The story you haven’t yet heard about Bowe Bergdahl’s desertion
By Michelle Malkin
MichelleMalkin.com
Five years ago, I publicly raised questions
about Bowe Bergdahl’s desertion from Blackfoot
Company, 1-501 Infantry (Airborne), 4th Brigade
Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division.
A few weeks after his so-called “capture” in late
June 2009, three conflicting accounts had surfaced:
U.S. officials told the Associated Press Bergdahl
had “walked off” the base with three Afghans; the
Taliban claimed on its website that “a drunken
American soldier had come out of his garrison” and
into their arms; and Bergdahl claimed in his Taliban
“hostage video” that he had “lagged behind a patrol”
before being captured.
I asked on my blog: Were the AP’s sources mistaken?
Or is the disturbing first account the right one?
What about the “three Afghans” who Pfc. Bergdahl
reportedly “just walked off” with after his shift?
Who are they? What’s going on?
Five years ago, one of the brave soldiers who risked
his life to search for Bergdahl answered my
questions and I published his statement on July 20,
2009:
“I know the story and the accounts that he was drunk
or that he was lagging behind on patrol are not
true– this soldier planned this move for a long
time. He walked off the post with a day’s supply of
water and had written down before that he wanted to
live in the mountains…he is an embarrassment to
everyone who has worn the uniform.”
After news broke this weekend of President Obama’s
trade of 5 high-level Taliban commanders at Gitmo
for Bergdahl’s “freedom,” I heard from another
soldier who served on the search team.
“Many of my brothers died because of PFC Bergdahl’s
actions, and this has been a very hard day for all
Geronimos,” he told me after documenting his proof
of service. Other journalists ignored his attempts
to get the truth out.
My source still holds a highly sensitive position,
so you won’t see him all over the cable news shows.
But he wants all of you to know the hell he and his
comrades have been reliving:
“I was assigned to 1st Platoon of Blackfoot
Company,” based out of
Forward Operating Base (FOB) Salerno in Khost,
Afghanistan, he said. “Bowe’s platoon was assigned
to conduct security and stability operations out of
FOB Sharana and other locations in Paktika. The
untold background that led to Bowe’s situation
involves
an article and pictures published by Guardian
reporter Sean Smith.” One of the battalion
leaders punished soldiers, including Bergdahl (who
had been photographed snoozing in his armored
vehicle), with extra guard duty assignments for
conducting operations in an unprofessional manner at
Outpost MEST (OP MEST).
“PFC Bergdahl was already disenchanted with the war
effort,” my source said, “and I think the extra duty
was the last straw for him.” On the morning of June
30, 2009, “PFC Bergdahl completed a guard shift,
removed his equipment, weapon and sensitive items,
and left OP MEST with several Afghan security forces
personnel. He took a compass, a couple bottles of
water and two knives and his journal. His exact
intentions may never be known, but he willingly
walked off OP MEST and was secured by enemy forces
not long after.”
My source, who had been up the previous night on a
separate raid, was “shaken awake” on the afternoon
Bergdahl disappeared. “We were told there was a
DUSTWUN (Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown), and to
pack for a 3 hour assault. We received a brief that
PFC Bergdahl was missing, and we were going to get
him…Sometime after dark we boarded CH-47′s to
assault an objective thought to contain PFC
Bergdahl. We never made it to the landing zone as
the helicopters took very heavy fire on approach to
the objective and had to divert.”
The soldier’s Focused Targeting Force (FTF) platoon
was not told that it was being diverted to OP MEST.
When they landed, he said, “We thought we were in
enemy territory, so I recall my friends and I
screaming ‘Vehicles’ and preparing to engage with
the LAW and SMAW-D rockets we carried. We soon
realized the lights were from RG-31 and Maxpro
MRAPs, friendly vehicles, and de-escalated the
situation. The CH-47′s had dropped us off at OP MEST
and did not relay that information.”
With that near-disaster over, the soldier recounted:
“We averaged 18-22 kilometers a day on foot,
clearing house to house, room to room looking for
PFC Bergdahl…We even went as far as rappelling down
wells and crawling through tunnels to look for him.”
The standard procedure for re-capturing PFC Bergdahl
was not “normal,” the soldier noted. “He was very
good with knives, and trained to throw and fight
hand-to-hand with knives. We did not know the mental
state of PFC Bergdahl at the time. All we knew was
he left on his own, he caused us lots of hardship,
and if we entered a room and saw him we would put
him down because he could attack us.”
On the morning of July 4th, 2009, the soldier
recalled, “we assaulted several objectives looking
for PFC Bergdahl…We executed the mission without
incident, and were waiting to be exfiltrated. Our
aircraft were in sight when they turned and flew in
the opposite direction. At the time we did not know
why, but we were stranded. The enemy took advantage
of PFC Bergdahl’s capture and attacked numerous
outposts that morning.”
“Combat Outpost Zerok was almost overrun, multiple
soldiers were wounded and PFCs Justin Casillas and
Aaron Fairbairn lost their lives fighting that day,”
the soldier told me. (I wrote about their deaths in
my July 8, 2009 column, not knowing they were
related to the Bergdahl mess.) My source continued:
“We learned later that our exfiltration aircraft
were diverted to support COP Zerok, and that the
situation there was so dire that at one point there
were two Apache gunships on station that went
winchester, meaning they expended all ordinance and
ammunition, but
they would not abandon the soldiers still fighting
so they resorted to low level unarmed passes to
distract the enemy. PFC Bergdahl’s actions
undoubtedly caused these events. We spent the
remainder of Independence Day walking in the
desert…waiting for aircraft that did not come for
many, many hours.”
He added that PFCs Casillas and Fairbairn were part
of his “sister battalion, 3rd Battalion 509th
Infantry (Airborne). That is an Independence Day I
will never forget for sure. It is certain that enemy
forces took full advantage of our vulnerabilities
caused by DUSTWUN recovery operations. Combat
Outpost Zerok was just one of several small outposts
attacked that day while 4-25(A) was spread very thin
searching for PFC Bergdahl. There is no doubt his
actions led to these coordinated attacks, and
without his desertion PFCs Casillas and Fairbairn
would not have given their lives that day.”
The soldier continued: “A few days later we (FTF)
conducted a daylight raid on some tents looking for
PFC Bergdahl. We took heavy small arms and RPG fire
on approach and ran off the CH-47s in contact. Our
entire element engaged the enemy, who turned out to
be a Taliban shadow governor and his
bodyguards…Multiple people died that day…All of this
happened because PFC Bergdahl got tired of playing
soldier. The remainder of that deployment was
focused on recovery efforts. Countless members of
the brigade were wounded and we lost good friends,
among them
PFC Matthew Martinek and
2LT Darryn Andrews. I have no doubt these great
men would be alive if PFC Bergdahl did not leave.”
In addition to 2LT Andrews and PFCs Casillas,
Fairbairn, and Martinek,
PFC Morris Walker and Staff Sergeants Clayton Bowen,
Kurt Curtiss, and Michael Murphrey died as a
result of Bergdahl’s abandonment. That’s eight dead
American soldiers (not
six as the rest of the media has reported)
betrayed by selfish Bergdahl and reckless President
Obama.
My source did not mince words: “The fact that our
government negotiated with terrorists and our enemy
is incomprehensible. The fact that they exchanged
five war criminals for a traitor is sickening. The
worst part for those of us that suffered through
that time is that PFC Bergdahl is being hailed as
some kind of hero. He was automatically promoted to
Specialist and Sergeant, ranks he does not deserve
and did not earn. I have no doubt he will receive
back pay for these past five years, a substantial
sum. There will be book deals, and his family are
celebrities. I am glad he is safe, and happy for his
family, but he should return home to face a court
martial.”
Are you listening, Capitol Hill and America? The
Bowe Bergdahl mess isn’t just a story about one
deserter, but two. There’s the muddle-headed lowlife
who left his post and brothers behind. And there’s
the corrupt commander-in-chief who has jeopardized
more American soldiers’ lives to “rescue” Bergdahl
by bowing to the Taliban, while snubbing the
surviving heroes and 8 dead American soldiers who
lost their lives because of him.
This cannot stand.