Gen. who investigated Bergdahl debunks RW media claim US soldiers died looking for him

[kpete]

Maj. Gen. Kenneth R. Dahl, who interviewed 57 witnesses during his 59-day investigation, testified that Sergeant Bergdahl had unreasonable, or even delusional, expectations about his deployment to Afghanistan and about the soldiers in his unit and his command.

But General Dahl testified that he found Sergeant Bergdahl truthful during the day and a half he spent interviewing him as part of the investigation. General Dahl also said that Sergeant Bergdahl had shown remorse about how his decision to leave his base could have endangered others in his platoon.

“I do not believe there is a jail sentence at the end of this procedure,” General Dahl said. “I think it would be inappropriate.”

His testimony came on the second day of a preliminary hearing here. Another defense witness, one of the military’s top debriefers of prisoners of war, suggested that Sergeant Bergdahl’s captivity was the worst any American had endured since the Vietnam War.

The hearing will help determine whether Sergeant Bergdahl will be court-martialed for desertion and for endangering the troops who searched for him. Sergeant Bergdahl, now 29, faces the possibility of life imprisonment on the endangerment charge — formally known as misbehavior before the enemy — and a maximum five-year sentence if convicted of desertion.



MORE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/19/us/bowe-bergdahl-should-not-be-imprisoned-army-investigator-says.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

[shadowmayor]

1. Chicken Hawks

How many pundits and yakkers and ne'er do wells screaming to incarcerate this man have ever spent a minute in uniform, let alone on a battlefield? Being in a combat situation is nothing but insanity at its highest level. One group of folks trying to kill or not be killed by another group of people who have never met each other for what? why? All of it sanctioned by an organization dedicated to sending troops into battle to accomplish some abstract mission for some butthole's ridiculous "plan".

Yes, things can seem to slow down in the middle of the chaos and confusion, and yes there's a rush that cannot be adequately described, but anyone who's been through these things understands that the mind is permanently changed.

I don't usually trust our generals any more than I would trust a politician or a CEO on Wall Street, but in this case, 2 Star General Dahl should be listened to by these chicken hawks. After all, don't they always ram the old "We should listen to the Generals" BS down our throats?

Let the young man go home!

The Shadow Mayor
OIF 3 Abu Ghraib Prison
WMD's My Ass!
Warrior for Peace

[sarge43]

6. If the Squawking Chickenhawk Corps spent a day in a combat zone,

they'd be curled up in the fetal position, chewing on their legs and shitting razor blades.

I'll say again anyone who has been in the zone is wounded. No one can live through that hell and not be.

Bergdahl should be given a general for the AWOL and medical care for the rest of his life.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. His last name is DAHL???

And he's investigating BERGDAHL???

That's very suspicious!!!

Someone on the right is bound to say that.

[Turbineguy]

3. And of course

Dahl means valley in German! Coincidence? I think not.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. MountainValley is clearly a madeup name

His real name is probably something Arabic.

[Turbineguy]

5. There you are.

probably meaning "something less conflicted".