Bergdahl and Military Swamp Holdovers

Susan Stamper Brown,

“I am a soldier. I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight.”  — Gen. George S. Patton.

Americans are outraged over the Bowe Bergdahl sentencing November 3 that should have led to serious prison time, or worse. But, face it, we now live in a country where deserters who cause fellow soldiers to be maimed or killed are treated as heroes if weak leftists are in charge.

He should be in prison. The only difference between Bergdahl and the guy who used a Home Depot truck to mow down and kill people in New York recently is that Bergdahl displayed his allegiance to the enemy on foreign soil.

Bergdahl walked because the military swamp remains filled with senior leaders who climbed the ranks curtseying to former President Obama’s social experimentation and his upside-down value system whereby one treasonous deserter is worth five senior Taliban terrorists.

Obama exchanged five of Gitmo’s finest for Bergdahl, then hosted a sickening spectacle at the White House Rose Garden where a touchy-feely Obama spoke to Bergdahl’s parents “courage.” Meanwhile, Obama’s favorite fact-twister, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, made her rounds, propagandizing that Bergdahl served with “honor and distinction.”

Bergdahl’s fellow soldiers had a different story to tell on the Fort Richardson, Alaska Facebook page.

Time.com recorded comments which included: “I say we welcome him home with a firing squad,” and “He’s a piece of trash and everyone from [Fort Richardson] knows it – the only person less American than that man is the president for giving up 5 hvt’s [High-Value Targets].” 

Another said: “Maybe if you knew the truth and the sacrifices made from people in our units in Alaska to find this douche… I feel worse for the kids who have to grow up fatherless cause their daddies died looking for this punk.”

Now, “this punk” walks, thanks to, in part, the judge in charge, Col. Jeffrey R. Nance, who once said at a Fort Bragg hearing: “I will consider the president’s [Trump’s] comments [regarding Bergdahl] as mitigation evidence as I arrive at an appropriate sentence.” Nance was referring to Trump’s less-than- complementary comments about Bergdahl.

Obviously, Col. Nance did just that, essentially presenting Bergdahl a snowflake award, punishing him with the equivalent of a hand slap, despite six soldiers killed and others permanently maimed.

In my opinion as a retired military officer’s wife, Bergdahl’s dishonorable discharge devalued my husband’s honorable one.

I also believe Obama’s and Rice’s comments about Bergdahl helped to tip the scales of justice in the wrong direction, not Trump’s.

Furthermore, as a military wife during wartime, I attended way too many funerals for those who gave their all for something that had meaning and purpose. Not searching for a selfish son of a gun who thought only of himself, not the lives and families his actions might destroy.

At times and when politics aren’t in play, military justice can be swift, painful and fair. Not this time, and especially not for the brave warriors maimed and killed while searching for Bergdahl.

Col. Nance rewarded a traitor and Obama freed dangerous enemies most likely to face us once more in some future battle, plain and simple. It’s fair to say the Taliban interprets Obama’s prisoner exchange and Nance’s decision to let Bergdahl walk as weakness to be exploited.

Even this blonde columnist understands Americans are safest when our enemies see strength. Let them hate us, but they darn sure must respect us.

On a side note, given his rank, odds are, Nance is close to retirement, especially after trashing the Uniform Code of Military Justice, as many in the military community suggest. One can only pray.

Anyhow, it’s a sad day in America when a traitor is freed from a life sentence while fellow soldiers received their’s searching for him. What an insult to every veteran who served honorably.