Comrades Allege Bergdahl Desertion-Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
Articles have gone viral on the Web in which former comrades of Bowe Bergdahl, the American soldier who spent five years in Taliban captivity before his release on May 31, 2014, allege that he deserted his post in Afghanistan and was not captured.
The Truth:
It’s true that U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s comrades have accused him of deserting his post rather than being captured by the Taliban.
In June 2012, Rolling Stone reported that Bergdahl walked away from his company’s outpost in Patika Province, Afghanistan, with only water, a camera, a knife and his journal. He was not heard from again until the Taliban posted a video of him in captivity.
The article includes this excerpt from an email that Bergdahl reportedly sent to his parents, Robert and Jan Bergdahl, shortly before his capture that describes his frustration with the war effort.
“The future is too good to waste on lies,” Bergdahl reportedly wrote. “And life is way too short to care for the damnation of others, as well as to spend it helping fools with their ideas that are wrong. I have seen their ideas and I am ashamed to even be american. The horror of the self-righteous arrogance that they thrive in. It is all revolting.”
Following news that the Obama administration had negotiated the release of five prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison in exchange for Bergdahl’s release, a sergeant who served with Bergdahl expressed frustration, CNN reported on June 2, 2014.
“I was pissed off then, and I am even more so now with everything going on,” former Sgt. Matt Vierkant told CNN. “Bowe Bergdahl deserted during a time of war, and his fellow Americans lost their lives searching for him.”
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters on June 1, 2014, that U.S. officials’ first priority was Bergdahl’s safe release. In a video that can be viewed here, Hagel said officials would continue to investigate the circumstances that led to Bergdahl’s capture and declined to comment further.
This story continues to develop, and future updates will be posted here.
Posted 06/02/14