At least six soldiers died while searching for Sgt. Bowe Bergdhal in hostile Taliban territory when he went missing in Afghanistan five years ago.
And now, those who served with those six say Mr. Bergdhal is at fault for their deaths because he abandoned his military post, the New York Post reported.
“I was pissed off then and I am even more so now with everything going on,” said former Sgt. Matt Vierkant, a member of Mr. Bergdahl’s platoon, to CNN. “Bowe Bergdahl deserted during a time of war and his fellow Americans lost their lives searching for him.”
It’s tough to get an accurate handle on why Mr. Bergdahl disappeared in 2009.
Some reports say he was captured by members of the Taliban during a drunken walk back to his car in the Yousaf Khel district of Paktika. Other say he was captured while he lagged behind during a patrol team. Still others raised questions about Mr. Bergdahl’s loyalties, saying in the weeks leading up to his capture, the U.S. serviceman actually “spent more time with the Afghans than he did with his platoon,” former Spc. Jason Fry said, during a Rolling Stone interview in 2012.
Regardless, the latest is that these six were killed while searching for him: Staff Sgt. Clayton Bowen; Pfc. Morris Walker; Staff Sgt. Kurt Curtiss; 2nd Lt. Darryn Andrews; Pfc. Matthew Michael Martinek; and Staff Sgt. Michael Murphrey, the New York Post reported.
SEE ALSO: Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was a deserter, fellow soldiers say
“He walked off,” said another former colleague of Mr. Bergdahl’s, Pfc. Jose Baggett, in the media outlet. “He left his guard post. Nobody knows if he defected or he’s a traitor or he was kidnapped. What I do know is he was there to protect us and instead he decided to defer from America and go and do his own thing. I don’t know why he decided to do that, but we [spent] so much of our resources and some of those resources were soldiers’ lives.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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