7 ms·

Just listened to the first episode. It's very good and Bergdahl's narrative is fascinating. According to him, he had deep grievances with his battalion leadersh

Just listened to the first episode. It's very good and Bergdahl's narrative is fascinating. According to him, he had deep grievances with his battalion leadership, and decided to leave his combat outpost, run 20 miles back to FOB Sharana, thereby creating a Dust 1 (missing servicemember in theater), get everyone's attention that way, then use the debrief as an opportunity to blow the whistle on his chain of command. I'm really looking forward to hearing the rest of the series, especially the exploration of the command culture at his unit.

jszymborski 11y ago
he seems to admit very early on that what he'd done was partly fuelled by a desire to seem like a "super-solider", like Jason Borne. You can tell quickly he's being exceedingly candid and though he maintains that he did what he did on principle, there was misguided thought along the way. If this is just the surface of it all, then this is going to be a fun ride.
- uptown 11y ago
  "If this is just the surface of it all, then this is going to be a fun ride." Six soldiers were reportedly killed searching for Bergdahl, and five Taliban members were exchanged for him in-trade. None of that is what I'd describe as "fun".
  - eric_h 11y ago
    He's referring, of course, to the reporting of it in the Serial podcast. Not much of what was described in the first series of Serial was "fun" either. Nevertheless, the podcast was compelling and quite entertaining.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - mr_luc 11y ago
    A well-researched post elsewhere[1] on this page makes the claims of soldiers being killed out to be pretty suspect. ---- [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10712211 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10712211
- cdcarter 11y ago
  Of course, we don't know if that Jason Borne conversation happened very early in the tapes or much later, and was just reported in the first episode.
DarkTree 11y ago
Just to clarify (because I had to look it up), it's actually DUSTWUN and stands for 'duty status - whereabouts unknown' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUSTWUN https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUSTWUN
tokenadult 11y ago
According to him, he had deep grievances with his battalion leadership, and decided to leave his combat outpost, run 20 miles back to FOB Sharana, thereby creating a Dust 1 (missing servicemember in theater), get everyone's attention that way And that, of course, was very dangerous to his comrades[1] and irresponsible, and doesn't seem to have achieved his objective, since he was captured by the Taliban along the way. It's probably quite difficult being a commander in a combat zone with special snowflake soldiers like this in the unit. [1] "Two soldiers died while searching for Bergdahl." http://www.newsweek.com/serial-season-2-interview-bowe-bergdahl-403429 http://www.newsweek.com/serial-season-2-interview-bowe-bergd...
- thieving_magpie 11y ago
  Really depends on where you look. Several outlets are stating 6 people died[1], some say just 2, some say nobody died. Fox news sometimes initially claimed it was 2, then later 6. Occasionally they (media outlets, not just Fox) point out that people died while searching for Bergdahl while off-duty... so how that gets attributed to his search I have no idea [2]. In testimony, two officers part of the search testified saying nobody died.[3] It's sad how politicized this has become. Even Fox news concedes "The official said the two soldiers in Bergdahl’s unit who died were in a combat outpost that was attacked. The official said it was impossible to prove a link between their deaths and Bergdahl's disappearance. In addition, investigators have determined that some of the other eight soldiers were killed while driving a logistic delivery to the base, and likely would have been doing so regardless of the search." [2, same source] [1] http://nation.foxnews.com/2015/03/26/these-are-us-soldiers-who-died-searching-bowe-bergdahl http://nation.foxnews.com/2015/03/26/these-are-us-soldiers-w... [2] http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/06/two-soldiers-from-bergdahl-unit-killed-while-search-was-ongoing-pentagon-finds.html http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/06/two-soldiers-from... [3] http://www.stripes.com/closing-statements-should-bergdahl-be-court-martialed-or-are-charges-too-harsh-1.368874 http://www.stripes.com/closing-statements-should-bergdahl-be...
  - MrZongle2 11y ago
    Even if no soldiers perished in the search for Bergdahl, it clearly was a dangerous, hostile environment. The planned 20-mile trip back to FOB Sharana wasn't just a day hike, and Bergdahl was either a fool or indifferent to the dangers it posed to both him and the individuals who would come looking for him.
sigzero 11y ago
> I'm really looking forward to hearing the rest of the series, especially the exploration of the command culture at his unit. What you get is probably going to be severely skewed to his point of view.
- mikehearn 11y ago
  Serial only has one season on which to base its reputation, but thus far it seems exceptionally adept at not picking sides. The case in season one was polarizing, but Serial did an admirable job of presenting all sides and not making overt attempts to push audience opinion in any particular direction. I'm hoping this season has the same balance.
  - xsmasher 11y ago
    I felt like the last half of season one spent its time poking holes in the prosecution's case, and none poking at the defense / defendant. Mileage varies.
    - ejstronge 11y ago
      I think that was the thesis of that season - what was the nature of the evidence used to convict someone to life in prison.
    - andrewliebchen 11y ago
      It's not the media's job to give equal time to "both sides" on an issue or be "balanced." I trust Serial, based on the exhaustive reporting of their first story, will do a fine job exploring this story.
      - xsmasher 11y ago
        I didn't say serial SHOULD give equal time. I just disagreed with an opinion that they DID give equal time.
    - gnud 11y ago
Falcon9 11y ago
I've never been in the military, but my understanding is that you don't get deployed without knowing better. I'll take Bergdahl at his word with regards to his intentions, but it's still an incredible reckless and irresponsible thing to do. He's lucky to be alive.
- EliRivers 11y ago
  From my own military experiences, I would not be at all surprised to find people deployed with deficiencies in equipment, training and oversight.
  - BryantD 11y ago
    Some reporting indicates that Bergdahl's unit was riddled with this kind of problem: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-20120607 http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-pris...
    - stvswn 11y ago
      Nothing there surprises me -- some of it is just the kind of bitching soldiers do (like complaining that everyone has to stop what they're doing to look for a rifle, or complaining that NTC was hot, or that the 1SG is nuts and mean and yells a lot, or that you had to guard a broken down vehicle for 5 days... ). Some of it showed a lack of discipline in the unit (NCOs allowing Soldiers to wear baseball caps) -- but Bowe seems to feel like those relaxed NCOs were the "good guys" that got replaced. The Rolling Stone article tries to act like Bowe snapped under stress, which is not at all what he's saying in Serial. He'd only been in Afghanistan for 3 months, and the Serial podcast said that he hadn't seen any real action yet (Rolling Stone talks about combat he was in). The vast majority of his complaints are par for the course in the Army -- mass punishment and the constant feeling like the higher command is stringing you along. It's, like, what the Army's all about. As you gain in rank and your perspective widens, you end up being the person who makes some PFC spend 5 days guarding an MRAP, and you just shift your hatred to the next level up the chain. Bitching about the higher headquarters that is just one level above your visibility is what people do in the Army.

jszymborski 11y ago

he seems to admit very early on that what he'd done was partly fuelled by a desire to seem like a "super-solider", like Jason Borne. You can tell quickly he's being exceedingly candid and though he maintains that he did what he did on principle, there was misguided thought along the way. If this is just the surface of it all, then this is going to be a fun ride.

uptown 11y ago
"If this is just the surface of it all, then this is going to be a fun ride." Six soldiers were reportedly killed searching for Bergdahl, and five Taliban members were exchanged for him in-trade. None of that is what I'd describe as "fun".
- eric_h 11y ago
  He's referring, of course, to the reporting of it in the Serial podcast. Not much of what was described in the first series of Serial was "fun" either. Nevertheless, the podcast was compelling and quite entertaining.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- mr_luc 11y ago
  A well-researched post elsewhere[1] on this page makes the claims of soldiers being killed out to be pretty suspect. ---- [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10712211 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10712211
cdcarter 11y ago
Of course, we don't know if that Jason Borne conversation happened very early in the tapes or much later, and was just reported in the first episode.

DarkTree 11y ago

Just to clarify (because I had to look it up), it's actually DUSTWUN and stands for 'duty status - whereabouts unknown' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUSTWUN https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUSTWUN

tokenadult 11y ago

According to him, he had deep grievances with his battalion leadership, and decided to leave his combat outpost, run 20 miles back to FOB Sharana, thereby creating a Dust 1 (missing servicemember in theater), get everyone's attention that way And that, of course, was very dangerous to his comrades[1] and irresponsible, and doesn't seem to have achieved his objective, since he was captured by the Taliban along the way. It's probably quite difficult being a commander in a combat zone with special snowflake soldiers like this in the unit. [1] "Two soldiers died while searching for Bergdahl." http://www.newsweek.com/serial-season-2-interview-bowe-bergdahl-403429 http://www.newsweek.com/serial-season-2-interview-bowe-bergd...

thieving_magpie 11y ago
Really depends on where you look. Several outlets are stating 6 people died[1], some say just 2, some say nobody died. Fox news sometimes initially claimed it was 2, then later 6. Occasionally they (media outlets, not just Fox) point out that people died while searching for Bergdahl while off-duty... so how that gets attributed to his search I have no idea [2]. In testimony, two officers part of the search testified saying nobody died.[3] It's sad how politicized this has become. Even Fox news concedes "The official said the two soldiers in Bergdahl’s unit who died were in a combat outpost that was attacked. The official said it was impossible to prove a link between their deaths and Bergdahl's disappearance. In addition, investigators have determined that some of the other eight soldiers were killed while driving a logistic delivery to the base, and likely would have been doing so regardless of the search." [2, same source] [1] http://nation.foxnews.com/2015/03/26/these-are-us-soldiers-who-died-searching-bowe-bergdahl http://nation.foxnews.com/2015/03/26/these-are-us-soldiers-w... [2] http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/06/two-soldiers-from-bergdahl-unit-killed-while-search-was-ongoing-pentagon-finds.html http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/06/two-soldiers-from... [3] http://www.stripes.com/closing-statements-should-bergdahl-be-court-martialed-or-are-charges-too-harsh-1.368874 http://www.stripes.com/closing-statements-should-bergdahl-be...
- MrZongle2 11y ago
  Even if no soldiers perished in the search for Bergdahl, it clearly was a dangerous, hostile environment. The planned 20-mile trip back to FOB Sharana wasn't just a day hike, and Bergdahl was either a fool or indifferent to the dangers it posed to both him and the individuals who would come looking for him.

sigzero 11y ago

> I'm really looking forward to hearing the rest of the series, especially the exploration of the command culture at his unit. What you get is probably going to be severely skewed to his point of view.

mikehearn 11y ago
Serial only has one season on which to base its reputation, but thus far it seems exceptionally adept at not picking sides. The case in season one was polarizing, but Serial did an admirable job of presenting all sides and not making overt attempts to push audience opinion in any particular direction. I'm hoping this season has the same balance.
- xsmasher 11y ago
  I felt like the last half of season one spent its time poking holes in the prosecution's case, and none poking at the defense / defendant. Mileage varies.
  - ejstronge 11y ago
    I think that was the thesis of that season - what was the nature of the evidence used to convict someone to life in prison.
  - andrewliebchen 11y ago
    It's not the media's job to give equal time to "both sides" on an issue or be "balanced." I trust Serial, based on the exhaustive reporting of their first story, will do a fine job exploring this story.
    - xsmasher 11y ago
      I didn't say serial SHOULD give equal time. I just disagreed with an opinion that they DID give equal time.
  - gnud 11y ago

Falcon9 11y ago

I've never been in the military, but my understanding is that you don't get deployed without knowing better. I'll take Bergdahl at his word with regards to his intentions, but it's still an incredible reckless and irresponsible thing to do. He's lucky to be alive.

EliRivers 11y ago
From my own military experiences, I would not be at all surprised to find people deployed with deficiencies in equipment, training and oversight.
- BryantD 11y ago
  Some reporting indicates that Bergdahl's unit was riddled with this kind of problem: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-20120607 http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-pris...
  - stvswn 11y ago
    Nothing there surprises me -- some of it is just the kind of bitching soldiers do (like complaining that everyone has to stop what they're doing to look for a rifle, or complaining that NTC was hot, or that the 1SG is nuts and mean and yells a lot, or that you had to guard a broken down vehicle for 5 days... ). Some of it showed a lack of discipline in the unit (NCOs allowing Soldiers to wear baseball caps) -- but Bowe seems to feel like those relaxed NCOs were the "good guys" that got replaced. The Rolling Stone article tries to act like Bowe snapped under stress, which is not at all what he's saying in Serial. He'd only been in Afghanistan for 3 months, and the Serial podcast said that he hadn't seen any real action yet (Rolling Stone talks about combat he was in). The vast majority of his complaints are par for the course in the Army -- mass punishment and the constant feeling like the higher command is stringing you along. It's, like, what the Army's all about. As you gain in rank and your perspective widens, you end up being the person who makes some PFC spend 5 days guarding an MRAP, and you just shift your hatred to the next level up the chain. Bitching about the higher headquarters that is just one level above your visibility is what people do in the Army.