Army officer sentenced to four years for desertion after joining the French Foreign Legion.

LTC (Join to see) I would answer with Bergdahl . Of course though the investigation has been complete since October, there has yet to be a decision on a Courts Martial. At this point he's even entitled to some three hundred thousand in back pay...... I see these two incidents as miles apart. One deserving of some consideration regarding mitigating factors, the other deserving none.

SSG (Join to see), I don't see how a POW swap is anything similar to sentencing an admitted deserter to prison time. Bergdahl may yet have his day in court martial. Perhaps think of it this way; do you think anyone is encouraged to desert because of Bergdahl's example? His way was a good method to make oneself short a head.

There is significant double-speak going on around the Bergdahl case. Ironically, some of the people who stand behind the grand jury decision in the Michael Brown case are the same who cry out against the Bergdahl case. He has not been charged; that alone seems like a pretty good reason to be entitled to years of back pay, SSG Gerhard S.. You've passed judgment when you haven't been presented all the evidence. That isn't a fair system.

Anyway, I have yet to see an argument about why Bergdahl is some poster-child for desertion with impunity.

I have to wonder, a Service-member who doesn't trust the military or governmental systems must recognize that they are in the wrong line of work, right?

[~273I MAJ Ryan K.] I am not attempting to pass judgment on, Bergdahl, but most credible accounts lead to willful desertion, and possibly collusion, not to one of our allies, but rather to the enemy at his front in a theater of war, leaving his post unguarded and his comrades in danger with a gap in their perimeter. THAT is where the similarities begin, but without many of the mitigating factors in the case regarding this post. I wonder if the same people will call for restitution of the cost of Bergdahl's, sum of military training, and civil liability for any possible deaths that resulted from his search. (If found guilty).

Regarding your last statement sir, as in most matters governmental, the military is no different in its inefficiencies, and ineffectual bureaucratic nature when it comes to dealing with its personnel, particularly on a psychological level. Many Americans have reason to distrust their government, from those who have been drafted into service (Vietnam) against their will (that's in league with slavery), and then tossed out on their own with PTSD and other maladies, to those who were betrayed by the VA System at Walter Reed and other facilities, to those, who even more recently have been put on secret waiting lists while they suffered or died. Men and Women in the military tend to have a special trust with their peers, and with their immediate chain of command, but are not unwise to be wary of the bureaucracies that lie above, that can force them out onto the street, or into senseless missions based on the whims of politicians.

I could point to the "sick call" system that had me repeatedly going to TMC for fever, sinus congestion, sore throat and ear ache, to see a Sp4 leaf through a protocol book repeatedly prescribing throat lozenges, pseudophed, and Tylenol to treat my symptoms without ever taking a throat culture, or bloodwork.

Finally after 10 days if these increasingly worse symptoms (3 visits to TMC), without ever being seen by a doctor, nurse, or PA. I could no longer eat, or breathe through my nose, my balance was off, and I developed a bulge in my forehead from the sinus congestion. The only way to avoid the TMC was to wait until it closed and get a cab ride to the hospital where I was diagnosed with Strep throat, and viral infections in my ear and sinuses that required 10 days in the hospital and caused my ear drum to separate and fall out. The Charge of quarters told me I had to wait till morning and go to the TMC, and my chain of command chided me for not returning to the TMC and for going to the hospital without approval from the TMC. Clearly there were flaws in the system, and people CAN fall through the cracks. I hope this TMC issue has since been resolved. The Lieutenant we're speaking of believed there were still some cracks to fall through regarding his situation. I've never claimed he should not face consequences for his actions, only that there ARE extenuating circumstances that perhaps should have been allowed to be aired in court, of course that might have led to some uncomfortable questions about those "cracks ". My opinion, respectfully.

TSgt Joshua Copeland, I tend to agree with you. Without having read the judge's opinion, I suspect that the sentence was relatively light because of the mitigating circumstance (mental health) and the favorable testimony (the French General and the U.S. Army doctor).

Whether or not his conduct is theft is another matter. I doubt that, legally, it qualifies as theft.

LTC (Join to see), I used the theft as an analogy more then an actual charge against him.

COL Jason Smallfield, PMP, CFM, CM, In an editorial written by his parents shortly after his departure from the country, his father promised to make restitution to the taxpayers for the costs of their son's education.

Restitution is good but restitution is the responsibility of the officer and not the father.

COL Jason Smallfield, I must agree to your post. As the Lt. must take reasonability for his actions or in-action in this case, he should be made to make restitution not daddy deep –pockets.
Lt. Frank’s father could pay the dollar amount, but Mr. Franks can’t repair the honor, dignity, and Patriotism back to The Gray Line, or the institution as a whole.