Robert Bowe Bergdahl Case Study

Robert Bowdrie (Bowe) Bergdahl is a United States Army sergeant who left his post in Afghanistan 2009 purposefully and intentionally. The Bowe Bergdahl case is an odd case that sometimes does not make much sense. He will be facing court-martial sometime this year for is desertion and misbehavior. The Uniform Code of Military Justice is very similar to regular law, but has some adjustments that pertain to certain military rules and regulations. Bergdahl violated one of the most important rules and the first General Order, these orders are a soldier’s guideline on how to conduct themselves. Main Point 1: The main laws Bowe broke intentionally were Article 99 “misbehavior before the enemy” and Article 85 “Desertion” Both of these charges are
very serious as follows: “Any member of the armed forces who before or in the presence of the enemy—
(1) Runs away;
(2) Shamefully abandons, surrenders, or delivers up any command, unit, place, or military property which it is his duty to defend;
(3) Through disobedience, neglect, or intentional misconduct endangers the safety of any such command, unit, place, or military property;
(4) Casts away his arms or ammunition;
(5) Is guilty of cowardly conduct;
(6) Quits his place of duty to plunder or pillage;
(7) Causes false alarms in any command, unit, or place under control of the armed forces;
(8) Willfully fails to do his utmost to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy any enemy troops, combatants, vessels, aircraft, or any other thing, which it is his duty so to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy; or
(9) Does not afford all practicable relief and assistance to any troops, combatants, vessels, or aircraft of the armed forces belonging to the United States or their allies when engaged in battle; (Aug.
10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 69.) These nine clauses above are directly from the United States Military Code of Justice, which are military law.
Bowe is by my count guilty of six of the nine above contingencies, and these are only the details of an Article 99 violation. Bowe Bergdahl first tried to enter into the United States Coast Guard before entering the Army, where he was discharged only 26 days after enlistment due to a mental breakdown. Although some think that is enough to not admit him to any other military service he later joined the Army through the proper channels and with a
waiver.
Main point 2: Bergdahl actively made the decision to leave his post in Afghanistan in an attempt to raise awareness of the issues he was having with his unit. His plan was to leave from his duty station and make a long hike to another base in the region, causing what is known as a DUSTWUN (duty status whereabouts unknown) and that this action might bring attention to his situation by alerting higher command. There is no proof of how he was actually captured, Bergdahl mailed many of his belongings home and sent final emails to his father before his departure.
From my personal experience while deployed to Afghanistan from 2011-2012 I can say it is very rough to put it simply, the thought of leaving your post and wanting to get away from it all is a regular occurrence, but wheather you are in that tower or driving on a convoy or whatever it may be that you are doing, and you look out into the nothingness it hits you very quickly and you realize the radical impracticality of it all, you understand through your training that there is literally no way that you would be able to accomplish getting away from whatever you wish you could.
Main point 3: Bowe’s story of why he did leave his post is strange there are many sources, of which you can hear more about the details of what happened, but I particularly wanted to use the his transcript from his investigation interview with Major General Kenneth Dahl. This document is mainly Bergdahl’s account of what happened. There are so many details it is hard to state them all. In laymen’s terms he was unhappy with events that were happening in his unit and decided he would leave his post, leave is fellow soldiers, leave his weapons and kit, body armor, helmet, send some disturbing messages to his father by email, and be emailed back some strange and hike to another base.
He claims that he thought of going through the proper chain of command to report issues and problems he was seeing in his unit, but then thought the following: “Yeah, right.
He is a PFC and he is coming in here telling me that the battalion commander isn’t fit for duty. He just got into the Army, this PFC. He is nothing.” (serialpodcast.org, EO111, 2016) which sounds like fairly logical thinking, but when you have had 5 years to think of all the things that have passed you have a lot of time to make things sound convincing, and the realization of what you have done has really been imbedded in your mind, a person in that situation is no doubt going to try to make up whatever they can to gain credibility, and with no one else backing his story to me it becomes highly unbelievable. He said to those calling him a Taliban sympathizer that on a PBS report “a complete joke” and, “You would have to be completely stupid to think that you could desert in the middle of a war zone.” (PBS NEWSHOUR, 2016) But if you read of his story to track the Taliban on his way from post Mest to fob Sharan saying, “The idea was not to make contact with them but actually to just trail them.” (PBS NEWSHOUR, 2016) His logic is just as flawed.
The United States Army does not intentionally under supply units that are in remote places. Logistics are extremely difficult, and commanders have to make the best decisions for the unit as a whole and the means sometimes supplies are shortcoming. Living on MRE (meals
ready to eat), and having little to no shelter in the worst cases, as well as having to clean up after ourselves easy when in the States. You have access to toiletry and other sanitation. In the field you don’t have much more than a hole in the ground.
If Bowe Bergdahl is not convicted for his actions when he deserted, it will put out the understanding that this type of behavior can be tolerated and will be insulting to those who have served an honorable term/s with the United States Military. There are many soldiers who make mistakes and receive an article 15, a disciplinary action for disobedience or misconduct that have come back from it and done some really great things. Prosecuting Bowe Bergdahl will give others the understanding that the military is not a game you sign up for it, and form a basic understanding of what is going to be expected of you. Bowe Bergdahl volunteered, he was not forced to join the U.S. military. Prosecuting Bergdahl to the maximum extent of the law will show others that misbehavior will not be tolerated.
The fact is letting Bergdahl off without answering for is desertion and misconduct is unjust, and even though he was held captive for 5 years I believe he should still answer for it. If a drunk driver kills someone in an accident, it was his choice to drink and then step into the car and drive. I believe this is the same type of logic with the Bergdahl case. It was his choice to leave, and there are the proper channels and chains of command in the Army if you do not agree with what is happening. There is a procedure of how to report and address issues within a unit.