A Soldier Serving in Afghanistan on What Fellow Soldiers Think of the Bergdahl Deal

Over the weekend I was able to interview a soldier who is serving in Afghanistan about what he and fellow soldiers think about the Bergdahl deal. I agreed to not use his name so I’ll just refer to him as Sgt.

Breitbart News: What are people over there saying about Bergdahl? Do they see him as a deserter?

Sgt.: All of the soldiers that I’ve spoken with about it have said that he was a deserter, traitor, and was sympathetic with the Taliban. Not one soldier knowledgeable on this subject feels he’s a hero or an outstanding soldier. Taliban do not keep prisoners alive. They capture soldiers, torture them, then kill them. He joined their ranks. He wanted to be with them instead of his fellow soldiers on that COP.

BN: What’s the feeling about the deal we made for 5 senior Taliban figures? Do soldiers agree we should have gotten him back somehow or another?

Sgt.: As for the deal that was made, it was illegal any way you look at it. And from some of the sources I’ve read the exchange was hastily and poorly planned as well as being poorly executed. As for the 5 Taliban leaders, we shouldn’t have traded Bergdahl for them. The US does not (or at least isn’t supposed to) negotiate with terrorists. I feel that if we found Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan, we could have definitely found Bergdahl. I know that that is a terrible comparison between the two but it does show that the possibilities and effort could have been implemented to find another way.

BN: Are soldiers being told to keep quiet?

Sgt.: If soldiers from his platoon were being interviewed on the Ellen Degeneres Show then I would assume no.

BN: What do people serving in Afghanistan think should happen to Bergdahl now that he’s back home?

Sgt.: I can’t speak for soldiers currently down range but I do know that a lot of people feel he is responsible for the deaths of the soldiers that died looking for him. Those are the truly selfless “heroes” that deserve the prestige and honor that Bergdahl is receiving… Well in my opinion anyway. This is a job. We arent heroes.

He needs to answer to what he did.