BY KAREN CROWSON
Beaudry Robert ‘Bowe’ Bergdahl has been in the midst of political controversy since 2009.
Born on March 28, 1986 in Sun Valley, Idaho, Bergdahl and his sister were homeschooled by their parents Bob and Jani in Hailey, Idaho. Bergdahl was raised as a devout Calvinist living out his childhood in a two bedroom home on 40 acres just outside of Hailey in the Wood River Valley Smoky Mountains which are part of the Rocky Mountain range.
Bob Bergdahl was quoted in an interview with Rolling Stones stating, “Ethics and morality would be constant verbiage in our conversations…Bowe was definitely instilled with truth. He was very philosophical about perceiving ethics.”
Bergdahl attempted to join the French Foreign Legion but was denied and in 2006 enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard but upon entering basic training, Bergdahl was discharged after 26 days due to psychological reasons. Bergdahl received ‘uncharacterized discharge’ as an entry level separation. Entry level separations are accompanied by an uncharacterized discharge and are given to individuals who fail to meet 180 days of military service or when discharge action has been initiated before 180 days. A vast majority of these separations occur during recruit training or ‘boot camp’.
Between 2007 and 2008, Bergdahl spent time at a Buddhist monastery before enlisting in the United States Army. After graduating from the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, Bergdahl was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division based out of Fort Richardson, Alaska.
Fellow soldier, Specialist Jason Fry, described Bergdahl as a loner but “focused and well behaved”. Before the deployment to Afghanistan, Fry stated that Bergdahl spent his time studying maps of Afghanistan instead of socializing with his comrades during Thanksgiving and that Bergdahl told him, “If this deployment is lame, I’m just going to walk off into the mountains of Pakistan.”
In May of 2009, Bergdahl’s unit was deployed to Outpost Mest-Malak where the unit conducted counterinsurgency operations. Counterinsurgency is defined as any ‘military or political action taken against the activities of guerillas or revolutionaries.’
During this time, Bergdahl began learning to speak Pashto. Pashto is an eastern Iranian language. According to Fry, Bergdahl began, ‘to gravitate away from his unit spending more time with the Afghans than he did with his platoon.”
On June 25, 2009, Bergdahl’s battalion suffered its first casualty. A roadside bomb near the village of Yahya Kheyl killed First Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw not far from Bergdahl’s outpost.
Bob Bergdahl, father of ‘Bowe’, believed his son and Bradshaw had become close at their time at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California and that the death of Bradshaw darkened the mood of ‘Bowe’ Bergdahl.
On June 30, 2009, Bergdahl walked away into the night, leaving observation post Mest-Malak in Paktika Province near the village of Yahya Kheyl.
Within Bergdahl’s unit, soldiers claimed that on the morning of discovering Bergdahl’s disappearance, they noted his compass was gone but that his equipment remained behind neatly stacked.
In a Daily Beast article, Nathan Bradley Bethea, a member of Bergdahl’s unit, wrote that there was no patrol the night Bergdahl went missing. Bethea also stated that Bergdahl spoke about his desire to walk to India.
Cody Full, another member of Bergdahl’s unit, claimed Bergdahl had mailed his computer and other possessions home before going missing.
“He knowingly deserted and put thousands of people in danger,” said Full. “We swore to an oath and we upheld ours. He did not.”
It wasn’t long after Bergdahl left his outpost that he was soon captured. There are differing accounts of Bergdahl’s capture. Taliban sources alleged Bergdahl was ambushed after becoming drunk off base. U.S. military sources denied the claim stating, “The Taliban are known for lying and what they are claiming is not true.”
Other sources alleged Bergdahl simply just walked off base after his shift and others claimed he was grabbed from a latrine. The U.S. Department of Defense attributed Bergdahl’s disappearance to “walking off his base in eastern Afghanistan with three Afghan counterparts and is believed to have been taken prisoner.”
General Nabi Mullakheil of the Afghan National Police said the capture occurred in Paktika Province.
On July 18, 2009, the Taliban released a video showing Bergdahl. Bergdahl claimed he was captured when he fell behind on a patrol. In the video, Bergdahl is eating a meal while sitting cross-legged with a shaved head, dressed in gray with the start of a beard.
“I am scared…scared I won’t be able to come home,” Bergdahl said in the video, “It is very unnerving to be a prisoner.”
At one point in the video, Bergdahl was asked if he had any message for his people. Bergdahl responded, “To my fellow Americans who have loved ones over here, who know what it’s like to miss them, you have the power to make our government bring them home.”
Bergdahl also spoke on his desire to learn Islam.
The Department of Defense issued a statement the following day confirming that Bergdahl had been declared missing/whereabouts unknown on July 1 and on July 3, changed to missing/captured.
In the 28 minute video, Bergdahl gave the date July 14 mentioning an attack that had occurred earlier that day. Bergdahl’s captors held up his dog tags to establish the captured man was indeed Bergdahl.
That same month, National Guard Master Sgt. Mark Allen was on a mission gathering intelligence on Bergdahl from two Afghan villages when Allen’s unit was ambushed by insurgents using machine guns, small arms and rocket propelled grenades. Allen was shot in the head, leaving him permanently disabled and unable to walk or speak. Allen later died on October 12, 2019.
Officers serving in Afghanistan at the time told CNN that diverting resources to locate Bergdahl delayed the closing of Combat Outpost Keating, where eight American soldiers were killed on October 3, 2009, when 300 Taliban insurgents overtook the base. In contrast, a former senior military officer told The New York Times that there was no direct evidence that diversion of surveillance aircraft or troops to locate Bergdahl encouraged the Taliban attacks.
“This was a dangerous region in Afghanistan in the middle of the ‘fighting season’”, the officer stated, while adding that the search could have created some opportunities for the enemy, it was difficult to establish a direct cause and effect.
After reviewing the database of Afghan War Casualties, The New York Times editorialized that “…Bergdahl’s critics appear to be blaming him for every American soldier killed in Paktika Province…”
Once Bergdahl was confirmed as missing, the Army initiated a DUSTWUN search to find him. According to soldiers from Bergdahl’s unit, there was an increase in attacks on forces in Paktika Province and that at least six soldiers from Bergdahl’s battalion were killed during the search. Retired General Michael Flynn also blamed their deaths on the search for Bergdahl. However, military investigators did not report any of these soldiers as being on a mission to locate Bergdahl.
Bergdahl’s father described his son to military investigators as “psychologically isolated.”
Some soldiers who served with Bergdahl called him a deserter.
On December 25, 2009, another video was released. This time Bergdahl was wearing sunglasses, helmet and a combat uniform. Bergdahl described his deployment, capture, his place of birth and made statements of his humane treatment by his captors.
Bergdahl also spoke of the abuses of insurgents in prisons before stating that the United States should not be involved in Afghanistan and that its presence was akin to the Vietnam War.
On April 7, 2010, a third video was released by the Taliban with Bergdahl pleading for the release of Afghan prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay and Bagram.
On June 19, 2010, Bergdahl was promoted in absentia to Specialist.
Bergdahl, that same month, was able to escape his captors but less than nine days later he was recaptured.
In August of 2010 it was reported that Taliban Commander Haji Nadeem claimed Bergdahl was assisting them in bombmaking and infantry tactics. The Pentagon dismissed the claim as Taliban propaganda. A Pentagon investigation concluded that Bergdahl walked away from his unit.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey stated, “The questions about this particular soldier’s conduct are separate from our effort to recover any U.S. service member in enemy captivity”, and the military would investigate as to how Bergdahl was captured, “Like any American, he is innocent until proven guilty. (…) Our Army’s leaders will not look away from misconduct if it occurred. In the meantime, we will continue to care for him and his family.”
In November 2010, Bergdahl appeared briefly in a fourth video. Bergdahl would appear briefly once more in a fifth video in May 2011.
On June 17, 2011, Bergdahl was promoted to Sergeant.
Originally, the Taliban demanded the release of six Taliban prisoners but on February 2, 2011, Taliban Commander Awal Gul died of a heart attack at Guantanamo Bay and so the demand was reduced to five. These five were known as the Taliban Five, consisting of Abdul Haq Wasiq, the Deputy Minister of Intelligence, Mohammad Fazl, the First Deputy Defense Minister, Khairullah Khairkhwa, the Governor of Balkh Province, and Mohammad Nabi Omari, a local politician.
In June 2013, it was reported Bergdahl’s parents received a letter from their son through the Red Cross.
In January 2014, the U.S. received another proof of life video dated December 14, 2013 in which Bergdahl mentioned the death of South African former President Nelson Mandela.
On May 31, 2014, Bergdahl was released in exchange for the Taliban Five and was intercepted by Delta Force, a special mission unit component of the Joint Special Operations Command in eastern Afghanistan. The release was brokered with the Taliban by the Afghan, Qatari, and American governments.
At 10:30 a.m. (EDT) 18 Taliban members handed over Bergdahl to Delta Force near Khost on the Pakistani border and was described as a “peaceful handover”. A video of the handover was later released by the Taliban.
President Obama appeared with Bergdahl’s parents at the White House Rose Garden where he spoke about the swap that resulted in the recovery of Bergdahl. Bergdahl was treated by military medical staff at an undisclosed base in eastern Afghanistan before he was transferred to Bagram Airfield where he was then flown to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany for medical treatment.
It was reported by a U.S. Senior official that Bergdahl claimed he had been beaten, tortured and held in a cage by his captors after he tried to escape. Medical officials stated Bergdahl claimed he had been locked in a metal cage in total darkness for weeks at a time as punishment for trying to escape.
On June 13, 2014, Bergdahl was flown via a military plane to San Antonio, Texas where he was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center to complete his recovery and reintegration. Some republican members of congress have stated that the prisoner swap may have been illegal. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 mandates that all prisoner transfers from Guantanamo Bay require 30 days notice to Congress, which had not been done in the case of Bergdahl.
Upon signing the bill, President Barack Obama released a statement saying the restriction interfered with the President’s executive power as Commander in Chief. The White House released a statement acknowledging the release of the prisoners did not comply with the NDAA provision but cited the President’s signing statement and “unique and exigent circumstances” as justification. The year prior, then spokesperson for the White House, Jay Carney, assured the press that the decision to free Bergdahl would be made only after consulting Congress, in accordance with said law.
On June 16, 2014, the U.S. Army began investigating the case of Bergdahl’s disappearance and on June 25 the military investigators stated that there is “no evidence” that Bergdahl “engaged in any misconduct” during his years in captivity.
On July 13, 2014, a spokeswoman for the army said in regards to Bergdahl, “He will now return to regular duty within the command where he can contribute to the mission.”
Bergdahl was returned to active duty at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas . In August 2014, the Government Accountability Office published a report stating that the Pentagon broke the law when conducting the prisoner exchange because it failed to notify Congress in advance, as required by the law.
There was also an investigation headed by Major General Kenneth Dahl. In the midst of the investigation, Bergdahl stated to investigators he left in June 2009 to report on “misconduct in his unit” and his intent was to return.
Dahl’s investigation lasted 59 days with 57 witnesses, including Bergdahl, having been interviewed.
Bergdahl’s lawyer, Eugene Fidell, stated that Bergdahl told him he “had concerns about certain conditions in the unit” and he figured that the only way to get any attention to them would be “to get that information to a general officer.”
In September 2014, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 249 to 163 (22 Democrats joined the Republican majority) to pass a non binding resolution condemning President Obama for failing to give Congress notice before exchanging Bergdahl.
On November 5, 2014, Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) disclosed in a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that Joint Special Operations Command made a ransom payment early in 2014 for the release of Bergdahl. The money was stolen by the Afghan intermediary claiming to represent the Haqqani terrorist network.
“Given the significance of this matter”, stated Hunter, “as well as the fact that Pentagon officials have denied that a payment was even considered-and you also said you were unaware of any such attempt-I ask you to immediately inquire with JSOC to determine the specific area of events.”
The Pentagon did say a payment had been made for the intelligence that led to Bergdahl’s release.
On March 25, 2015, the U.S. military announced that Bergdahl had been charged with two counts under the Uniform Code of Military Justice with one count of “desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty,” and one count of “misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit, or place.”
On July 27, 2015, a memorandum from the Sanity Board stated, “Though Sgt. Bergdahl did have a severe mental disease or defect at the time of the alleged criminal conduct, he was able to appreciate the nature and quality and wrongfulness of this conduct.”
According to documents released by Bergdahl’s defense team, Bergdahl was diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder following an Army Sanity Board evaluation.
In September 2015, an Article 32 hearing was held at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. Dahl testified he found no evidence suggesting that Bergdahl was “sympathetic to the Taliban” and stated he didn’t have intentions to desert and that Bergdahl had “idealistic and unrealistic expectations” of people. Dahl also testified he found no evidence directly relating Bergdahl to the deaths of soldiers on missions to locate him. Dahl went on to say that imprisonment would be an “inappropriate” penalty.
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Visger presiding over the hearing, made a recommendation on whether Bergdahl should be court martialed.
In October 2015, Visger recommended “that the charges be referred to a special court martial and that a punitive discharge and confinement would be inappropriate given all the circumstances.”
Visger’s recommendation was reviewed by General Robert B. Abrams, the Commander of United States Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Bergdahl was serving as a clerk while on active duty and needed security detail to avoid attacks from fellow soldiers.
In December 2015, Abrams rejected the recommendation ordering Bergdahl to face a general court martial on the two charges. Bergdahl sought a pardon from President Obama but no pardon was granted. The trial had been set for February in 2017.
In January 2016, Bergdahl’s attorney requested the Army award Bergdahl the Purple Heart and the Prisoner of War Medal on the grounds that withholding the medals might prejudice and “cast a semblance of guilt” on Bergdahl as he awaited trial.
In January of 2017, Bergdahl’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the desertion and endangerment charges as it would be impossible for Bergdahl to get a fair trial after President Trump’s comment during the campaign that Bergdahl is “a dirty, rotten traitor.”
Their motion was declined by Colonel Jeffrey Nance, the military judge presiding over the case and in March, Bergdahl’s appeal was denied by the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals. Bergdahl’s defense team filed a third motion, requesting the case be dismissed over Trump’s comment.
On August 21, 2017, news reports announced Bergdahl refused trial by jury and instead opted for a trial by military judge Colonel Nance.
On October 16, 2017, Bergdahl pleaded guilty to charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, before a military judge at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
On November 3, 2017, Bergdahl was senteneced to be dishonorably discharged, reduced in rank, and fined $1000 per month from his pay for 10 months, with no prison time. The fine and reduction in rank took effect immediately. Bergdahl’s sentence was affirmed by the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.
After the sentencing, President Trump tweeted, “The decision of Sergeant Bergdahl is a complete and total disgrace to our Country and to our military.
In June 2018, General Abrams approved the sentence.
On August 28, 2020, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces affirmed Bergdahl’s sentence. Bergdahl then filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to have a federal judge review his sentence.
In February 2021, Bergdahl filed a petition to have the conviction and sentence expunged.
On August 2, 2021, the Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss Bergdahl’s petition.
In March of this year, Senior Judge Reggie Walton partially granted the government’s motion to dismiss the case but rejected claims that comments from President Trump had influenced the military court martial.
On July 25, Judge Walton of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia issued a 64 page ruling voiding Bergdahl’s 2017 court martial conviction. The ruling stated that military judge, Jeffrey Nance, who had presided over the court-martial, failed disclosing his application to the executive branch for a position as an immigration judge, thus creating a potential conflict of interest.
Judge Walton stated the case presented, “a unique situation where the military judge might be inclined to appeal to the President’s expressed interest in the plaintiff’s conviction and punishment when applying…”, for a position as immigration judge.
Fidell, Bergdahl’s attorney, remarked on the decision as, “an important victory.”
Fidell also stated it was unclear what Bergdahl or the military would do or if either side would appeal but the ruling could lead to a second trial before a new judge.
Thus far, Bergdahl has been awarded the Combat Infantryman badge and has ten overseas service bars, including the Army Good Conduct medal, National Defense Service medal, Afghanistan Campaign medal, Global War on Terror Service medal, Army Service Ribbon, and the Overseas Service Ribbon.
