When I saw this story this morning, I thought I was reading The Onion.
Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was a Taliban prisoner in Afghanistan for five years, will reportedly return to duty as early as Monday.
Bergdahl, 28, who was freed in May in exchange for five hardened Taliban prisoners, will resume his military career at the Army North headquarters at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, The New York Times reported.
Since returning to the U.S. on June 13, Bergdahl has received therapy at the base.
Bergdahl is expected to live in a barracks and have two soldiers help him readjust to military life, Defense officials told The Times.
There must be a whole lot about military procedure that I don't understand.
In an older, more normal time, I would just assume that this guy is in protective custody and ongoing therapy on the heels of an intense debriefing; it never occurred to me that he would ever "return to duty."
I would have thought the brig and a court-martial would have been in order unless, perhaps, the testimony of his fellow soldiers, his own emails of promised desertion, and his odd behavior while in Afghanistan raise no red flags whatsoever.
But, these are certainly not normal times.
Nothing in the headlines is normal anymore.
What is normal?
2 comments:
Yes, there is something you don't understand anout military jargon. Most civilians don't. It is the use of the word "duty" in this context. "Returned to duty" simply means you go back and live in the barracks instead of continuing to stay in the hospital.
The phrase about having "two soldiers help him readjust to military life..." That sounds better than saying he will be constantly accompanied by two guards.
These days I usually check out/confirm the headlines...the Onion ones seem more real
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