"U.S. troops in Afghanistan ‘so happy’ Sgt. Bergdahl released by Taliban militants"

[freshwest]

46. No, but there was a very long story linked here. He was losing it for some time and very stressed.

His story is one of a military that was stretched past the limit and his unit was in trouble from the onset, even during training stateside. The details reflect very badly on the army Bush sent to war. And the prosecution of that war in Afghanistan, quite insane to an average person.

It's a long read but I'll try to find it for you if you want. He sounded more depressed in his letters to his parents and preparing to die, and it seemed that he just finally went over the edge.

The amount of work through the years that the Obama administration went through to get him back, with the one clear goal to get him back alive and not as a digit on a casualty list to justify more hatred and war, was impressive, as well as the efforts of fellow soldiers who were always on alert. Yes, he apparently left but was likely in his mind trying to go home by an alternate route and was kidnapped.

He had been physically ill and he was unwilling to be with the Taliban, and they constantly threatened to kill him as an example. It was dangerous for his fellow soldiers and costly to go looking for him, but he'd been in despair for a long time, and one of his friends was just killed.

A mental breakdown, with mental wounds, IMO. Those soldiers are not supposed to be abandoned either, as they are our fellow citizens going about doing what they saw as the nation's needs. His father said he cannot speak English anymore. Seems he had a complete breakdown emotionally, physically and cognitively.

The GOP hates him because he destroys their narrative that war is glorious and that dying that way is also. Really they want these guys to die so they can do their talking for them, when I suspect the dead or wounded might have a very different tale to tell than they want us to hear.