Some of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s platoon mates are outright confounded by his sudden return to military duty, wondering how and why someone they thought was a deserter could so quickly — and without prosecution — pick up the Fort Sam Houston reins and take on a day-to-day desk job.
“We know that he deserted,” former Army Sgt. Matt Vierkant, who served with Sgt. Bergdahl, said during an interview with Newsmax TV. “So I don’t really see with all the evidence against him … how they can just send him back to active duty like nothing’s gone on and give him a desk job, like they said, and just let him walk around in the public after he deserted and left us — left his brothers-in-arms.”
Sgt. Bergdahl, who spent five years as a captive of the Taliban, was freed in a trade brokered by President Obama for five terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay. But his sudden return to duty has been marked by questions from some of his former platoon mates, who expressed certainty that he actually walked from Afghanistan duty and willingly met with members of the Taliban.
Army investigators, meanwhile, said they’ve found no evidence of any willful desertion on the part of Sgt. Bergdahl, and released him from the hospital for desk duty at Fort Sam Houston earlier this week.
Sgt. Vierkant, who has said Sgt. Bergdahl deserves to be court-martialed for desertion, called the job appointment “confusing and perplexing.”
“There’s overwhelming evidence to show his intent to desert, his intent to not return, and I’m sure there [are] other several classified documents, which we don’t know about, whether he collaborated with the enemy or not, but I do have faith that they will do what’s right and justice will be served,” Sgt. Vierkant told Newsmax.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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