Blog Stage Five: Original editorial or commentary #1

     On Friday November 3, 2017 Beaudry Robert Bergdahl was dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army. This fact is not remarkable but the story of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and his dishonorable discharge verdict most certainly is. Sentencing took only minutes and brought to an end an eight year saga that began in 2009 when he abandoned his Army post in Afghanistan and was taken prisoner by the Taliban. Prosecutors in the case had sought fourteen years in a military prison and the President himself even went so far as to call Bergdahl a "dirty rotten traitor". President Trump and many others thought Bergdahl got off easy but is that really the case.
     Bergdahl may have avoided further jail time (he was held hostage by the Taliban for almost five years) but his dishonorable discharge and being stripped down to the rank of private is a life sentence of another kind. Not only does Bergdahl lose rank and the increase in pay that goes with it but more detrimental is the fact that to many Bergdahl will forever be a deserter and shunned as such. Even though Bergdahl is only 31 years old, it will be extremely difficult for him to move on with his life. He will have to come to terms with his time as a prisoner of war. In a country that almost to a man and woman reveres our P.O.W's and M.I.A.'s, Bergdahl will be treated by many including people in the military and the President as persona non grata. He will not have access to the treatment he needs to heal mentally and physically from the horrible abuse he endured for 4 years and 11 months at the hands of his Taliban captors. The inhumane conditions of Sgt. Bergdahl's captivity ranked among the most horrible the military had scene in 60 years.
     Bergdahl will be forced to overcome his post traumatic stress disorder and his physical injuries while being denied the military's reintegration benefits. Suicide is an epidemic among our country's veterans, Bergdahl's risk will almost certainly be higher than most. He will need help but without military benefits will he be able to get it? Will he be able to secure a job and a place to live? How well will he be able to readjust to civilian life after almost five years of being kept in a seven foot cube and treated worse than any animal should ever be treated, much less a human being. The questions are numerous and the answers will be unknown for some time. With all this being said, Bergdahl may have avoided jail time but he will be punished for the rest of his life.
     There still remains a chance, slight as it may be, that Bergdahl's sentence could be reviewed and reduced. If this does not happen who will be willing to help a man that admittedly made a "horrible mistake" but who our own President said should have been "executed for leaving his post". In a country where third, fourth and even fifth chances are often given; who will be willing to give Beaudry Robert Bergdahl a second chance?