The story of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s military service in Afghanistan, his imprisonment by the Taliban and his exchange for five high ranking Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo Bay has stirred different emotions among his fellow Americans. Some feel compassion for the circumstances that he encountered; others are angered by evidence that suggests he deserted his unit; and many believe that we were outmaneuvered in our negotiations with the Taliban and paid too high a price. These are all subjective opinions that can be argued without, at this time, establishing a factual conclusion.
I watched a mounting number of hours of television coverage and read many reports in the print press of the mix of elements that combined to make this story an important one. It had a disturbing background in Afghanistan, good vs. evil, moral questions and dilemmas, us vs. them and an endless amount of political posturing . I read and listened to many thousands of words of reporting and analysis.
Recently an article (Bergdahl ‘was mentally unfit to serve in army’) appeared in the 6/18-24 issue of London’s weekly Telegraph that reported that two years prior to joining the army he had received an “uncharacterised discharge” from the U.S. Coast Guard after twenty-six days of basic training. A comment from a friend indicates that this discharge involved psychological factors, and emails are quoted in the article that support such a possibility.
I cannot recall any mention of Bergdahl’s Coast Guard discharge in our mainstream media’s reports. This is no small matter because it probably would have prevented his Army enlistment, or at least limited his activity to a non-combat zone. However, we must recall that our volunteer army was under pressure to fulfill the recruitment goals required by its combat role and might have overlooked Sgt. Bergdahl’s brief Coast Guard experience. Another possibility is that he may have omitted any mention of it in his Army enlistment application and there was no cross reference process in place to “flag” it.
As the writer of the Telegraph article was based in NYC, the information was available there and one can only wonder why it received no mention when the story first broke.
This story has a built-in, second bounce capability.
DOD Secretary Hagel has announced that the military is conducting a thorough investigation the results of which, when announced, are certain to renew public interest and debate. Will the Coast Guard discharge then be revealed and given the recognition it deserves? Stay tuned!