Sunnyways Sunnyways:
Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:
xerxes xerxes:
It’s still a dishonourable discharge. He won’t get any more benefits from the army, or pension or a military funeral. It’s not nothing.
You can keep trying to minimize his action and the lack of punishment he received for them but getting a dishonorable discharge for desertion and cowardice in the face of the enemy is still nothing when you consider that the maximum penalties for those actions is death.
As for his benefits, 3 years service isn't long enough to get a pension or VA assistance unless you're injured and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be asking for a military funeral because nobody would have shown up given the fact that he left his mates hanging when he went over the hill and gave aid to the enemy which, by the way is another indictable offense that has a maximum penalty of death.
I'm sorry but I must be a callous asshole or something because when I hear about what a crappy life poor Bowe Bergdahl had and how the American military kept picking on him despite the fact he was a genuine hero, I can't help but think about the six people who are no longer with us because of this unselfish mans courageous actions. (sarcasm off)
I'm no more qualified than my fellow non-combatant in the White House to judge this guy. I would say that at least he didn't profit from his actions. By that criterion, you'd have to execute nearly every spy before you got to him and that doesn't happen any more. Years of torture and solitary confinement are what he earned for himself.
Nobody expected him to be executed but what everyone I know in the military did expect, was at least a prison sentence in Fort Leavenworth Kansas. This example of "compassion" flies in the face of discipline and gives those who follow a ready made excuse to cut and run because they know that the precedence has been set for those actions.
As for him suffering years of torture and solitary confinement sufficing as his punishment, I have a question. Was the US Gov't in anyway responsible for the reception he got from his new found Afghan friends and if he did actually suffer those years of torture and solitary confinement like he claims then, he should take it up with the Taliban because it's an issue between those two parties and has absolutely nothing to do with his cowardly actions while serving in the US Military?
I'm sorry but, he's nothing more than a coward who put his own life ahead of his brothers and broke a sacred trust so, in my humble opinion, the punishment meted out by this court martial for his crimes is far from just.
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