made their arguments and objections in written briefs, and the testimony is just there so the judge can make his ruling based on the facts as well as the law. But it also means the testimony is allowed at the hearing whether or not it is allowed at the trial.
Well then its a good thing no one knows about this so the jury doesn’t hear this in the case they don’t allow it. If it makes it to the internet though, I think they’ll find out….
As the article says, he hasn’t even decided whether to take a panel (jury) or a trial by judge alone.
If I were a betting man, I would bet against very heavy odds that he will go for trial by judge alone…because unless they change the rules, if you are tried by a military jury you will be sentenced by that military jury. The judge will be a hell of a lot lighter on him than a random selection of officers…let alone officers and senior NCOs.
He should start writing love letters to Manning. If they could get a thing going both trials would be locked up for decades.
This picture has always been one of my favorites on T A H web site. Notice the bent finger over the shoulder. Tommy Taliban is saying, “Guess where this little piggy has been, and where it’s going to be! Yum, finger-licken’ good!”
This causes me to think about Coast Guard guys flipping shit to Army guys about who has higher standards.
Ouch.